BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2099
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 12, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY AND TOXIC MATERIALS
Luis Alejo, Chair
AB 2099
(Mark Stone) - As Amended March 31, 2016
SUBJECT: Safe drinking water assistance
SUMMARY: Requires, on or before February 1, 2017, the State
Department of Social Services (DSS) to convene a workgroup to
develop recommendations for delivering a water benefit to
supplement the purchase of drinking water for low-income
households with inadequate access to safe drinking water.
Specifically, this bill:
1)Makes legislative findings about the effectiveness of the
electronic benefits transfer (EBT) system and the lack of
accessible, safe drinking water for many Californians.
2)Requires, on or before February 1, 2017, DSS to convene a
workgroup to develop recommendations for delivering a water
benefit to supplement the purchase of drinking water for
low-income households with inadequate access to safe drinking
water.
3)Requires the water benefit to do all of the following:
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a) Be made available to low-income households with
inadequate access to safe drinking water, including, but
not limited to all of the following:
i) Households served by noncompliant small water
systems in disadvantaged communities;
ii) Households located in communities deemed eligible
for interim emergency drinking water benefits by the
State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board);
and,
iii) Households whose private wells have active outages
or water supply problems, as determined by the Department
of Water Resources;
b) Be provided, to the extent possible, through the EBT
system; and,
c) Be funded, to the extent possible, from existing
emergency drought response resources allocated for interim
water assistance.
4)Requires the workgroup to consist of representatives from all
of the following entities: DSS; the State Water Board; the
Department of Water Resources; the Office of Emergency
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Services; the County Welfare Directors Association of
California; food policy advocates; and, other applicable
community advocates.
5)Requires the workgroup to develop recommendations that include
all of the following:
a) The design of the benefit;
b) An implementation plan for identification of eligible
households and delivery of the benefit to those households;
and,
c) Possibilities for interim or permanent adoption and
implementation of the benefit through regulations,
all-county letters, or similar instruction.
6)Requires DSS to submit a report with the recommendations to
the Legislature and the California Health and Human Services
Agency by July 1, 2017.
7)Sunsets the provisions of this bill on July 1, 2021, and on
January 1, 2022, repeals those provisions.
EXISTING LAW:
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1)Establishes the Water Quality, Supply, and Infrastructure
Improvement Act of 2014 (Proposition 1), which was approved by
the voters on November 4, 2014. (Water Code (WC) §79700 et
seq.)
2)Allocates, pursuant to Proposition 1, two hundred sixty
million dollars ($260,000,000) for grants and loans for public
water system infrastructure improvements and related actions
to meet safe drinking water standards, ensure affordable
drinking water, or both. Requires that priority is given to
projects that provide treatment for contamination or access to
an alternate drinking water source or sources for small
community water systems or state small water systems in
disadvantaged communities whose drinking water source is
impaired by chemical and nitrate contaminants and other health
hazards identified by the State Water Board. (WC § 79724.
(a)(1))
3)Defines "disadvantaged community" as a community with an
annual median household income that is less than 80% of the
statewide annual median household income. (WC §79505.5)
4)Establishes the EBT Act, and defines the EBT system as the
program designed to provide benefits to those eligible to
receive public assistance benefits such as California Work
Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) and
CalFresh. (Welfare and Institutions Code (WIC) §10065 et
seq.)
5)Requires the Office of Systems Integration within the
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Department of Social Services (DSS) to implement a statewide
automated welfare system (SAWS) for specified public
assistance programs. (WIC §10823)
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown.
COMMENTS:
Need for the bill: According to the author,
"AB 2099 provides temporary relief to struggling families who
live in homes with inadequate drinking water supplies by
offsetting the cost of bottled water during the interim wait
for long-term water supply infrastructure upgrades. The
measure allows impoverished families and who live in a
community or home with insufficient, contaminated, or
otherwise unsafe drinking water supplies to access a small
supplemental cash benefit for purchasing water.
Ultimately, the best way to address the crisis of inadequate
drinking water supplies across the state is by investing in
several expensive, long-term solutions, including upgrading
existing infrastructure, improving water use efficiency and
conservation, improving water treatment, and carefully
monitoring and minimizing the use of contaminated water
supplies. In the meantime, though, poor people need and
deserve to access clean and safe drinking water."
Drinking water contamination in disadvantaged communities.
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According to the State Water Board report, "Communities that
Rely on Contaminated Groundwater," released in January 2013, 682
community public water systems, which serve nearly 21 million
people, rely on contaminated groundwater as a primary source of
drinking water. The report points out that an additional two
million Californians rely on groundwater from either a private
domestic well or a smaller groundwater-reliant system that is
not regulated by the state, the water quality of which is
uncertain. The findings from State Water Board report, and a
2012 UC Davis study, "Addressing Nitrate in California's
Drinking Water," suggest that drinking water contamination in
California disproportionally affects small, rural and low-income
communities that depend mostly on groundwater as their drinking
water source.
The recent drought has further compromised the state's drinking
water supplies. Since many rural households rely on shallow
domestic wells or small, poorly funded community water supply
systems, these communities have been the hardest hit. According
to the Public Policy Institute of California, as of early July
2015, more than 2,000 dry domestic wells were reported, mostly
in the Central Valley and Sierras, with more than half in Tulare
County. Emergency water supply needs have also been identified
for more than 100 small water community water systems around the
state
Recent action to address drinking water needs: In December
2013, Governor Brown established an interagency drought response
team to coordinate drought relief efforts, and in January 2014,
he declared a statewide drought emergency. According to the
PPIC, the state has recently significantly improved its
emergency response for communities lacking drinking water. The
multiple agencies involved have strengthened coordination to
identify needs and deliver help.
