BILL NUMBER: SB 1395 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 16, 2008
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 8, 2008
AMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 24, 2008
INTRODUCED BY Senator Corbett
FEBRUARY 21, 2008
An act to add Article 10.1.2 (commencing with Section 25214.4.3)
to Chapter 6.5 of Division 20 of the Health and Safety Code, relating
to lead plumbing.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 1395, as amended, Corbett. Lead plumbing: monitoring and
compliance testing.
Existing law provides for various restrictions and prohibitions
relating to the use of any pipe, pipe or plumbing fitting or fixture,
solder, or flux that is not lead free, as defined, in regard to
public water systems and plumbing used to provide water for human
consumption. Existing law requires the State Department of Public
Health to adopt building standards to implement these prohibitions.
Appropriate state and local building and health officials are
required to enforce these standards.
Under existing law, the Department of Toxic Substances Control
(department) enforces hazardous waste control laws that regulate the
disposal of discarded appliances, lead acid batteries, small
household batteries, recyclable latex paint, and household hazardous
waste. The department is also authorized to implement and enforce
provisions establishing prohibitions relating to jewelry for retail
sale that contains specified amounts of lead.
This bill would establish lead plumbing monitoring and compliance
testing as a part of the department's ongoing program to reduce toxic
substances from the environment. The bill would require the
department to annually select drinking water faucets or other
drinking water plumbing fittings and fixtures for testing and
evaluation to determine compliance with specified lead plumbing
standards established pursuant to a separate provision of existing
law.
The bill would require the department to, based on its available
resources and staffing, determine the number and the locations from
which to select samples of faucets, fittings, and fixtures to test
and evaluate. The department would be required to establish necessary
test methods, protocols, and sample preparation procedures for the
adequate determination of total lead concentration in a drinking
water plumbing fitting or fixture. The bill would require the
department to annually post the results of its testing and evaluation
on its Internet Web site, and to transmit the results in an annual
report to the State Department of Public Health.
The bill would provide that its provisions shall become operative
only if SB 1334, of the 2007-08 Regular Session, is enacted and takes
effect on or before January 1, 2009.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(a) Californians expect that the public health standards
applicable to drinking water plumbing adopted by state government to
protect against lead leaching into drinking water are being complied
with.
(b) There is not currently an existing quality control program in
state or federal law to ensure that drinking water plumbing,
including faucets, conforms to existing state and federal standards.
(c) Without monitoring and compliance testing, consumers have no
way of knowing whether the drinking water plumbing and faucets they
purchase meet California's safe lead content standard.
(d) Recent medical research studies conclusively show that lead in
the bloodstream is dangerous at any level.
(e) The United States Environmental Protection Agency has
concluded that drinking water plumbing remains a significant source
of lead exposure and has specifically identified, as the most common
problem, brass or chrome-plated brass faucets and fixtures, which can
leak considerable amounts of lead into the water, particularly hot
water.
(f) Chapter 853 of the Statutes of 2006 will, commencing January
1, 2010, phase out the use of lead in faucets, pipes and pipe
fittings, and plumbing fittings that are used to convey water for
human consumption.
(g) The collection and testing of faucets would help ensure
compliance with California's lead content standard for plumbing and
increase consumer confidence that the faucets purchased for their
homes are not a source of dangerous lead levels in their blood.
SEC. 2. Article 10.1.2 (commencing with Section 25214.4.3) is
added to Chapter 6.5 of Division 20 of the Health and Safety Code, to
read:
Article 10.1.2. Lead Plumbing Monitoring and Compliance
Testing
25214.4.3. (a) Lead plumbing monitoring and compliance testing
shall be undertaken by the department, as a part of the department's
ongoing program for reducing toxic substances from the environment.
(b) For purposes of implementing this article, the department
shall annually select , drinking water faucets or
other drinking water plumbing fittings and fixtures for testing and
evaluation to determine compliance with Section 116875.
(c) The department shall, based on its available resources and
staffing, determine the appropriate number of drinking water faucets
or other drinking water plumbing fittings and fixtures to annually
test and evaluate, as well as the locations from which to select the
faucets, fittings, and fixtures.
(d) In implementing this article, the department shall establish
necessary test methods, protocols, and sample preparation procedures
that are adequate to determine total lead concentration in a drinking
water plumbing fitting or fixture to determine compliance with the
standards for the maximum allowable total lead content set forth in
Section 116875.
(e) (1) In selecting drinking water faucets and other drinking
water plumbing fittings and fixtures to test and evaluate pursuant to
this article, the department shall exercise its judgment regarding
the specific drinking water plumbing fittings or fixtures to test.
(2) This article does not require the department's selection to be
either random or representative of all available plumbing fittings
or fixtures.
(3) The department shall acquire its samples of fittings and
fixtures from locations that are readily accessible to the public at
either retail or wholesale sources.
(f) The department shall annually post the results of the testing
and evaluation conducted pursuant to this article on its Internet Web
site and shall transmit these results in an annual report to the
State Department of Public Health.
SEC. 3. This act shall become operative only if
Senate Bill 1334, of the 2007-08 Regular Session, is enacted and
takes effect on or before January 1, 2009.