BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 1130|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
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|327-4478 | |
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SB 1130
Author: Roth (D)
Amended: 4/21/14
Vote: 27 - Urgency
SENATE ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY COMMITTEE : 6-0, 4/2/14
AYES: Hill, Gaines, Hancock, Jackson, Leno, Pavley
NO VOTE RECORDED: Fuller, Vacancy, Vacancy
SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE : 7-0, 4/8/14
AYES: Jackson, Anderson, Corbett, Lara, Leno, Monning, Vidak
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
SUBJECT : Drinking water: County Water Company of Riverside
water
system: liability
SOURCE : Eastern Municipal Water District
Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District
DIGEST : This bill provides limited immunities from liability
relating to the reconstruction of a public water system in
Riverside County for the Eastern Municipal Water District
(EMWD), the Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District (EVMWD),
the Western Municipal Water District, and the Metropolitan Water
District of Southern California. Those immunities only apply if
specific conditions are met, including that water provided to
the water system must meet or exceed federal and state drinking
water quality standards.
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ANALYSIS : Existing law:
1.Under the California Safe Drinking Water Act:
A. Requires the Department of Public Health (DPH) to
regulate drinking water and to enforce the federal Safe
Drinking Water Act and other related regulations.
B. Authorizes DPH to delegate regulatory authority for
small water systems (fewer than 200 service connections) to
local primacy agencies (counties).
C. Establishes the Safe Drinking Water State Revolving Fund
and continuously appropriates the Fund to DPH to provide
grants or revolving fund loans for the design and
construction of projects for public water systems that will
enable suppliers to meet safe drinking water standards.
1.Declares the established policy of the state that every human
being has the right to safe, clean, affordable, and accessible
water adequate for human consumption, cooking, and sanitary
purposes. All relevant state agencies, shall consider this
state policy when revising, adopting, or establishing
policies, regulations, and grant criteria when those policies,
regulations, and criteria are pertinent to the uses of water,
as specified.
2.Under the Municipal Water District Law of 1911, provides for
the formation of municipal water districts, grants to those
districts specified powers and permits a district to acquire,
control, distribute, store, spread, sink, treat, purify,
recycle, recapture, and salvage any water for the beneficial
use of the district, its inhabitants, or the owners of rights
to water in the district.
This bill:
1.Exempts the EVMWD, the EMWD, the Western Municipal Water
District, and the Metropolitan Water District of Southern
California from liability, as prescribed, for claims by past
or existing County Water Company of Riverside customers or
those who consumed water provided through the County Water
Company of Riverside water system prior to and during the
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interim operation period, as specified.
2.Prohibits the immunity from liability from being construed
either to relieve any water district, water wholesaler, or any
other entity from compliance with drinking water standards,
impair any cause of action or proceeding brought by specified
public entities, or impair claims alleging the taking of
property without compensation.
3.Requires the interim operation period to last until permanent
replacement facilities are accepted by the EVMWD and the EMWD
with the concurrence of DPH, or December 31, 2015, whichever
occurs first.
4.Requires DPH to extend the interim operation period for up to
three successive one-year periods at the request of the EVMWD
and the EMWD, as prescribed.
5.Makes legislative findings and declarations as to the
necessity of a special statute with regard to the customers of
the County Water Company of Riverside.
Background
The County Water Company of Riverside, a small privately owned,
non-mutual water company, currently owns a well which is the
sole water supply serving 140 homes in western Riverside County.
This well is operationally unreliable and fails to meet state
drinking water standards. It is also functionally unable to
provide emergency life-saving fire flows if needed. On several
occasions this well has been totally unable to pump water,
leaving residents without a supply of piped water for extended
periods of time. Residents within the County Water Company
system have been placed in the situation wherein the water they
drink, cook, and bathe in comes from a roadside tanker or
bottles purchased from the store.
Neighboring public water providers have stepped up to provide
customers of the County Water Company with emergency water
service until a long-term solution can be established. However,
interim assistance and the development of temporary solutions
can open the existing public agencies up to liabilities stemming
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from past actions of the County Water Company.
Riverside County health officials have asked two adjacent local
water agencies for assistance in providing both short-term and
long-term solutions to the health and safety risks the residents
face as a result of this failing water system. Such assistance
comes with the risk of liability and potential costs to the
existing ratepayers of the agencies offering assistance.
In an effort to protect existing public water agency customers,
while working to secure the health and safety of the County
Water Company of Riverside residents, EMWD and EVMWD are seeking
to establish a narrowly crafted bill that will provide legal
protections that will allow the public agencies to move forward
with assisting those families in crisis.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 4/28/14)
Eastern Municipal Water District (co-source)
Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District (co-source)
California Special Districts Association
County of Riverside
Mesa Water District
Metropolitan Water District of Southern California
Western Municipal Water District
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office, this
bill will allow the public agencies of EMWD and EVMWD to extend
water service and provide the necessary assistance to the 140
service connections currently being served by the County Water
Company of Riverside, without being held liable for past
administrative or operational deficiencies of the existing water
system, including litigation costs.
RM:nl 4/28/14 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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