SB 1456, as introduced, Galgiani. Safe Drinking Water State Revolving Fund Law of 1997: public water systems: financing.
Existing law establishes the Safe Drinking Water State Revolving Fund, and moneys in the fund are continuously appropriated to the State Water Resources Control Board for the provision of grants and revolving fund loans to provide for the design and construction of projects for public water systems that will enable suppliers to meet safe drinking water standards. Existing law, for community public water systems and not-for-profit noncommunity public water systems, allows planning and preliminary engineering studies, project design, and construction costs incurred by those public water systems to be funded by loans and other repayable financing. Existing law additionally allows, if those public water systems are owned by public agencies or not-for-profit water companies, those specified costs to be funded by grants, principal forgiveness, or a combination of grants and loans or other financial assistance.
This bill would authorize the above-described costs to be funded by loans or other repayable financing, grants, principal forgiveness, or a combination of grants and loans or other financial assistance, regardless of whether the public water system is a community public water system or a not-for-profit noncommunity public water system, or whether the public water system is owned by a public agency or private not-for-profit water company. By expanding the use of moneys in a continuously appropriated fund, this bill would make an appropriation.
Existing law deems a public agency or private not-for-profit water company serving a severely disadvantaged community with fewer than 200 service connections and that owns a small community water system or nontransient community water system to have no ability to repay any financing for a project serving the severely disadvantaged community.
This bill would apply this finding to any public water system serving a severely disadvantaged community with fewer than 200 service connections.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: yes. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
Section 116761.20 of the Health and Safety Code
2 is amended to read:
(a) Planning and preliminary engineering studies,
4project design, and construction costs incurred bybegin delete community and begin insert aend insert public water
5not-for-profit noncommunityend deletebegin delete systemsend deletebegin insert systemend insert may
6be funded under this chapter by loans or other repayable financing,
7begin delete and, if these systems are owned by public agencies or private grants, principal
forgiveness,
8not-for-profit water companies, byend delete
9or a combination of grants and loans or other financial assistance.
10(b) (1) The board shall determine what portion of the full costs
11the publicbegin delete agency or private not-for-profit water companyend deletebegin insert
water
12systemend insert is capable of repaying and authorize funding in the form
13of a loan or other repayable financing for that amount. The board
14shall authorize a grant or principal forgiveness only to the extent
15the board finds the publicbegin delete agency or not-for-profit water companyend delete
16begin insert water systemend insert is unable to repay the full costs of the financing.
17(2) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, where
18a publicbegin delete agency or private not-for-profit water company servingend delete
19begin insert water system servesend insert a severely disadvantaged community with
20fewer than
200 servicebegin delete connections owns a small community water begin insert connections,end insert
21system or nontransient noncommunity water system,end delete
22 the publicbegin delete agency or private not-for-profit serving the severely begin insert water systemend insert is deemed to have no
23disadvantaged communityend delete
P3 1ability to repay any financing for a project serving the severely
2disadvantaged community.
3(c) At the request of the board, the Public Utilities Commission
4shall submit comments concerning the ability ofbegin delete suppliers,end deletebegin insert
public
5water systems,end insert subject to its jurisdiction, to finance the project
6from other sources and to repay the financing.
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