BILL ANALYSIS Ó
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 2451|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|1020 N Street, Suite 524 | |
|(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | |
|327-4478 | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 2451
Author: Daly (D)
Amended: 8/13/14 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE BUSINESS, PROF. & ECON. DEVELOP. COMM. : 8-0, 6/16/14
AYES: Lieu, Wyland, Berryhill, Block, Corbett, Galgiani, Hill,
Torres
NO VOTE RECORDED: Hernandez
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 78-0, 5/15/14 (Consent) - See last page for
vote
SUBJECT : Weights and measures: water submeters
SOURCE : California Apartment Association
Utility Management and Conservation Association
DIGEST : This bill authorizes the installation of a water
submeter that was inspected, tested, and sealed by a sealer of
another county; authorizes a county to establish and collect
fees to cover the actual costs of inspecting, testing, and
certifying water submeters; requires a sealer to mark a water
submeter that is found to be incorrect, with the words "Out of
Order;" and allows the submeter to be returned to the
manufacturer under certain conditions.
Senate Floor Amendments of 8/13/14 (1) remove reference to a
CONTINUED
AB 2451
Page
2
sealer "calibrating" a water submeter; (2) correct a reference
to compliance withal applicable laws and all applicable
regulations; (3) make corrections to references to testing by
the county sealer; and (4) make conforming changes, and
technical corrections.
ANALYSIS :
Existing law:
1.Provides that the Division of Measurement Standards within the
Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) has general
enforcement supervision of the laws relating to weights and
measures and measuring devices, and provides for the
enforcement of those laws and the inspection and testing of
measuring devices in each county by the county sealer.
2.Requires CDFA to adopt regulations governing the inspection
frequency of all commercially used weights, measures, and
weighing and measuring apparatuses in the state, and requires
the county sealer of each county to perform the inspections
required by CDFA.
3.Authorizes a county to collect a fee, as specified, from the
owner or user for the inspection or testing of any weighing or
measuring device.
4.Requires a person who uses, or intends to use, any weight or
measure, or weighing or measuring device for commercial
purposes, to cause that device to be sealed by a sealer before
use, unless it has been sealed before sale, in which case the
purchaser may use it for the period authorized for its use.
5.Defines, for purposes of weighing and measuring devices, the
term "placed in service" as permitting the use of a device
that has been tested and found to be correct, as specified, or
to submit a device to a sealer for verification prior to
installation.
6.Provides that a device may only be placed in service by a
sealer or a service agency who repairs a commercial device.
7.Requires a sealer to condemn and seize, and authorizes the
destruction, of any incorrect weights and measures and
CONTINUED
AB 2451
Page
3
weighing and measuring instruments used for commercial
purposes. The sealer may additionally mark or tag an
incorrect device with the words "Out of order."
8.Makes it a misdemeanor for any person to do certain acts in
violation of the weights and measures law, including use, for
commercial purposes, or retain in his/her possession an
incorrect weight or measure or weighing or measuring
instrument.
This bill:
1.Requires the county sealer, who possesses the appropriate
equipment, to perform tests on water submeters, to inspect,
test, and certify the accuracy of a water submeter within the
county and upon written request of the owner, user, or
operator of the water submeter, in any of the following
instances:
A. The service is requested to be performed in addition to,
or according to different schedule than the inspection
schedule established by regulations.
B. The requested service for a water submeter that is not
intended to be placed into service in the county within six
months.
C. The requested service pertains to a water submeter
intended to be placed into service in a different county.
1.Authorizes a county board of supervisors to authorize the
sealer to establish and collect fees to cover the actual costs
of inspecting, calibrating, testing, and certifying water
submeters.
2.Provides for a county sealer to authorize the installation of
a water submeter that has been inspected, tested, and sealed
by a sealer of another county if the following conditions are
met:
A. The meter bears the current seal of the county in which
the water submeter was inspected (in accordance with
existing law).
CONTINUED
AB 2451
Page
4
B. The water submeter is installed within 12 months of
being inspected, tested and sealed.
C. The sealer has no reason to believe the water submeter
has been tampered with, damaged, or otherwise rendered
inoperable.
1.Requires a sealer to mark a water submeter submitted for
inspection and testing before its initial installation that is
found to be incorrect, as defined, with the words, "Out of
Order" and allows the submeter to be returned if (a) the
submeter does not have signs of intentional tampering to
facilitate fraud, and (b) the submeter will not be placed in
service in California.
2.Provides that an owner, user, or operator shall not be subject
to criminal prosecution or liable for other fines or
penalties, if a water submeter that has been installed is
found to be incorrect, subject to the following:
A. The water submeter was one of a submeter lot that had
been previously sample tested by a sealer, as specified.
B. The water submeter had not been previously tested by a
sealer.
C. The water submeter has not been found by the sealer to
have signs of intentional tampering, damage or alteration,
as specified.
D. The owner, user, or operator has maintained the water
submeter, as specified.
