BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 119
Page 1
Date of Hearing: May 1, 201
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Mike Gatto, Chair
AB 119 (Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials) - As Amended:
April 16, 2013
Policy Committee: Environmental
Safety and Toxic Materials Vote: 7-0
Health 19-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill eliminates the requirement for in-home water treatment
devices to be certified by the Department of Public Health (DPH)
and provides an alternative process and annual fee.
Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires DPH to approve for sale water treatment devices that
make health claims, provided that the manufacturer of the
device submits specified information to the department.
2)Requires submittal of the following information to DPH along
with an annual fee:
a) Manufacturer's name, contact information and website.
b) Name and model of each water treatment device.
c) The specific contaminant to be removed or reduced by the
device.
d) The name of the accredited third party testing
organization that tested the device, including information
regarding the protocol and standards used in the testing of
the device, test results, and any retest information.
3)Allows DPH to charge an annual fee of up to $4,000 per water
treatment device manufacture.
4)Authorizes DPH to set and adjust the fee on the treatment
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device manufacturer by publishing the fee announcement on its
Internet web site. The fee modification would not be subject
to the rule making procedure of the Administrative Procedures
Act.
5)Provides that the fees collected by DPH may be used to
maintain a web site of water treatment devices and for the
enforcement of the approval requirements by State or local
health officials.
FISCAL EFFECT
The $4,000 fee on manufacturers is sufficient to fund the
administrative costs to DPH.
An estimated 35 manufacturers will pay the $4,000 fee annually
resulting in $140,000 revenue collected by DPH. The current fee
is $1,200 for the initial approval, with a $400 renewal each
year for up to four years per device (rather than manufacturer).
The new fee will result in reduced revenues offset by a
corresponding decrease in workload.
COMMENTS
1)Rationale. The current certification program requires DPH to
independently certify each in-home water treatment device
before it can be sold in retail outlets in the state.
According to the author, the current DPH certification program
duplicates testing by third-party accrediting agencies and
delays the availability of state-of-the-art treatment devices
without adding any health or safety value.
The adjustment of this fee is not subject to the rulemaking
procedures in the Administrative Procedures Act.
2)Background. There are currently hundreds of
California-certified drinking water treatment devices.
Certified devices include "point of use" and "point of entry"
systems, which range from pour-through pitchers and
faucet-mount, carbon-filter systems to reverse osmosis,
ultraviolet disinfection and household water softeners.
Contaminants removed by certified devices include organic
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chemicals such as MTBE, pesticides, herbicides and solvents;
inorganics such as lead, mercury, and perchlorate; and
waterborne pathogens, such as bacteria, virus and protozoan
cysts, such as Giardia and Cryptosporidium
Analysis Prepared by : Jennifer Galehouse / APPR. / (916)
319-2081