BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                  SB 1130
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          (  Without Reference to File  )

          SENATE THIRD READING
          SB 1130 (Roth)
          As Amended  April 21, 2014
          2/3 vote.  Urgency 

           SENATE VOTE  :36-0  
           
           JUDICIARY           9-0         ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY      7-0   
           
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          |Ayes:|Wieckowski, Wagner,       |Ayes:|Alejo, Dahle, Bloom,      |
          |     |Alejo, Chau, Dickinson,   |     |Donnelly, Gomez,          |
          |     |Garcia, Gorell,           |     |Lowenthal, Ting           |
          |     |Muratsuchi, Stone         |     |                          |
          |     |                          |     |                          |
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           APPROPRIATIONS      17-0                                        
           
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          |Ayes:|Gatto, Bigelow,           |     |                          |
          |     |Bocanegra, Bradford, Ian  |     |                          |
          |     |Calderon, Campos,         |     |                          |
          |     |Donnelly, Eggman, Gomez,  |     |                          |
          |     |Holden, Jones, Linder,    |     |                          |
          |     |Pan, Quirk,               |     |                          |
          |     |Ridley-Thomas, Wager,     |     |                          |
          |     |Lowenthal                 |     |                          |
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           -------------------------------- 
          |     |                          |
           -------------------------------- 
           SUMMARY  :  Provides limited immunities from liability for the  
          Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District (EVMWD), the Eastern  
          Municipal Water District (EMWD), the Western Municipal Water  
          District (WMWD), and the Metropolitan Water District of Southern  
          California (MWDSC) for claims by past or existing County Water  
          Company of Riverside (CWC) customers, or those who consumed  
          water provided through the CWC water system, prior to and during  
          an interim operation period, as specified.  Provides that this  
          bill is an urgency measure.

           EXISTING LAW  :








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          1)Authorizes, whenever the Department of Public Health (DPH)  
            determines that any public water system is unable or unwilling  
            to adequately serve its users, has been actually or  
            effectively abandoned by its owners, or is unresponsive to its  
            rules or orders, DPH to petition the superior court, as  
            specified, for the appointment of a receiver to assume  
            possession of its property and to operate its system.   
            Authorizes the court to provide, as a condition of its order,  
            that the receiver appointed pursuant to the order not be held  
            personally liable for any good faith, reasonable effort to  
            assume possession of, and to operate the system in compliance  
            with the order.  (Health and Safety Code Section 116665)

          2)Provides that a public entity is not liable for an injury,  
            whether such injury arises out of an act or omission of the  
            public entity, or a public employee, or any other person.   
            Provides that the liability of a public entity, as specified,  
            is subject to any immunity of the public entity provided by  
            statute and is subject to any defenses that would be available  
            to the public entity if it were a private person.  (Government  
            Code Section 815)

          3)Provides, except as exempted by statute, that a public entity  
            is liable for injury caused by a dangerous condition of its  
            property if the plaintiff establishes that the property was in  
            a dangerous condition at the time of the injury, that the  
            injury was proximately caused by the dangerous condition, that  
            the dangerous condition created a reasonably foreseeable risk  
            of the kind of injury which was incurred, as specified.   
            (Government Code Section 835)

           FISCAL EFFECT  :  According to the Assembly Appropriations  
          Committee, enactment of this bill will have a negligible fiscal  
          impact on the State Programs.

           COMMENTS  :  The CWC currently serves approximately 140 customers  
          near the communities of Wildomar and Menifee in Riverside County  
          from a single well that exceeds the state's standard for nitrate  
          in drinking water.  This well is operationally unreliable and  
          occasionally unable to pump water or meet fire flow criteria,  
          leaving residents without a supply of piped water or fire  
          protection for periods of time.  Recently, CWC representatives  
          announced the company is going broke and getting out of the  








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          business, and the system is in danger of complete failure.

          EMWD and EVMWD, which service nearby communities, have agreed to  
          take over service to the neighborhood.  DPH awarded Proposition  
          84 (Safe Drinking Water, Water Quality and Supply, Flood  
          Control, River and Coastal Protection Bond Act of 2006)  
          emergency funds to EVMWD, on behalf of the CWC, on July 30,  
          2013, in the amount of $250,000, for the purposes of  
          constructing an emergency intertie until a more permanent  
          solution can be constructed.  Proposition 84 planning funds were  
          also awarded on September 4, 2013, to EMWD in the amount of  
          $500,000, to fund the planning and design for the eventual split  
          consolidation of CWC into EMWD and EVMWD.  In addition, the Safe  
          Drinking Water State Revolving Fund program issued letters of  
          commitment to EMWD and EVMWD on October 31, 2013, for $6 million  
          ($3 million each) in construction funding for the eventual  
          construction of the split consolidation project pending  
          completion of the Proposition 84 funded planning project.

          While funds have been awarded to commence this project, both  
          EMWD and EVMWD have indicated that they are unable to connect to  
          CWC until this bill is effective.  EMWD argues that during the  
          interim construction period during which they must continue to  
          supply water through the existing dilapidated system, they, and  
          therefore their existing customers, are vulnerable to lawsuits  
          potentially relating to water quality or quantity, or  
          insufficient pressure for fire protection.  This bill is an  
          effort to protect the public water agencies' existing customers,  
          while the districts work to supply safe drinking water to CWC  
          residents through reconstruction and future operation of the  
          system in a manner consistent with all health and safety  
          standards.  


           Analysis Prepared by  :    Shannon McKinney / E.S. & T.M. / (916)  
          319-3965   


                                                                 FN:  
                                                                 0004231












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