BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                    AB 2099


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          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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