BILL ANALYSIS Ó SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair 2015 - 2016 Regular Session SB 664 (Hertzberg) - Water: urban water management planning. ----------------------------------------------------------------- | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- |--------------------------------+--------------------------------| | | | |Version: April 30, 2015 |Policy Vote: N.R. & W. 8 - 0 | | | | |--------------------------------+--------------------------------| | | | |Urgency: No |Mandate: No (see staff comment) | | | | |--------------------------------+--------------------------------| | | | |Hearing Date: May 11, 2015 |Consultant: Marie Liu | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File. Bill Summary: SB 664 would require an urban water supplier to include a seismic risk assessment and mitigation plan for their water system in their urban water management plan. Fiscal Impact: Minor and absorbable costs to the Department of Water Resources (DWR) to update their guidelines to reflect the new requirements under this bill. Cost pressures in the millions of dollars to various bond funds (General Fund) for seismic mitigation projects. Background: Urban water suppliers are required under the Urban Water Management Act to produce an Urban Water Management Plan (UWMP) every five years (in years ending in five and zero). Projects in an UWMP can be included in an Integrated Regional Water Management Plan (IRWMPs). SB 664 (Hertzberg) Page 1 of ? The creation and Implementation of IRWMPs are eligible for funding under various water bonds, including most recently, Proposition 1. Proposed Law: This bill would require UWMPs to include a seismic risk assessment and mitigation plan to assess the vulnerability of its facilities and to mitigate those vulnerabilities. This bill would give the urban water suppliers until July 1, 2017 to submit the assessment for the 2015 plan. Staff Comments: As this bill will indirectly allow for the inclusion of seismic upgrade projects in IWRMPs, this bill imposes additional cost pressures on existing limited bond funds to fund such projects. Staff notes that UWMP are required documents of urban water suppliers. Thus, this bill creates a state mandate by requiring additional information to be included in the UWMP. Water suppliers are likely to incur significant costs to comply with the bill's requirements, especially given the relatively short frame to complete the first risk assessment. However, because water suppliers have fee authority to recover its costs from its customers, this mandate is not reimbursable. -- END --