In light of increasing drinking water system failures
exasperated by the drought, both the Legislature and the
Governor have taken many steps to provide funding for drought
relief, including the provision of safe drinking water. For
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example, Proposition 1 (Assembly Bill (AB) 1471, Rendon, Chapter
188, Statutes of 2014), approved by the voters on November 4,
2014, authorized $7.545 billion in general obligation bonds for
water projects, including surface and groundwater storage;
ecosystem and watershed protection and restoration; and,
drinking water protection. Proposition 1 allocates $260 million
for drinking water grants and loans for public water system
infrastructure improvements and related actions to meet safe
drinking water standards, ensure affordable drinking water, or
both. As of February 1, 2016, about $9 million of this
allocation was awarded.
Additionally, on March 27, 2015, Governor Brown approved a $1
billion emergency drought relief package when he signed AB 91
(Committee on Budget, Chapter 1, Statutes of 2015) and AB 92
(Committee on Budget, Chapter 2, Statutes of 2015). As a result
of the Governor's action, the State Water Board approved $19
million in funding from the Cleanup and Abatement Account to
meet interim emergency drinking water needs for those
communities with a contaminated water supply or which suffer
drought related water outages or threatened emergencies. In an
effort to distribute funds as quickly and efficiently as
possible, the State Water Board is coordinating with the
Regional Water Quality Control Boards, the State Water Board's
Division of Drinking Water district offices, the Governor's
Office of Emergency Services, the Department of Water Resources,
and other stakeholders (e.g., environmental justice groups,
community assistance groups) to identify those communities that
are most at risk and require financial assistance.
Approximately $11 million of this funding allocation has been
committed or spent.
Additional drinking water needs: The author argues that while
the Legislature has taken several necessary steps to make
long-term improvements to water delivery and water
infrastructure, "over a million Californians continue to live in
households where their tap water is so contaminated that no one
can drink it, and thousands of Californians live in homes where
there simply is no water to use - their wells dried up during
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the drought." The Orange County Food Access Coalition argues,
"The drought continues to exacerbate water quality issues for
disadvantaged communities who disproportionately bear the health
and financial impacts of unsafe drinking water? Families should
not be spending scarce resources to pay for clean water.
Californians should not be forced to choose between drinking
contaminated water and expending scarce household resources to
pay for clean water. In the Central Valley, some households
devote approximately 20 percent of their annual median income of
$14,000 to pay for water and sanitation services and to purchase
bottled water."
Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) Program: The EBT Project is
the system used in California for the delivery, redemption, and
reconciliation of issued public assistance benefits, such as
CalFresh benefits (formerly known as Food Stamps and currently
known federally as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or
SNAP benefits), California Food Assistance Program benefits, and
cash aid benefits. EBT is used is all 50 states, as well as the
District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and Guam.
Recipients of public assistance in California access their
issued benefits with the Golden State Advantage EBT card.
California EBT cards can be used at more than 15,000 businesses
and over 54,000 ATMs in California and are used similarly to a
bank ATM or debit card to receive and use food stamp and/or cash
benefits. Food stamp benefits can only be used for food and for
plants and seeds to grow food for household consumption.
Bottled drinking water is an eligible food item under the
California EBT program; however, of course, purchasing water
with EBT credit reduces the amount of the benefit that the
recipient can use for other nutritional needs.
This bill seeks to develop another tool by which to provide
communities in need with immediate access to drinking water
assistance.
Double referral: This bill was double referred to the Assembly
Committees on Human Services and on Environmental Safety and
Toxic Materials. It passed the Committee on Human Services on
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March 29, 2016 on a 6 - 0 vote.
Committee amendments: The Committee may wish to amend the bill
as follows.
1)Authorize the workgroup to consider the listed criteria for
eligibility for the water benefit, instead of requiring them
to include all of the criteria.
2)Ensure that all potential households served by dry wells are
included for consideration for eligibility by amending the
bill as follows: On page 5, line 34 and 35, strike "as
determined by the Department of Water Resources."
3)Ensure that the appropriate communities are targeted by the
provisions of the bill by amending the bill as follows: On
page 5, delete lines 27 - 29, and instead insert: "Households
in disadvantaged communities served by noncompliant small
community water systems, as defined in HSC 116275."
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
CA4Health
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California Academy of Family Physicians
California Association of Food Banks
California Center for Public Health Advocacy (CCPHA)
California Food Policy Advocates (CFPA) - sponsor
California Health Councils
California Pan-Ethnic Health Network
California Primary Care Association (CPCA)
California Retailers Association
California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation (CRLAF)
California State Alliance of YMCAs
Coalition of California Welfare Rights Organizations (CCWRO)
Community Health Councils
Community Water Center
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Environmental Justice Coalition for Water
Food Access Coalition
Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability
Orange County Food Access Coalition
Rural Community Assistance Corporation
Sacramento Hunger Coalition (SHC)
Sierra Club California
St. Anthony Foundation
The Environmental Justice Coalition for Water
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by:Shannon McKinney / E.S. & T.M. / (916)
319-3965
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