E. A water submeter that meets these conditions shall not
be reinstalled and placed into commercial use unless it is
repaired and recalibrated, as specified, and approved by
the sealer.
1.Deletes from the definition of "placed in service" the
submission of a device to a sealer for verification prior to
the device's installation.
2.Makes technical, updating and conforming changes.
CONTINUED
AB 2451
Page
5
Background
The largest, least expensive and most environmentally sound
source of water to meet California's future needs is the water
currently being wasted in every sector of our economy, according
to a Pacific Institute report, Waste Not, Want Not: The
Potential for Urban Water Conservation in California. The
report indicates that California's urban water needs can be met
in the foreseeable future by reducing water waste through
cost-effective water-saving technologies, revised economic
policies, appropriate state and local regulations, and public
education.
Water submeters provide a critically important tool in the
state's efforts to increase water conservation. The U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency estimated that installing water
submeters in multifamily units reduced water consumption by an
average of 28%. These results are consistent and in line with
California's goal of reducing water usage by 20% by 2020.
Use of submeters . A submeter is a device that measures water
consumption of an individual rental unit within a multi-unit
building or facility. Before the use of submeters, many
landlords either included the utility cost in the bulk price of
the rent or lease, or divided the utility usage among the
tenants in some way such as equally, by square footage, or some
other means. Without a meter to measure individual usage, there
is less incentive to conserve or stop water leaks, since the
other tenants or landlord may pay all or part of those costs.
Submetering creates awareness of water conservation since the
tenant will pay for all of their usage and any leaks they allow
to remain unrepaired. Conservation also allows property owners
to keep the cost of rent reasonable and fair for all units
regardless of how much water or energy they consume.
Comments
The author's office believes that California law regarding the
testing and use of submeters discourages manufacturers from
shipping submeters to California. This, in turn, negatively
impacts the construction and use of multifamily rental units and
the availability of properly functioning submeters.
According to the author's office, existing law is silent on the
CONTINUED
AB 2451
Page
6
issue of using a submeter that is tested in another county;
however, the practice in the field is to only test the submeter
in the county where that submeter is to be used. This bill
allows a submeter sealed in any county in California to be used
in any other county.
The author's office further contends that the
"placed-in-service" definition creates liability for
manufacturers who simply ship submeters which ultimately fail
testing yet are not actually installed. This bill revises the
definition of "placed in service" to no longer provide that a
submeter is "placed into service" when it is simply submitted to
a sealer for testing.
The author's office indicates that existing law permits the
destruction of submeters which fail testing by a county sealer.
The author's office states the manufacturers, with no intention
to attempt to use them in California, would like the failed
submeters returned to them. This bill provides that a failed
submeter may be returned to a manufacturer if the sealer does
not find an indication that the submeter has been tampered with,
and if the submeter will not be used in California.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/14/14)
California Apartment Association (co-source)
Utility Management and Conservation Association (co-source)
American Utility Management
Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles
California Association of Realtors
California Building Industry Association
California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation
MeterNet USA
Multifamily Utility Company
Natural Resource Management, Inc.
Northwestern Utility Billing Services, Inc.
San Diego County Apartment Association
Santa Barbara Rental Property Association
Urban Meters & Readers, Inc.
Western Center on Law & Poverty
CONTINUED
AB 2451
Page
7
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The bill's sponsors, the California
Apartment Association and the Utility Management and
Conservation, write, "AB 2451 addresses a problem that apartment
builders face today which is a lack of supply and availability
of water submeters for use in California. Submeter manufacturers
have informed us that some of California's rules and regulations
have made shipping the devices to the state too risky. Without
compromising the quality and content of California's testing and
certification of these devices, AB 2451 makes the state's
regulations and corresponding procedures more flexible so that
an adequate supply of state-approved submeters is available when
needed. AB 2451 revises certain provisions of the Business and
Professions Code with the intent to help improve the
availability of approved water submeters." The sponsors believe
that this bill will reduce the uncertainty in California
associated with submeter availability and will ensure there is a
ready supply when needed - when new multifamily housing is about
to begin construction. In that way, California can more
systematically improve water conservation while supporting the
resurgence of housing construction.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 78-0, 5/15/14
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Bigelow, Bloom,
Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, Ian
Calderon, Campos, Chau, Chávez, Chesbro, Conway, Cooley,
Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dickinson, Donnelly, Eggman, Fong, Fox,
Frazier, Beth Gaines, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon,
Gorell, Gray, Grove, Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Roger Hernández,
Holden, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Linder, Logue, Lowenthal,
Maienschein, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nazarian,
Nestande, Olsen, Pan, Patterson, Perea, John A. Pérez, V.
Manuel Pérez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas,
Rodriguez, Salas, Skinner, Stone, Ting, Wagner, Waldron,
Weber, Wieckowski, Wilk, Williams, Yamada, Atkins
NO VOTE RECORDED: Mansoor, Vacancy
MW:nl 8/14/14 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
**** END ****
CONTINUED
AB 2451
Page
8
CONTINUED