SB 658, as amended, Correa. Orange County Water District Act: investigation, cleanup, and liability.
Existing law, the Municipal Water District Law of 1911, authorizes the formation of a municipal water district to acquire and sell water, and specifies the powers and purposes of a municipal water district. The Municipal Water District of Orange County is a district established pursuant to that law.
The Orange County Water District Act establishes the Orange County Water District, consisting of specified lands in the County of Orange, including the Cities of Anaheim, Fullerton, and Santa Ana. The act authorizes the district to investigate the quality of the surface and groundwaters within the district to determine whether the waters are contaminated or polluted and authorizes the district to expend funds to perform any cleanup, abatement, or remedial work to prevent, abate, or contain the contamination of, or pollution to, the surface or groundwaters of the district. The act requires the person causing or threatening to cause the contamination or pollution to be liable to the district for reasonable costs actually incurred in cleaning up or containing the contamination or pollution, abating the effects of the contamination or pollution, or taking other remedial action.
This bill would require the person also to be liable for the costs actually incurred in investigating the contamination or pollution. The bill would provide that these remedies are in addition to all other legal and equitable remedies available to the water district, including declaratory relief.
This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
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Appropriation: no.
Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
The Legislature finds and declares that, in adding
2Section 8 to the Orange County Water District Act in 1989, the
3Legislature intended that (1) the costs incurred by the district in
4conducting investigations to study, monitor, and evaluate the cause,
5and the nature and extent of any existing or threatened
6contamination, would be part of the cleanup, abatement, and
7remedial costs recoverable against the persons causing, or
8threatening to cause, contamination of the surface or groundwaters
9within the district, and (2) the district would be entitled to
10commence a civil action against, and recover damages from, the
11persons causing, or threatening to cause, the contamination,
12investigation, cleanup,
abatement, and remedial costs incurred, or
13to be incurred, by the district at the time the liability of the persons
14was determined in litigation, regardless of whether all investigative,
15cleanup, abatement, and remedial work was completed by that
16time. The Legislature further finds and declares that this act is
17declaratory of existing law.
Section 8 of the Orange County Water District Act
19 (Chapter 924 of the Statutes of 1933), as added by Section 4 of
20Chapter 802 of the Statutes of 1989, is amended to read:
(a) The district may conduct any investigation of the
22quality of the surface and groundwaters within the district that the
23district determines to be necessary and appropriate to determine
24whether those waters are contaminated or polluted.
P3 1(b) The district may expend available funds to perform any
2begin delete investigationend deletebegin insert investigation,end insert cleanup, abatement, or remedial work
3required under the circumstances that, in the determination of the
4board of directors, is required by the magnitude of the endeavor
5or the urgency
of prompt action needed to prevent, abate, or contain
6any threatened or existing contamination of, or pollution to, the
7surface or groundwaters of the district. This action may be taken
8in default of, or in addition to, remedial work by the person causing
9the contamination or pollution, or other persons. The district may
10perform the work itself, by contract, or by or in cooperation with
11another governmental agency.
12(c) If, pursuant to subdivision (b), any contamination or pollution
13is investigated, cleaned up, or contained, the effects of the
14contamination or pollution abated, or in the case of threatened
15contamination or pollution, other necessary remedial action is
16taken, the person causing or threatening to cause that contamination
17or pollution shall be liable to the district to the extent of the
18reasonable costs actually incurred in
investigating, cleaning
up,
19or containing the contamination or pollution, abating the effects
20of the contamination or pollution, or taking other remedial action.
21The amount of those costs, together with court costs and reasonable
22attorney’s fees, shall be recoverable in a civil action by, and paid
23to, the district. In this action, the necessity for the investigation,
24cleanup, containment, abatement, or remedial work, and the
25reasonableness of the costs incurred therewith, shall be presumed,
26and the defendant shall have the burden of proving that the work
27was not necessary, and the costs not reasonable.
28(d) The remedies provided under this section are in addition to
29all other legal or equitable remedies available to the district under
30statute or common law, including declaratory relief regarding
31liability for the district’s future
costs.
This act is an urgency statute necessary for the
33immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within
34the meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into
35immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:
36In order to ensure that the Orange County Water District may,
37at the earliest possible opportunity, investigate, clean up, and
38remediate groundwater contamination that affects the quality of
39drinking water resources of approximately 2,400,000 Orange
P4 1County residents, it is necessary that this act take effect
2
immediately.
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