Amended in Assembly June 26, 2014

Amended in Senate May 27, 2014

Amended in Senate March 25, 2014

Senate Bill No. 1395

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 amended, Block. Public beaches: inspection for contaminants.

Existing law requires the State Department of Public Health to adopt regulations for the minimum public health standards of public beaches, including requiring the testing of waters adjacent to all public beaches for specified microbial contaminants. Existing law authorizes the department to require testing of the waters adjacent to all public beaches for additional microbial indicators if the department establishes that those indicators are as protective of the public health.

This bill would authorize the department to allow a local health officer to use specified polymerase chain reaction testing methods published by the United States Environmental Protection Agency begin insert or approved as an alternative test procedure pursuant to federal law end insert to determine the level of enterococci bacteria as a single test based on a single indicator begin delete in end delete begin insert at one or more beach locations within end insert that jurisdiction if the local health officer demonstrates through side-by-side testing over a beach season that the use of the test method provides a reliable indication of overall microbiological contamination conditions. The bill would begin delete authorize end delete begin insert require end insert the department, in making the determination of whether to authorize the use of those testing methods by a local health begin delete officer , end delete begin insert officer, end insert to take into account whether the alternative indicators and related test method can provide results more quickly. begin insert The bill would specify that its provisions do not require the use of those testing methods. end insert

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. 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 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 (e), testing shall be conducted on at least a
weekly basis from April 1 to October 31, inclusive, of each year
beginning in 2012, if both 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) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), if a local health officer
demonstrates or has demonstrated through side-by-side testing
over a beach season that the use of United States Environmental
Protection Agency method 1609 or 1611, or any equivalent or
improved rapid detection method published by the United States
Environmental Protection Agency for use in beach water quality
begin delete assessment, end delete begin insert assessment or approved as an alternative test
procedure pursuant to Part 136 of Title 40 of the Code of Federal
Regulations, end insert to determine the level of enterococci bacteria as a
single indicator provides a reliable indication of overall
microbiological contamination conditions begin delete in all or part of end delete begin insert at one
or more beach locations within end insert that health officer’s jurisdiction,
the department may authorize the use of that testing method begin delete in that
jurisdiction end delete begin insert at those end insert begin insert beach locations end insert instead of other testing
methods. In making that determination, the department shall take
into account whether an alternative indicator or subset of indicators,
with the associated test method, can provide results more quickly,
thereby reducing the period of time the public is at risk while
waiting for contamination to be confirmed.

(e) 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 (c) reveals levels of microbiological contaminants that
do not exceed, for a period of two years, the minimum protective
standards established pursuant to this section.

(f) 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.

(g) 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.

begin insert

(h) This section does not require a wastewater treatment agency
or other party conducting microbiological contamination testing
of the waters under his or her jurisdiction, who provides those test
results to a local health officer pursuant to this section, to use
United States Environmental Protection Agency method 1609 or
1611, or any equivalent or improved rapid detection method
published by the United States Environmental Protection Agency
for use in beach water quality assessment or approved as an
alternative test procedure pursuant to Part 136 of Title 40 of the
Code of Federal Regulations, for total maximum daily load
implementation, waste discharge requirements, or other monitoring
programs required to be implemented pursuant to Division 7
(commencing with Section 13000) of the Water Code.

end insert begin delete

(h)

end delete

begin insert (i) end insert  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.