BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON HUMAN SERVICES
Senator McGuire, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: AB 2099
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|Author: |Mark Stone |
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|Version: |May 27, 2016 |Hearing |June 14, 2016 |
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|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes |
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|Consultant|Debra Cooper |
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Subject: Safe drinking water benefit
SUMMARY
This bill would require the California Department of Social
Services (CDSS) to establish and administer a safe drinking
water assistance program to provide cash benefits to low-income
households with inadequate access to safe drinking water. This
bill would also require CDSS, in consultation with other
specified state agencies, to create a workgroup to develop
recommendations for the program.
ABSTRACT
Existing law:
1) Establishes the Human Right to Water Act, ensuring that
every person has the right to safe, clean, affordable, and
accessible water adequate for human consumption, cooking,
and sanitary purposes. (WAT 106.3 (a))
2) Defines a "disadvantaged community" as a community "in
which the median household income is less than 80 percent
of the statewide average." (HSC 116275 (ab))
3) Defines a "small community water system" as a "community
water system that serves no more than 3,300 service
connections or a year-long population of no more than
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10,000 persons." (HSC 116275 (aa))
4) Establishes the Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) Act,
defining the EBT system as the program to provide benefits
to recipients of public social services (WIC 10065 et seq.)
5) Requires the Office of Systems Integration within CDSS
to implement a statewide automated welfare system for
specified public assistance programs. (WIC 10823)
6) Establishes the Water Quality, Supply, and
Infrastructure Improvement Act of 2014, providing funding
for projects that improve water quality and provide
reliable drinking water. Eligible projects address the
critical and immediate needs of disadvantaged, rural, or
small communities that suffer from contaminated drinking
water supplies, including, but not limited to, projects
that address a public health emergency. (WAT 79720 et
seq.)
7) Allocates, pursuant to Proposition 1, $260 million for
grants and loans for public water system infrastructure
improvements and related actions to meet safe drinking
water standards and/or ensure affordable drinking water.
Requires that priority is given to projects that provide
treatment for contamination or access to an alternate
drinking water source 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. (WAT 79724. (a)(1))
This bill:
1) Makes a series of uncodified Legislative findings and
declarations including:
a. Describing the EBT system and its advantages
for delivering public benefits.
b. Stating that the Legislature and the Governor
established The Human Right to Water in 2013, and that
despite a history of proactive water policies,
California residents still face formidable challenges
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as the drought continues to exacerbate water quality
issues for disadvantaged communities who
disproportionately bear the health and financial
impacts of inadequate access to safe water.
c. Significant barriers to water access exist for
marginalized Californians who are forced to choose
between drinking water and expending scarce resources
to pay for clean water, including in 2014, more than 1
million Californians faced water safety violations
that made water unsafe to drink, and as the drought
enters its fifth year, more than 2,000 domestic wells
have gone dry in the Central Valley, affecting tens of
thousands of people. Many small communities face
chronic water quality problems. Almost 400 small rural
water systems and schools are unable to provide safe
drinking water.
d. Declares Legislative intent to use the EBT
system to deliver emergency water to households in
disadvantaged communities.
2) Requires CDSS to convene a workgroup on or before
February 1, 2017, 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 that the water benefit to the extent possible,
be provided through the EBT system and be funded from
existing emergency drought response resources allocated for
interim water assistance.
4) Requires the workgroup to consist of representatives
from CDSS, the State Water Resources Control Board, the
Department of Water Resources, the Office of Emergency
Services, the County Welfare Directors Association of
California, Food Policy Advocates, and other applicable
community advocates.
5) Requires the recommendations established through the
workgroup to include the design of the benefit and an
implementation plan that considers the following
populations:
a. Households in disadvantaged communities served
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by noncompliant small community water systems.
b. Households located in communities deemed
eligible for interim emergency drinking water
benefits.
c. Households with private wells that have active
outages or water supply problems.
6) Requires the recommendations shall include possibilities
for interim or permanent adoption and implementation of the
benefit through regulations, all-county letters, or similar
instruction.
7) Requires CDSS to submit a report of the recommendations
to the Legislature and the California Health and Human
Services Agency by July 1, 2017, as specified.
8) Sunsets the provisions of this bill on July 1, 2021, and
repeals those provisions on January 1, 2022.
FISCAL IMPACT
According to an analysis by the Assembly Committee on
Appropriations, costs for CDSS to convene the workgroup and to
produce the required report to the Legislature for this bill
would be minor and absorbable; future costs for CDSS to
implement the recommendations in the report would be
significant.
BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION
Purpose of the bill:
According to the author, the state has taken several measures -
all implemented following the Governor's emergency declaration
for the drought - to increase adequate drinking water to
low-income households, however these measures have not met the
needs of all low-income Californians with inadequate drinking
water. Access to programs providing resources for safe drinking
water varies across the state: Some communities rely on grants
awarded to the county, others rely on local non-profit
organizations, and only in Tulare County do residents have
access to a county-run water assistance program.
