BILL NUMBER: SB 1395	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Senator Block

                        FEBRUARY 21, 2014

   An act to amend Section 115880 of the Health and Safety Code,
relating to public beaches.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   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 1.  Section 115880 of the Health and Safety Code is amended
to read:
   115880.  (a) The department  shall by regulation,
  shall, by regulation and  in consultation with
the board, local health officers, and the public, establish,
maintain, and amend as necessary, minimum standards for the
sanitation of public beaches, including, but not limited to, the
removal of refuse, as it determines are reasonably necessary for the
protection of the public health and safety.
   (b) Prior to final adoption or amendment by the department, the
regulations and standards required by this section shall undergo an
external comprehensive review process similar to the process set
forth in Section 57004 of the Health and Safety Code.
   (c) The regulations shall, at a minimum, do all of the following:
   (1) Require the testing of the waters adjacent to all public
beaches for microbiological contaminants, including, but not limited
to, total coliform, fecal coliform, and enterococci bacteria. The
department may require the testing of waters adjacent to all public
beaches for microbiological indicators other than those set forth in
this paragraph, or a subset of those set forth in this paragraph, if
the department affirmatively establishes, based on the best available
scientific studies and the weight of the evidence, that the
alternative indicators are as protective of the public health.
   (2) Establish protective minimum standards for total coliform,
fecal coliform, and enterococci bacteria, or for other
microbiological indicators that the department determines are
appropriate for testing pursuant to paragraph (1).
   (3) Require that the waters adjacent to public beaches are tested
for total coliform, fecal coliform, and enterococci bacteria, or for
other microbiological indicators that the department determines are
appropriate for testing pursuant to paragraph (1). Except as set
forth in subdivision (d), testing shall be conducted on at least a
weekly basis from April 1 to October 31, inclusive, of each year
beginning in 2012, if all of the following apply:
   (A) The beach is visited by more than 50,000 people annually.
   (B) The beach is located on an area adjacent to a storm drain that
flows in the summer.
   (d) The monitoring frequency and locations established pursuant to
this section and related regulations may be reduced or altered only
after the testing required pursuant to paragraph (3) of subdivision
(a) reveals levels of microbiological contaminants that do not
exceed, for a period of two years, the minimum protective standards
established pursuant to this section.
   (e) The local health officer shall be responsible for testing the
waters adjacent to, and coordinating the testing of, all public
beaches within his or her jurisdiction.
   (f) The local health officer may meet the testing requirements of
this section by utilizing test results from other parties conducting
microbiological contamination testing of the waters under his or her
jurisdiction.
   (g) Any city or county may adopt standards for the sanitation of
public beaches within its jurisdiction that are stricter than the
standards adopted by the department pursuant to this section.