BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 951
Page 1
CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB
951 (Wilk)
As Amended June 10, 2015
Majority vote
--------------------------------------------------------------------
|ASSEMBLY: | 77-0 | (May 7, 2015) |SENATE: |40-0 | (August 31, |
| | | | | |2015) |
| | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Original Committee Reference: L. GOV.
SUMMARY: Requires all regular and special meetings of the Santa
Clarita Valley Sanitation District (SCVSD), where decisions are
being made upon policy items relating to a total maximum daily
load (TMDL) of any pollutant, to be held within the boundaries
of the SCVSD.
The Senate amendments narrow this bill's requirement to apply
only to meetings where decisions are being made upon policy
items relating to a TMDL of any pollutant, and make conforming
and technical changes.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Requires, pursuant to the Ralph M. Brown Act (Brown Act), that
regular and special meetings of a legislative body must be
AB 951
Page 2
held within the boundaries of the territory over which the
local agency exercises jurisdiction, except that the local
agency may meet at its principal office if that office is
located outside the territory over which the agency exercises
jurisdiction.
2)Provides, pursuant to the County Sanitation District Act (CSD
Act), for the formation, consolidation, officers, and powers
of county sanitation districts (CSDs), which must comply with
the Brown Act.
3)Requires, pursuant to Proposition 42 as passed by voters on
June 3, 2014, that all local governments comply with the
California Public Records Act (CPRA) and the Brown Act and
with any subsequent changes to those Acts. Proposition 42
also eliminated reimbursement to local agencies for costs of
complying with these acts.
4)Requires, pursuant to the Federal Water Pollution Control Act,
each state to identify those waters for which prescribed
effluent limitations are not stringent enough to implement
applicable water quality standards and to establish, with
regard to those waters, TMDLs, subject to the approval of the
United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), for
certain pollutants at a level necessary to implement those
water quality standards.
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8, negligible state costs.
COMMENTS:
1)Bill Summary. This bill requires all regular and special
meetings of the SCVSD, where decisions are being made upon
policy items relating to a TMDL of any pollutant, to be held
within the boundaries of the SCVSD. By placing this
AB 951
Page 3
requirement in the Brown Act (rather than the County
Sanitation District Act), this bill falls under the
requirements of Proposition 42 that eliminated reimbursement
to local agencies for the costs of complying with the Brown
Act. This bill is sponsored by the author.
2)Author's Statement. According to the author, "Santa Clarita
Valley (SCV) has been locked in a 15-year battle with the Los
Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board (LARWQCB) to
reduce the level of chloride that can be discharged into the
Santa Clara River. The LARWQCB arbitrarily set a limit of 100
PPM of chloride, claiming any amount higher than that level
harms the crops of Ventura County farmers - a finding yet to
be supported by science.
"In any event, the Santa Clarita Valley Sanitation District
Board (SCVSD) charged with the responsibility to come up with
a plan to comply with the proposed limit, chose and sited a
plan to reduce the chloride level by drilling and storing
brine underground below the communities of Westridge and
Stevenson Ranch. It was then discovered that neither the
community nor its leaders had much information about the
proposed location and that those decisions made by SCVSD in
regard to this issue had been made, more than likely, 50 miles
from SCV in Whittier where the SCVSD Board regularly meets.
While an occasional local meeting was scheduled and announced,
on the chloride issue, meetings took place outside the view of
SCV residents and ratepayers. Naturally, the distance
discourages public comment from the effected residents and
their ability to be informed of all the facts and in this case
specifically, the Westridge and Stevenson Ranch portions of
SCV were left in the dark about a decision that would have a
major impact not only on their water rates, but as to the deep
well brine injection, their property values, earthquake
insurance, and quiet enjoyment of their properties.
"Assembly Bill 951 would require the SCVSD, when any issue is
to be discussed or decided upon that effects its residents and
ratepayers, to hold their Board meetings within the boundaries
AB 951
Page 4
of that district. To do otherwise and continue to hold any of
those meetings in Whittier makes public testimony and access
to information a burden for residents living in the SCV. Had
this measure already been law, residents and ratepayers would
have had constructive knowledge of the proposal and the
ability to comment on its efficacy, saving both the residents
and the SCVSD valuable time and money."
