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.