BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION AND HOUSING
Senator Jim Beall, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: SB 7 Hearing Date: 4/14/2015
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|Author: |Wolk |
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|Version: |12/1/2014 |
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|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes |
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|Consultant|Randy Chinn |
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SUBJECT: Housing: water meters: multiunit structures
DIGEST: This bill authorizes the adoption of building standards
which require water submeters.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law authorizes the Department of Housing and Community
Development (HCD) to develop building standards and to submit
those standards to the California Building Standards Commission
(BSC) for approval.
This bill:
Authorizes HCD to develop a building standard for water
submeters and to submit that standard to the BSC for approval.
States that the intent of the bill is to encourage water
conservation and to ensure that water submetering practices
are just and reasonable.
COMMENTS:
1.Building Standards
HCD develops proposed building standards for adoption by the
BSC. The standards must meet a number of statutory criteria
for adoption, including that they must be in the public
interest; not be unreasonable, arbitrary or unfair; and that
the cost to the public is reasonable based on the overall
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benefit. BSC adopts building codes every three years. This
bill authorizes HCD to develop and propose building standards
for water submeters at their next code cycle, the 2018
triennial code adoption cycle. HCD would consider requiring
submeters without a companion requirement that tenants' water
bills must be based on the submeter information.
2.Submetering
The ultimate purpose of this bill is to create a framework for
water submetering, though there is no language in this bill to
that effect save the intent language. Last year this author
had two bills, SB 411 and SB 750, to establish a water
submetering regime for newly constructed apartment buildings.
Both bills failed in the Assembly.
Most apartment houses are master-metered for water; the rates
are closely regulated. To the water utility, the water
customer is the landlord of the apartment building, not the
tenants of the individual apartments, and there is generally
only one meter for the aggregate usage of the property. This
makes it much easier for the utility in that it has to service
only one customer, the landlord, who presumably recovers this
cost in the rent. Because individual tenants aren't billed
for their water consumption, and don't even know how much
water they are using, there is little incentive for tenants to
conserve. Increasingly, new apartment buildings have water
meters installed for individual apartments, a practice known
as submetering.
Studies show that submetering reduces water use. A study
jointly sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,
the National Apartment Association, and others<1> showed that
individual submetering can reduce water consumption by 15%.
Water submetering has many virtues. It benefits landlords,
who can charge tenants for the cost of water. It benefits
tenants, who can control their water cost based on usage. It
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<1> "National Multiple Family Submetering and Allocation
Billing Program Study," sponsored by United States
Environmental Protection Agency, National Apartment
Association, National Multi Housing Council, City of Austin,
City of Phoenix, City of Portland, City of Tucson, Denver Water
Department, East Bay Municipal Utility District, San Antonio
Water System, San Diego County Water Authority, Seattle Public
Utilities, and Southern Nevada Water Authority; 2004
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benefits water suppliers, as customers who are billed based on
usage use less. But submetering raises significant financial
and consumer protection issues: who pays for the submeters,
where are they installed, who is responsible for the accuracy
of the meters and rendering the bill, what is the cost for
rendering the bill, what is an appropriate rate design, how
are disputes resolved, etc. The author and many interested
parties are working on these issues. A consensus has not been
reached. Should this bill be amended to include a water
submetering program, the author and committee may wish to
consider bringing the bill back to committee for
consideration.
The City of San Diego enacted an ordinance in 2010 requiring
water submeters on every new multi-tenant building of three or
more units.
RELATED LEGISLATION:
SB 750 (Wolk, 2014) - required water submetering for all new
multi-unit residential structures. This bill failed passage in
the Assembly Water, Parks, and Wildlife Committee.
SB 411 (Wolk, 2014) - required water submetering for all new
multi-unit residential structures. This bill failed passage in
the Assembly Rules Committee.
AB 19 (Fong, 2011) - required water meters for all new
apartments and condos as of January 1, 2014. This bill failed
passage in the Assembly Housing and Community Development
Committee.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.: Yes Local: No
POSITIONS: (Communicated to the committee before noon on
Wednesday, April 8, 2015.)
SUPPORT:
Santa Clara Valley Water District
California Municipal Utilities Association
Sierra Club of California
OPPOSITION:
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None received.
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