Purchasing bottled water is a costly alternative to gain access
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to safe drinking water. In households where income falls below
the poverty level, 20% of their income can be devoted to water
sanitation and purchasing bottled water. The author acknowledges
that long-term solutions are necessary to increase access to
adequate drinking water, however this bill provides "temporary
relief to struggling families who live in homes with inadequate
drinking water supplies."
Access to safe drinking water
In 2012, the Human Right to Water Law (AB 685, Eng, Chapter 524,
Statutes of 2012), affirmed the right of every person to safe,
clean, affordable, and accessible drinking water. Because of
both human actions and naturally occurring processes, such as
infrastructure failures, polluted water sources, and the
drought, many low-income communities have inadequate drinking
water. According to the Public Policy Institute of California
(PPIC) almost 400 small rural water systems and schools across
the state are unable to provide safe drinking water, and
treatment to remove contaminants is costly for small systems.
In 2013, a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency survey
identified California as the state with the greatest
infrastructure improvement needs. The state has taken a number
of interim steps to help ensure that low-income households can
obtain safe drinking water. Recent measures taken include
approval by the State Water Resources Board of $19 million from
the Cleanup and Abatement Account in 2015 to meet interim
emergency drinking water needs. Additionally, the Office of
Emergency Services received $22 million in 2015 to provide
emergency drinking water, and the Department of Water Resources
received $45 million to assist with drinking water shortages.
The sponsors of the bill, California Food Policy Advocates,
state that "without affordable access to safe water,
disadvantaged communities in California will continue to bear a
disproportionate burden of this drought." They contend that this
bill will provide an interim, supplemental benefit for
households in disadvantaged communities.
Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT)
The EBT system is an electronic system in California used for
the delivery of public assistance benefits such as CalWORKS and
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CalFresh. EBT is currently used in all 50 states, the District
of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and Guam. In
California, recipients of public assistance access their
benefits through 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. The cards are used similarly to a
bank ATM or debit card by sliding the card through a
point-of-sale device or ATM to receive and use benefits. Bottled
drinking water is currently an eligible food item under the
California EBT program, but purchasing bottled water with EBT
credit reduces the remaining benefit amount available for other
nutritional needs.
Related legislation:
AB 1376 (Perea, 2015) would have general fund monies for
projects that address drought-related drinking water
emergencies. It was held in the Assembly Water, Parks and
Wildlife Committee.
AB 401 (Dodd, Chapter 662, Statutes of 2015) required the State
Water Resources Control Board and the Board of Equalization to
develop a plan to fund and implement the Low-Income Water Rate
Assistance Program, which would create recommendations for
cost-effective methods of offering assistance to low-income
water customers.
AB 1471 (Rendon, Chapter 188, Statutes of 2014) established the
Water Quality, Supply, and Infrastructure Improvement Act of
2014.
SB 104 (Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review, Chapter 3,
Statutes of 2014) appropriated funds to the Department of Water
Resources for integrated regional water management grants for
projects that provide immediate regional drought preparedness,
increase local water supply reliability and the delivery of safe
drinking water, and appropriated funds to the Department of
Water Resources for integrated regional water management grants.
AB 685 (Eng, Chapter 524, Statutes of 2012) established the
Human Right to Water Act.
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COMMENTS
The intention of this bill is to provide an interim solution for
increasing access to safe drinking water for individuals in
disadvantaged communities whose water supply is inadequate. This
bill would create a committee to study the feasibility of, among
other things, delivering emergency water benefits through the
EBT system, or to consider the most efficient and effective way
of implementing the benefit.
It is unclear if the existing EBT system can dedicate benefits
specifically to emergency water relief. However, the state is
working to fulfill a federal mandate which requires state
agencies that deliver food benefits to implement EBT systems
that incorporate WIC by October 1, 2020. The California
Department of Public Health (CDPH) is currently working on
meeting the Federal mandate by developing technology that
incorporates EBT Services for Food and Cash programs and the WIC
Program. Though still in development, it is possible that this
technology will allow for benefits to be more targeted, and
would allow specific allocations for an emergency water benefit.
As that technology is not currently developed, and may not be
available before October 1, 2020, the author may want to
emphasize that the EBT system is to be used only if it is
feasible to do so.
Staff recommends the following amendment:
(j) Recognizing this, it is the intent of the Legislature to
utilize the existing EBT system to deliver appropriate emergency
water benefits to disadvantaged households in an efficient and
effective manner , and to the extent possible, to utilize the EBT
system to accomplish this goal .
PRIOR VOTES
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|Assembly Floor: |78 - |
| |1 |
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|Assembly Appropriations Committee: |20 - |
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|Assembly Human Services Committee: |6 - |
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| |0 |
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POSITIONS
Support:
California Food Policy Advocates (Sponsor)
Asian Law Alliance
CA4Health
California Academy of Physicians
California Health+ Advocates
Community Health Councils
Community Water Center
Jewish Family Service of Los Angeles (JFS)
Rural Community Assistance Corporation
The American heart Association/ American Stroke Association
The California Association of Food Banks
The Los Angeles Trust for Children's Health
Oppose:
None
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