BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



          SENATE COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
                              Senator Wieckowski, Chair
                                2015 - 2016  Regular 
           
          Bill No:            AB 1531
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          |Author:    |Committee on Environmental Safety and Toxic          |
          |           |Materials                                            |
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          |Version:   |6/19/2015              |Hearing      |7/1/2015        |
          |           |                       |Date:        |                |
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          |Urgency:   |No                     |Fiscal:      |Yes             |
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          |Consultant:|Rachel Machi Wagoner                                 |
          |           |                                                     |
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          SUBJECT:  State Water Resources Control Board.

            ANALYSIS:
          
          Existing law:  
          
          1) Establishes the California Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) to  
             govern the state's drinking water program and to be the  
             delegated authority by the United States Environmental  
             Protection Agency (US EPA) for enforcement of the federal  
             SDWA.

          2) Establishes the Drinking Water Program (DWP) within the State  
             Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) to regulate public  
             drinking water systems and enforce federal and state drinking  
             water acts.

          3) Transferred the State DWP from the California Department of  
             Public Health (DPH) to SWRCB.

          4) Establishes the Safe Drinking Water Small Community Emergency  
             Grant Fund and authorizes the SWRCB to assess an annual  
             charge to be deposited in this fund in lieu of interest that  
             would otherwise be charged on Safe Drinking Water State  
             Revolving Fund (SDWSRF) loans.

          5) Establishes the Porter-Cologne Water Quality Act, which  
             provides for:








          AB 1531 (Committee on Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials)   
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             a)    Establishment of water quality policy;

         b)Enforcement of water quality standards for both surface and  
            ground 
                         water; and

            c)  Regulating of discharges of pollutants from point and  
              non-point 
                         sources. 

          1) Provides that the SWRCB and nine Regional Water Quality  
             Control Boards are the principal state agencies with the  
             responsibility for controlling water quality in California.


          This bill:  Makes numerous changes and corrections to the SDWA  
          and the Clean Water Act carried out by the SWRCB.  Specifically,  
          this bill:  


          1)Consolidates into one section provisions of existing law that  
            require state and local agencies that are subject to  
            regulation by the SWRCB to pay water quality and/or drinking  
            water regulatory fees.  

          2)Conforms SDWSRF requirements to Clean Water State Revolving  
            Fund requirements by providing express authority to municipal  
            borrowers to take loans from the SDWSRF.

          3)Corrects outdated references to DPH that should instead  
            reference SWRCB for the DWP.

          4)Authorizes the SWRCB to adopt emergency regulations for  
            regulatory changes necessary to conform state regulations to  
            federal requirements in order to maintain program authority  
            under the federal SDWA.  
             
          5)Authorize SWRCB to adopt regulations on the use of  
            point-of-entry (POE) and point-of-use (POU) treatment devices  
            by public water systems.

          6)Provides procedures for appealing SDWA regulatory actions to  
            the SWRCB. The Legislature transferred the SDWA program from  
            the DPH to the State Water Board in 2014.  








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          7)Provides consistency between SWRCB's authority to require  
            documents and test results from water providers regulated  
            under the SDWA with dischargers to waters of the state under  
            the Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act.  

          8)Requires public water systems to provide to SWRCB drinking  
            water test results, reports, and other information necessary  
            to carry out its responsibilities under the state SDWA within  
            15 days of receiving a request from an authorized  
            representative of SWRCB. 

          9)Corrects outdated references to the Department of Fish and  
            Wildlife.

          10) Allows SWRCB increased flexibility to set interest rates in  
            the SDWSRF  program.

          11) Establishes the "Safe Drinking Water State Revolving Fund  
            Administration Fund" in order to provide a place for SWRCB to  
            deposit the funds that it is already allowed to collect on  
            safe drinking water loans in lieu of interest to pay for  
            administrative costs.  

          12) Makes technical modifications to the Clean Water State  
            Revolving Fund statute to be consistent with the recently  
            enacted federal Water Resources Reform and Development Act of  
            2014.
            
          Comments
          
          1) Purpose of Bill.  According to author, "This proposal would  
             make a variety of technical changes to provisions in the  
             Water Code and Health and Safety Code, including eliminating  
             outdated provisions of law, correcting erroneous cross  
             references, and providing statutory and regulatory authority  
             to conform state drinking water and water quality  
             requirements with federal requirements.  Additionally, as  
             follow up to recent legislation that transferred the Safe  
             Drinking Water Program from the Department of Public Health  
             to the State Water Resources Control Board, this proposal  
             would make several statutory changes to improve the  
             efficiency and effectiveness of the Safe Drinking Water  
             Regulatory Program."








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             The proposed technical cleanup was the result of finding  
             "provisions of the Water Code and Health and Safety Code  
             administered by the State Water Board that have erroneous  
             cross-references, are inconsistent with subsequently enacted  
             legislation or with corresponding federal legislation, or are  
             otherwise in need of technical correction.  These outdated  
             provisions restrict the State Water Board's abilities to  
             effectively implement the laws as intended and result in  
             ambiguities in the law that can result in increased  
             litigation.  Additionally, as a result of the transfer of the  
             Safe Drinking Water Program from the California Department of  
             Public Health to the State Water Board pursuant to SB 861  
             (Budget Committee), (Chapter 35, Statutes of 2014), the State  
             Water Board has identified several statutory changes that are  
             needed to help improve the efficiency and effectiveness of  
             administering the drinking water program."

          2) Amendments needed. 
             a)    The provisions of AB 1531 dealing with POE and POU  
                water treatment devices are similar to those contained in  
                AB 434 (Eduardo Garcia). The bill should be amended to  
                either remove this section from the bill or to reflect the  
                changes made to AB 434 by this committee to ensure that  
                this technology is used as a temporary solution for a  
                maximum of three years while the water system is working  
                with SWRCB to install centralized treatment.

             b)    AB 1531 repeals Sections 116293 and 116365.5 (Sections  
                5 and 7 of the legislation) which statutorily required the  
                adoption of Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCLs) for  
                perchlorate and hexavalent chromium respectively.  While  
                the MCLs have been adopted, making the statute outdated,  
                it is prudent to keep these sections in law in order to  
                maintain the policy directive in statute.  The bill should  
                be amended to delete these sections of the bill.

             c)    Legislative Counsel notes that AB 1531 has chaptering  
                conflicts with AB 110, AB 434, AB 977 and SB 83.   
                Amendments are needed prior to consideration of this  
                measure on the Senate Floor to avoid inadvertent  
                chaptering issues among these bills.

            Related/Prior Legislation








          AB 1531 (Committee on Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials)   
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          AB 434 (Eduardo Garcia) repeals the sunset date on emergency  
          regulations governing the permitted use of point-of-entry (POE)  
          and point-of-use (POU) treatment by public water systems in lieu  
          of centralized treatment.   This bill was approved by the Senate  
          Environmental Quality Committee on June 17, 2015, and is  
          currently awaiting action by the Senate Appropriations  
          Committee.
           
          SOURCE:                    Committee on Environmental Safety and Toxic  
                         Materials  

           SUPPORT:               

          None received  

           OPPOSITION:    

          None received  


           
                                          
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