BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular Session
AB 401 (Dodd) - Low-Income Water Rate Assistance Program.
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|Version: July 9, 2015 |Policy Vote: E., U., & C. 8 - 1 |
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|Urgency: No |Mandate: No |
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|Hearing Date: August 17, 2015 |Consultant: Marie Liu |
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This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill
Summary: AB 401 would require the Department of Community
Services and Development (CSD), in collaboration with the Board
of Equalization (BOE), by January 1, 2017, to develop a plan for
the funding and implementation of the Low-Income Water Rate
Assistance Program.
Fiscal
Impact:
One-time costs of approximately $331,000 to the General Fund
over two years to CSD for the development of feasibility plan.
Cost pressures, possibly in the millions of dollars, to the
General Fund or unknown special fund for the implementation of
the feasibility plan.
Background: Existing law requires the California Public Utilities
Commission (CPUC) to establish the California Alternative Rates
AB 401 (Dodd) Page 1 of
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for Energy (CARE) program to discount rates for gas and electric
customers that have incomes less than 200 percent of the federal
poverty level. The CPUC is also required to consider a program
of rate relief for low income customers of water corporations
(PUC §739.8).
Proposed Law:
This bill would require CSD to develop a plan for the funding
and implementation of the Low-Income Water Rate Assistance
Program, which would provide support for households with income
that is less than 200 percent of the federal poverty guideline
level.
CSD would be required to collaborate with the BOE and relevant
stakeholders.
CSD would be required to develop the plan by January 1, 2017 and
report its findings regarding the feasibility and desired
structure of the program to the Legislature by February 1, 2017.
Related
Legislation: AB 1434 (Yamada, 2014) was substantially similar
to this bill and was held on the Senate Appropriation's suspense
file.
Staff
Comments: To develop the required plan, CSD would incur costs of
$219,000 in FY 2015-16 and $112,000 in FY 2016-17 for increased
staff workload and consulting costs.
The BOE is likely to have minor and absorbable costs to
participate in the development of the plan assuming it will only
be providing technical assistance to the effort. The BOE notes
that it has expertise in tax collection and administration and
does not have a knowledge base on low-income funding assistance.
This bill would also result in cost pressures for the
implementation of the plan. The amount of the cost pressure or
source of funding are unknown as it will depend on the design
and structure of the recommended program. However, based on the
AB 401 (Dodd) Page 2 of
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size of the CARE program, the Low-income Water Rate Assistance
Program could easily be in the millions of dollars. The cost
pressures would also include costs to administer such a rate
assistance program.
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