AB 2124, as amended, Eduardo Garcia. State Water Resources Control Board: grant program for school drinking water.
Existing law requires a school district to provide access to free, fresh drinking water during meal times in school food service areas, unless the governing board of a school district adopts a resolution stating that it is unable to comply with this requirement and demonstrating the reasons why it is unable to comply due to fiscal constraints or health and safety concerns.
Existing law, the California Safe Drinking Water Act, governs drinking water quality, and requires the State Water Resources Control Board to ensure that all public water systems are operated in compliance with the act. Among other things, the act requires the board to adopt primary drinking water standards for contaminants in drinking water, as specified.
This bill would require the board to establish a grant program to award grants to public elementary and secondary schools to improve access to, and the quality of, drinking water at those schools. The bill would specify various types of projects that will provide students and school staff with access to safe drinking water for which these grants could be awarded. The bill would require the board to give priority to applicants that serve a very small disadvantaged community, as defined, and applicants that are served by public water systems that the board finds consistently fail to provide an adequate supply of safe drinking water. The bill would require the board to develop procedures for the submission of applications for grants by local educational agencies and criteria for the evaluation of these applications, as specified.
The bill would appropriate $10,000,000, without regard to fiscal years, from the General Fund to the board for allocation to local educational agencies as grants made pursuant to the bill. The bill would provide that funds allocated to local educational agencies pursuant to this bill would supplement, and not supplant, the other state funds apportioned to these local educational agencies for their support. To the extent that the funds appropriated by this bill are allocated to school districts, the amount of these funds would be applied toward the minimum funding requirements for school districts and community college districts imposed by Section 8 of Article XVI of the California Constitution.
begin insertThe bill would require the board to provide to the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature certain data within 6 months after the allocation of the funds appropriated by the bill to local educational agencies.
end insertVote: majority. Appropriation: yes. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
Section 189.3 is added to the Water Code, to
2read:
(a) The board shall establish a grant program to award
4grants to public elementary and secondary schools to improve
5access to, and the quality of, drinking water at those schools. The
6board may award grants under this section for projects that will
P3 1provide students and school staff with access to safe drinking
2water, including, but not necessarily limited to, any of the
3following:
4(1) Installation of water bottle filling stations.
5(2) Installation or replacement of drinking water fountains with
6devices that are capable of removing any contaminants that are
7present in the school’s water supply.
8(3) Installation of point-of-entry or point-of-use treatment
9devices.
10(4) Plumbing repairs that improve drinking water quality.
11(b) The board shall implement this section by taking actions
12including, but not necessarily limited to, the development of
13procedures for the submission of applications for grants by local
14educational agencies and criteria for the evaluation of these
15applications. The actions taken by the board pursuant to this
16subdivision shall not be subject to the rulemaking requirements of
17Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division
183 of Title 2 of the Government Code.
19(c) (1) In
developing the procedure for awarding grants, the
20board shall do each of the following:
21(A) Set requirements for grant recipients to adopt a program for
22inspecting and maintaining any water treatment device funded by
23the grant.
24(B) Establish a maximum grant amount.
25(C) Give priority to each of the following:
26(i) Applicants that serve a very small disadvantaged community.
27(ii) Applicants that are served by public water systems that the
28board finds consistently fail to provide an adequate supply of safe
29drinking water.
30(2) In developing the procedure for awarding grants, the board
31may encourage applicants to commit additional resources to the
32project, except that the board shall not require matching funds for
33local educational agencies serving very small disadvantaged
34communities or interfere with the prioritization of grant funding
35to very small disadvantaged communities.
36(d) For purposes of this section, “very small disadvantaged
37community” means a municipality with a population of 10,000
38persons or less, or a reasonably isolated and divisible segment of
39a larger municipality encompassing 10,000 persons or less, with
P4 1an annual median household income that is less than 80 percent
2of the statewide annual median household income.
begin insert(a)end insertbegin insert end insertThe sum of ten million dollars ($10,000,000) is
4hereby appropriated, without regard to fiscal years, from the
5General Fund to the State Water Resources Control Board for
6allocation to local educational agencies as grants to improve access
7to, and the quality of, drinking water at public elementary and
8secondary schools pursuant to Section 189.3 of the Water Code.
9The funds allocated to local educational agencies pursuant to this
10section shall supplement, and not supplant, the other state funds
11apportioned to these local educational agencies for their support.
12
(b) Within six months after the allocation of the funds to local
13educational agencies, the State Water Resources Control Board
14shall provide to the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of
15the Legislature data relating to the allocation that include a
16summary of the following:
17
(1) The number and percentages of the types of projects funded
18pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 189.3 of the Water Code.
19
(2) The average amount of funding per application.
20
(3) The geographical distribution of the grants.
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