BILL ANALYSIS
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 737
Author: Assm. Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials
Committee
Amended: 9/2/09 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY COMMITTEE : 7-0, 7/6/09
AYES: Simitian, Runner, Ashburn, Corbett, Hancock,
Lowenthal, Pavley
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 75-0, 4/20/09 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Public water systems: public notification
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill requires public water systems, when
they are otherwise required to notify or report to users
about potential public health risks related to the systems
drinking water, to also post those notices and reports on
their Internet web sites. Authorizes the public water
system, upon rectifying the problem, to remove or modify
the notice or report.
Senate Floor Amendments of 9/2/09 clarify conformity with
federal regulations by allowing public water systems to
remove the notification from the web site no less than
seven days after resolution of a tier 2 or tier 3
violation. This provision does not apply to tier 1
violations.
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AB 737
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Senate Floor Amendments of 8/26/09 make various technical
changes to ensure that the bill is consistent with current
state and federal laws and add double-jointing language to
resolve the potential code conflict with AB 1540 (Assembly
Health Committee) which is currently on the Senate Third
Reading File.
ANALYSIS :
Existing Law
1.Under the California Safe Drinking Water Act, requires
every public water system to notify users when certain
monitoring or other requirements have not been complied
with; to notify customers when failure to comply with a
primary drinking water standard represents an imminent
danger; to notify customers that they should avoid
consumption of the water supply due to a chemical
contamination that may pose a health risk and to instead
use bottled water; to notify consumers of confirmation of
detected contaminants; and to annually deliver a copy of
the consumer confidence report to each customer.
2.Requires the Department of Toxic Substances Control, in
the California Environmental Protection Agency, to
establish a Toxics Information Clearinghouse for the
collection, maintenance, and distribution of specific
chemical hazard traits and environmental and
toxicological endpoint data. Existing law defines
various terms for the purposes of those provisions,
including "consumer product."
This bill:
1.Requires public water systems, when they are otherwise
required to notify users, to also post those notices and
reports on their Internet web site, as specified.
2.Corrects a spelling error and makes other grammatical and
technical changes.
3.Contains language that double-joints this bill with AB
1540 (Assembly Health Committee).
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AB 737
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Comments
This bill augments efforts to notify and inform the public
about potential contaminants or other factors that may pose
a health risk in their public water systems and corrects
drafting errors in AB 1879 (Feuer), Chapter 559, Statutes
of 2008, and SB 509 (Simitian), Chapter 560, Statutes of
2008.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No
Local: No
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Adams, Ammiano, Anderson, Arambula, Beall, Bill
Berryhill, Tom Berryhill, Block, Blumenfield, Brownley,
Caballero, Carter, Conway, Cook, Coto, Davis, De La
Torre, De Leon, DeVore, Duvall, Emmerson, Eng, Evans,
Feuer, Fletcher, Fong, Fuentes, Fuller, Furutani, Gaines,
Galgiani, Garrick, Gilmore, Hagman, Harkey, Hayashi,
Hernandez, Hill, Huber, Huffman, Jeffries, Jones, Knight,
Krekorian, Lieu, Logue, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mendoza,
Miller, Monning, Nava, Nestande, Niello, Nielsen, John A.
Perez, V. Manuel Perez, Portantino, Price, Ruskin, Salas,
Saldana, Silva, Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Audra
Strickland, Swanson, Torlakson, Torres, Torrico, Tran,
Villines, Yamada, Bass
NO VOTE RECORDED: Blakeslee, Buchanan, Charles Calderon,
Chesbro, Hall
TSM:cm 9/2/09 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: NONE RECEIVED
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