BILL NUMBER: AB 2124 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 27, 2016
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 26, 2016
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 13, 2016
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 5, 2016
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 31, 2016
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 18, 2016
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Members Eduardo Garcia and Lackey
( Coauthors: Assembly Members
Alejo and Gonzalez )
FEBRUARY 17, 2016
An act to add Section 189.3 to the Water Code, relating to water,
and making an appropriation therefor.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
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, 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.
The 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.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: yes. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 189.3 is added to the Water Code, to read:
189.3. (a) The board shall 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 board
may award grants under this section for projects that will provide
students and school staff with access to safe drinking water,
including, but not necessarily limited to, any of the following:
(1) Installation of water bottle filling stations.
(2) Installation or replacement of drinking water fountains with
devices that are capable of removing any contaminants that are
present in the school's water supply.
(3) Installation of point-of-entry or point-of-use treatment
devices.
(4) Plumbing repairs that improve drinking water quality.
(b) The board shall implement this section by taking actions
including, but not necessarily limited to, the development of
procedures for the submission of applications for grants by local
educational agencies and criteria for the evaluation of these
applications. The actions taken by the board pursuant to this
subdivision shall not be subject to the rulemaking requirements of
Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3
of Title 2 of the Government Code.
(c) (1)
(c) (1) In developing
the procedure for awarding grants, the board shall do each of the
following:
(A) Set requirements for grant recipients to adopt a program for
inspecting and maintaining any water treatment device funded by the
grant.
(B) Establish a maximum grant amount.
(C) Give priority to each of the following:
(i) Applicants that serve a very small disadvantaged community.
(ii) Applicants that are served by public water systems that the
board finds consistently fail to provide an adequate supply of safe
drinking water.
(2) In developing the procedure for awarding grants, the board may
encourage applicants to commit additional resources to the project,
except that the board shall not require matching funds for local
educational agencies serving very small disadvantaged communities or
interfere with the prioritization of grant funding to very small
disadvantaged communities.
(d) For purposes of this section, "very small disadvantaged
community" means a municipality with a population of 10,000 persons
or less, or a reasonably isolated and divisible segment of a larger
municipality encompassing 10,000 persons or less, with an annual
median household income that is less than 80 percent of the statewide
annual median household income.
SEC. 2. (a) The sum of ten million dollars ($10,000,000) is hereby
appropriated, without regard to fiscal years, from the General Fund
to the State Water Resources Control Board for allocation to local
educational agencies as grants to improve access to, and the quality
of, drinking water at public elementary and secondary schools
pursuant to Section 189.3 of the Water Code. The funds allocated to
local educational agencies pursuant to this section shall supplement,
and not supplant, the other state funds apportioned to these local
educational agencies for their support.
(b) Within six months after the allocation of the funds to local
educational agencies, the State Water Resources Control Board shall
provide to the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the
Legislature data relating to the allocation that include a summary of
the following:
(1) The number and percentages of the types of projects funded
pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 189.3 of the Water Code.
(2) The average amount of funding per application.
(3) The geographical distribution of the grants.