SB 1395, as introduced, Block. Public beaches: inspection for contaminants.
Existing law requires the State Department of Public Health to adopt regulations, as specified, for the minimum standards of public beaches, including requiring the testing of waters adjacent to all public beaches for specified microbial contaminants.
This bill would make a technical, nonsubstantive change to those provisions.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
Section 115880 of the Health and Safety Code
2 is amended to read:
(a) The departmentbegin delete shall by regulation,end deletebegin insert shall, by
4regulation andend insert in consultation with the board, local health officers,
5and the public, establish, maintain, and amend as necessary,
6minimum standards for the sanitation of public beaches, including,
7but not limited to, the removal of refuse, as it determines are
8reasonably necessary for the protection of the public health and
9safety.
P2 1(b) Prior to final adoption or amendment by the department, the
2regulations and standards required by this section shall undergo
3an external comprehensive review process similar to the process
4set forth in Section 57004 of the Health and Safety Code.
5(c) The regulations shall, at a minimum, do all of the following:
6(1) Require the testing of the waters adjacent to all public
7beaches for microbiological contaminants, including, but not
8limited to, total coliform, fecal coliform, and enterococci bacteria.
9The department may require the testing of waters adjacent to all
10public beaches for microbiological indicators other than those set
11forth in this paragraph, or a subset of those set forth in this
12paragraph, if the department affirmatively establishes, based on
13the best available scientific studies and the weight of the evidence,
14that the alternative indicators are as protective of the public health.
15(2) Establish protective minimum standards for total coliform,
16fecal coliform, and enterococci bacteria, or for other
17microbiological indicators that the department determines are
18appropriate for testing pursuant to paragraph (1).
19(3) Require that the waters
adjacent to public beaches are tested
20for total coliform, fecal coliform, and enterococci bacteria, or for
21other microbiological indicators that the department determines
22are appropriate for testing pursuant to paragraph (1). Except as set
23forth in subdivision (d), testing shall be conducted on at least a
24weekly basis from April 1 to October 31, inclusive, of each year
25beginning in 2012, if all of the following apply:
26(A) The beach is visited by more than 50,000 people annually.
27(B) The beach is located on an area adjacent to a storm drain
28that flows in the summer.
29(d) The monitoring frequency and locations established pursuant
30to this section and related regulations may be reduced or altered
31only after the testing required pursuant to paragraph (3) of
32subdivision (a) reveals levels of microbiological contaminants that
33do not exceed, for a period of two years, the minimum protective
34standards established pursuant to this
section.
35(e) The local health officer shall be responsible for testing the
36waters adjacent to, and coordinating the testing of, all public
37beaches within his or her jurisdiction.
38(f) The local health officer may meet the testing requirements
39of this section by utilizing test results from other parties conducting
P3 1microbiological contamination testing of the waters under his or
2her jurisdiction.
3(g) Any city or county may adopt standards for the sanitation
4of public beaches within its jurisdiction that are stricter than the
5standards adopted by the department pursuant to this section.
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