BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE
Senator Patricia Wiggins, Chair
BILL NO: AB 300 HEARING: 6/17/09
AUTHOR: Caballero FISCAL: Yes
VERSION: 6/10/09 CONSULTANT:
Weinberger
SUBDIVISIONS AND WATER SUPPLY
Background and Existing Law
Cities and counties must consider information provided by
water suppliers when they act on proposals for large-scale
residential, commercial, hotel, industrial, or mixed-use
projects (SB 901, Costa, 1995). Every large-scale
development project must have a water supply assessment (SB
610, Costa, 2001). Before cities and counties can approve
large-scale subdivisions, they must include a condition
that a sufficient water supply must be available (SB 221,
Kuehl, 2001).
Although some cities, counties, and water agencies require
new subdivisions to install water conserving devices,
builders say that local officials don't always recognize
their additional voluntary conservation efforts when
evaluating a proposed development's water demand.
Proposed Law
Assembly Bill 300 requires cities and counties to reduce a
project's anticipated water demand below water conservation
requirements based on its voluntary water demand management
measures. The public water agency must quantify the
reduction of anticipated water demand.
AB 300 defines "voluntary water demand management measures"
as water efficiency measures beyond statutory and
regulatory requirements that are permanently fixed to real
property that will reduce water demand, including:
Smart irrigation controllers,
Waterless urinals,
Ultralow flow and dual flow toilets,
Recycled water facilities, and
Rainwater capture and reuse facilities.
AB 300 -- 6/10/09 -- Page 2
At the applicant's sole discretion, voluntary mitigation
measures may also include water conservation offsets which
minimize a percentage of a project's impact to the public
water system, as determined by the applicant and agreed
upon by the public water system.
The bill requires a public water system's verification of
the availability of water to a proposed subdivision to
include projections of water savings attributable to
voluntary demand management measures. The city or county
must approve or disapprove the projections after review by
the retail water supplier.
Local officials may calculate the water savings projections
by using water efficiency program data compiled or
maintained by the public water system or the California
Urban Water Conservation Council's water savings
projections. If that Council doesn't have projections for
a measure, then the water supplier must base its estimate
on substantial evidence. If an applicant proposes to use a
voluntary water reduction demand measure that is not based
on the Council's projections, the city or county must
impose a requirement that the applicant enter an agreement
with the water supplier to implement and monitor the actual
water savings over time. The agreement may include
provisions requiring the adoption of legally enforceable
mechanisms, including inclusion in covenants, conditions,
and restrictions.
The public water system must prepare a written report of
the projected demand and actual water use five years after
the project has been fully developed. Copies of the report
must be provided to the project applicant, the city or
county that approved the subdivision map, the California
Urban Water Conservation Council, and the State Department
of Water Resources.
AB 300 allows an applicant to enter into a mutual
agreement with a public water system to mitigate water
demand associated with a proposed subdivision by depositing
funds into a Voluntary Water Demand Mitigation Fund. Fees
paid into the fund can't exceed:
The amount necessary to offset the actual or
percentage of actual water demand impacts specified in
the agreement between the applicant and the public
AB 300 -- 6/10/09 -- Page 3
water system, or
The amount of all capacity charges and other water
service fees applicable to the subdivision.
At the discretion of the public water system, the amount
required for the Water Demand Mitigation Fund may be
reduced by a portion of the normally required system
capacity charges that finance future water.
The bill provides that a tentative map that includes a
subdivision may not be disapproved due to the applicant's
refusal to use voluntary mitigation measures.
AB 300 requires a public water system to expend all funds
from the Voluntary Water Demand Mitigation Fund on water
conservation measures that will reduce the projected demand
associated with new subdivisions. The water conservation
measures must be the least expensive, most cost-effective
means to yield water. The expenditure may be made within a
subdivision or elsewhere within the service area of the
public water supplier, at its discretion. Water Demand
Mitigation funds may be directed to water conservation
programs in any disadvantaged community, as defined in
statute.