3)Background. The SCVSD is one of 24 independent special
districts that make up the Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles
County (Sanitation Districts), a public agency created under
state law to manage wastewater and solid waste on a regional
scale. Its member agencies combined serve about 5.5 million
people in Los Angeles County. The service area covers
approximately 824 square miles and encompasses 78 cities and
unincorporated territory within the county. The Sanitation
Districts treat about half the wastewater in Los Angeles
County.
To maximize efficiency and reduce costs, the 24 Sanitation
Districts work cooperatively under a Joint Administration
Agreement with one administrative staff headquartered near the
City of Whittier. Each individual Sanitation District has a
Board of Directors consisting of the mayor of each city and
the Chair of the Board of Supervisors for unincorporated
territory. Each Sanitation District pays its proportionate
share of joint administrative costs.
4)SCVSD. The SCVSD is a local agency that collects wastewater
from Santa Clarita Valley's homes and businesses. The
wastewater travels through sewer pipes to two sewage treatment
plants, the Saugus and Valencia Water Reclamation Plants
(WRPs), where it is cleaned and disinfected to produce high
quality recycled water. The recycled water is returned to the
environment through the Santa Clara River or provided to local
water agencies for irrigating landscape. Property owners pay
for their sewer services, including operating the sewage
treatment plants, through a sewer service charge.
AB 951
Page 5
The SCVSD is regulated by the EPA through a delegated
authority to the State Water Resources Control Board, assisted
by the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board
(Regional Water Board). The Federal Water Pollution Control
Act requires California to identify waters for which
prescribed effluent limitations are not stringent enough to
implement applicable water quality standards and to establish
TMDLs for those waters, subject to the approval of the EPA,
for certain pollutants at a level necessary to implement those
water quality standards.
Both the Saugus and Valencia WRPs discharge their recycled
water to the Santa Clara River, which is designated as a water
of the United States. Accordingly, each plant must have a
National Pollution Discharge Elimination System permit issued
by the Regional Water Board. This permit designates a number
of requirements that must be met before the recycled water can
be discharged. Failure to comply with the terms of the permit
can result in significant state and federal fines.
5)State-Mandated Chloride (Salt) Limit. The state is requiring
the Santa Clarita Valley to reduce the chloride levels in the
treated wastewater discharged to the Santa Clara River and has
set strict deadlines that the Santa Clarita Valley must meet.
Salt levels in the Santa Clarita Valley's treated sewage are
above the state-mandated chloride limit. For more than 10
years, the SCVSD challenged the state's chloride limit and
deadlines. However, the state rejected all of SCVSD's
challenges and subsequently fined SCVSD $225,000 for failing
to comply with the state-mandated chloride limit. This fine
was paid by ratepayers.
SCVSD began to prepare a Chloride Compliance Facilities Plan
and Environmental Impact Report (EIR) to evaluate possible
alternatives for complying with the state's chloride mandate.
According to the SCVSD, this process "included extensive
public outreach involving homeowner organizations,
neighborhood councils, the business community, and other
AB 951
Page 6
stakeholder groups who offered invaluable input on different
alternatives and financial impacts. Based on this input and
following a lengthy public hearing, a project involving
ultraviolet (UV) disinfection, microfiltration/reverse osmosis
(MF/RO), and brine disposal by deep well injection was
selected as the least expensive alternative that would comply
with the state's strict chloride mandate."
The portion of the compliance project that involves brine
(salty water) disposal by deep well injection into very salty,
unusable water 1-2 miles below the ground is not considered
fracking. Brine is a normal by-product of the MF/RO
treatment.
According to the SCVSD, "On April 24, 2013, the (SCVSD)
released the proposed plans for public review and comment, and
provided many opportunities for public input. The extended
90-day public comment period closed on July 24, 2013. A
revised plan, including responses to all public input and
recommendations, was released on October 10, 2013." The SCVSD
Board of Directors unanimously agreed to certify the Final EIR
and approve the Final Chloride Compliance Facilities Plan on
October 28, 2013.
Also according to the SCVSD, "The SCVSD conducted a local
planning process that encouraged community input. Four
information meetings were held to provide an opportunity to
learn more about the process and discuss the process with
(SCVSD) staff. Over 25 presentations were given to local
groups and organizations to discuss the alternatives and
gather input. Four public hearings were held to receive
official public comment, (and SCVSD) staff also responded to
numerous phone calls, e-mails and requests for information.
These and other public outreach efforts led to the submission
of 492 different comments from 114 separate individuals,
community organizations, and government agencies."
