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.