SB 1456, as amended, 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.begin insert The bill, for a public water system that is a water corporation regulated by the Public Utilities Commission, would limit the principal forgiveness to capital improvements serving severely disadvantaged communities with fewer than 200 service connections.end insert
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 tobegin delete anyend deletebegin insert aend insert public water systembegin delete servingend deletebegin insert that is not a water corporation regulated by the Public Utilities Commission and that servesend insert 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 by a public water
5system may be funded under this chapter by loans or other
6repayable financing, grants, principal forgiveness, or a combination
7of grants and loans or other financial assistance.
8(b) (1) The board shall determine what portion of the full costs
9the public water system is capable of repaying and authorize
10funding in the form of a loan or other repayable financing for that
11amount. The board shall authorize a grant or principal forgiveness
12only to the extent the board finds the public water system is unable
13to repay the full costs of the
financing.
14
(2) Where the public water system is a water corporation
15regulated by the Public Utilities Commission, principal forgiveness
16shall be limited to capital improvements serving severely
17disadvantaged communities with fewer than 200 service
18connections and the board shall consider the realized rate of return
P3 1for the public water system as a criteria for determining the public
2water system’s ability to repay the costs of the financing.
3(2) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, where
4a
5begin insert(3)end insertbegin insert end insertbegin insertWhere aend insert public
water systembegin insert is not a water corporation
6described in paragraph (2) andend insert serves a severely disadvantaged
7community with fewer than 200 service connections, the public
8water system is deemed to have no ability to repay any financing
9for a project serving the severely disadvantaged community.
10(c) At the request of the board, the Public Utilities Commission
11shall submit comments concerning the ability of public water
12systems, subject to its jurisdiction, to finance the project from other
13sources and to repay the financing.
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