Despite these efforts, the proposed deep well injection site
AB 951
Page 7
at the Tournament Players Club in Stevenson Ranch and
Westridge engendered fierce opposition from those communities.
SCVSD's Board subsequently voted to reject that site and seek
an alternative location.
6)Meeting Locations of the SCVSD Board. Traditionally, the
Sanitation Districts' boards meet in Whittier at the Joint
Administration Office. The meetings are grouped on different
days of the month, so some, though not all, of the boards
usually meet together. The joint board meetings are an
efficient and cost effective way to conduct business because
many of the directors serve on multiple boards. This is
because most of the district boundaries were set up to reflect
drainage boundaries rather than political boundaries. (Again,
there are a few exceptions where an entire city is in the
boundary of one district and the whole city council serves as
that district's board.)
The board of SCVSD is composed of the mayor, a city council
member, and the Chair of the Board of Supervisors. One reason
that the board meets in Whittier for routine matters is that
the Chair of the Board of Supervisors also sits on five other
CSD boards that meet on the same day, so it is very efficient
for him to attend all six board meetings. If there is a need
for a board meeting to be held in a different, more distant
location (e.g. Santa Clarita), it can be challenging for the
supervisor to attend.
That said, it has been the SCVSD Board's practice to hold
board meetings in Whittier on the 2nd Wednesday of each month,
and to hold special board meetings and public hearings in
Santa Clarita on matters of community interest, such as the
Chloride TMDL, the Chloride Compliance Project, and
rate-setting. The Board meetings held in Whittier typically
include routine matters such as materials and equipment
purchasing, routine actions for construction related to
operations, and annexations.
AB 951
Page 8
7)Proposition 42. Proposition 42 was passed by voters on June
3, 2014, and requires all local governments to comply with the
CPRA and the Brown Act and with any subsequent changes to
those Acts. Proposition 42 also eliminated reimbursement to
local agencies for costs of complying with the CPRA and the
Brown Act.
This bill contains language stating that the Legislature finds
and declares that Section 1 of the bill furthers the purposes
of the California Constitution as it relates to the right of
public access to the meetings of local public bodies or the
writings of local public officials and local agencies. This
bill also includes a finding that states, "Because of the need
to hold certain meetings of the SCVSD in a location within the
boundaries of the territory over which the district exercises
jurisdiction instead of at the principal office of the
district, which is over 50 miles away, this act would further
the purpose of Section 3 of Article I of the California
Constitution."
This bill also specifies that no reimbursement for local
agencies to implement the bill's provisions is necessary
because "the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency
or school district? would result from a legislative mandate
that is within the scope of paragraph (7) of subdivision (b)
of Section 3 of Article I of the California Constitution."
8)Policy Considerations. The Legislature might wish to consider
the following:
a) Brown Act Precedent. The Brown Act currently requires
regular and special meetings of a legislative body to be
held within the boundaries of the territory over which the
local agency exercises jurisdiction, except that the local
agency may meet at its principal office if that office is
located outside the territory over which the agency
exercises jurisdiction. This bill amends the Brown Act to
require a single agency, the SCVSD, to hold its regular and
AB 951
Page 9
special meetings within the SCVSD's territory when those
meetings include decisions regarding policy items relating
to a TMDL of any pollutant. This provision is a precedent
for the Brown Act, which does not otherwise specify meeting
locations for a particular entity. The Legislature may
wish to consider whether the circumstances that prompted
this bill warrant a precedent of this kind.
b) Is Legislation Necessary? It appears from information
published online and provided by the SCVSD that the public
input process was effective in the instance of the proposed
deep well injection site. Affected parties communicated
their concerns and the SCVSD eventually stopped the plan
and is now considering and vetting an alternative site.
The Legislature may wish to consider whether this bill is
necessary.
c) Appropriate Statutory Location. The provisions of this
bill have been placed in the Brown Act. The Legislature
may wish to consider whether they would more appropriately
be placed in the County Sanitation District Act.
9)Previous Legislation. SB 475 (Runner), Chapter 393, Statutes
of 2006, established a process by which the SCVSD may require
the removal of all residential water softening or conditioning
appliances that discharge to the public sewer system, in an
effort to reduce the volume of chloride discharged to the
Santa Clara River.
10)Arguments in Support. None on file.
11)Arguments in Opposition. None on file.
Analysis Prepared by:
Angela Mapp / L. GOV. / (916) 319-3958 FN:
0001361
AB 951
Page 10