AB 300 prohibits a public water system from using funds
from the Water Conservation Mitigation Fund to supplant
funding for water conservation programs required by
existing law or paid for by existing customers through
water rates and surcharges.
AB 300 provides that a public water system should commit to
carrying out the water conservation measures funded by the
Water Demand Mitigation Fund within 24 months of the sale
of the last unit of a proposed subdivision. However, the
public water system's failure to implement the water
conservation measures shall not result in the revocation,
denial, or delay of any legislative, adjudicatory,
ministerial or discretionary act, permit, or approval
necessary for the planning, use, development, construction,
occupancy, or operation of the proposed subdivision. The
bill states that the sole remedy for the failure of a
public water system to implement the water conservation
measures shall be for any interested party to seek a writ
of mandamus to compel the public water system to comply.
AB 300 -- 6/10/09 -- Page 4
AB 300 requires a builder, before the close of escrow, to
give a purchaser a manual or document which must be
included in the maintenance manual that informs the
purchaser of the existence of the home's unique water
savings devices, including information regarding their
benefits, maintenance requirements, and proper use.
These provisions automatically terminate on January 1,
2020.
Comments
1. Conservation is the best supply . Water managers
acknowledge that conservation is the quickest way to
stretch existing supplies to meet the demands of persistent
population growth. If builders get credit for voluntarily
installing water conservation devices, they're likely to
add them to their projects. For the next 10 years, AB 300
allows local officials to recognize fixed water
conservation devices when they calculate the water demands
created by large-scale development projects. With written
reviews coming after five years, public officials can tell
if the proposed conservation measures really worked.
2. Plumb and switch ? Some water conservation measures,
like low-flush toilets, are hard to alter. However, home
buyers can thwart other measures by replacing
drought-tolerant landscaping and low-flow showerheads.
Even when a well-intentioned subdivider voluntarily
installs water efficiency measures, the savings may not
occur. While current law requires developers to identify a
verifiable and quantifiable 20-year water supply before the
approval of new construction, AB 300 provides little
assurance that water efficiency measures will reliably
produce water for 20 years. Who will insist that
homeowners conserve water if actual water use exceeds the
earlier projection?
3. The long count . Sunset clauses are a good way for
legislators to experiment with new ideas without creating
programs that no one oversees. The test period must last
long enough for a program to take hold, but not so long
that term-limited legislators forget the program's original
AB 300 -- 6/10/09 -- Page 5
purpose. A seven-year sunset clause, for example, allows a
three to five years for implementation, a report in the
sixth year, and a seventh year for legislators to respond.
AB 300 requires water suppliers to report on water use
after five years and the bill's changes sunset in 2020.
The Committee may wish to consider a seven-year sunset,
ending the bill's experiment in 2017, unless future
legislators consider it worthy.
4. Related bills . AB 300 is similar to AB 2219 (Parra,
2008), which passed the Senate Local Government Committee,
but died in the Senate Appropriations Committee. Some of
the provisions in AB 300 relating to the Water Demand
Conservation Fund are similar to provisions in AB 1408
(Krekorian, 2009), which the Assembly defeated.
5. Double-referred . The Senate Rules Committee ordered a
double-referral for AB 300; first to the Senate Local
Government Committee and then to the Senate Natural
Resources and Water Committee.
Assembly Actions
Assembly Local Government Committee: 7-0
Assembly Water, Parks, and Wildlife Committee:11-0
Assembly Appropriations Committee: 15-0
Assembly Floor: 73-0
Support and Opposition (6/11/09)
Support : California Building Industry Association,
American Council of Engineering Companies California,
Associated General Contractors, Association of California
Water Agencies, California Alliance for Jobs, California
Apartment Association, California Association of Realtors,
California Business Properties Association, California
Chamber of Commerce, California Manufacturing and
Technology Association, League of California Cities,
Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, Western
Electrical Contractors Association, Inc.
Opposition : East Bay Municipal Utility District, Planning
and Conservation League.
AB 300 -- 6/10/09 -- Page 6