BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó




                   Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
                            Senator Kevin de León, Chair


          AB 119 (Comm. on Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials) -  
          Water treatment devices.
          
          Amended: August 14, 2013        Policy Vote: EQ 9-0, Health 9-0
          Urgency: No                     Mandate: No
          Hearing Date: August 12, 2013                     Consultant:  
          Marie Liu     
          
          This bill does not meet the criteria for referral to the  
          Suspense File.
          
          
          Bill Summary: AB 119 would require that water treatment devices  
          be certified by an independent certification organization  
          instead of the Department of Public Health (DPH) after December  
          31, 2013.

          Fiscal Impact: 
              Ongoing annual savings of $234,000 to the Water Device  
              Certification Special Account (special) as a result of  
              reducing administrative costs from $404,000 to $170,000 by  
              removing the requirement for DPH to certify water treatment  
              devices.
              Ongoing annual costs of approximately $34,000 to the Water  
              Device Certification Special Account as a result of reducing  
              fee revenues from approximately $200,000 to $166,000. 

          Background: Existing law requires a water treatment device  
          manufacturer who claims that a drinking water treatment device  
          will reduce contaminants, or other health related performance  
          claims, to be certified by DPH as to that effect. Water  
          treatment device manufactures pay a fee for DPH for that  
          certification. The current fee is $1,200 for initial approval  
          with a $400 annual fee per device. The DPH certification can be  
          valid for up to five years. 

          Proposed Law: This bill would repeal the existing requirements  
          for DPH to certify all water treatment devices that make health  
          related performance claims and would instead require DPH to  
          approve that the device has been certified by an independent  
          certification organization that has been accredited by the  
          American National Standards Institute to verify the health or  








          AB 119 (Comm. on Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials)
          Page 1


          safety claim. DPH would be required to post on its website a  
          list of approved devices, a product worksheet for each device  
          and consumer information regarding the appropriate use of water  
          treatment devices. This bill would require DPH to collect an  
          annual fee of up to $332 per water treatment device.  
          Certificates issued under the current system, would continue to  
          pay an annual fee of up to $400, until that certificate expires.

          This bill would require that water treatment device  
          manufacturers place specific information on the exterior  
          packaging of the device and provide a decal that may be affixed  
          to the device with specific information, before January 1, 2015.

          Certificates for devices that were issued by DPH under the  
          existing process will generally be valid for five years  
          following the date of initial issuance so long as the  
          application for certification was filed on or before November 1,  
          2013.

          Staff Comments: There are approximately 35 manufactures and 500  
          water treatment devices that would be affected by the bill,  
          resulting in an anticipated $166,000 in annual revenue once all  
          certificates from the existing program expire. This is less than  
          the current fee revenues of approximately $200,000, however,  
          under this bill, DPH will have less workload associated with  
          this program as DPH will no longer be responsible for certifying  
          the efficacy of the device and will instead be relying on an  
          independent certification organization. However, the maximum  
          fees proposed in this bill may be slightly insufficient for the  
          current program costs, and will likely be insufficient in the  
          future if program costs change. In response the author proposes  
          an amendment to raise the maximum annual fee up to $500.

          Proposed Author Amendments: Raise the annual fee cap to $500 per  
          device for both new approvals and existing certificates. Restore  
          language that requires the treatment device to have been  
          certified by an independent certification organization that has  
          been accredited by the American National Standards Institute.