BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



          SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                             Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
                            2015 - 2016  Regular  Session

          SB 664 (Hertzberg) - Water: urban water management planning.
          
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          |Version: April 30, 2015         |Policy Vote: N.R. & W. 8 - 0    |
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          |Urgency: No                     |Mandate: No (see staff comment) |
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          |Hearing Date: May 11, 2015      |Consultant: Marie Liu           |
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          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  
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          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. 




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