BILL NUMBER: AB 1438 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 4, 2009
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 13, 2009
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Conway
(Coauthor: Assembly Member Jones)
FEBRUARY 27, 2009
An act to amend Sections 116760.20, 116760.40, and 116761.23 of
the Health and Safety Code, relating to drinking water.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1438, as amended, Conway. Safe Drinking Water State Revolving
Fund.
Existing law, the California Safe Drinking Water Act, requires the
State Department of Public Health to administer provisions relating
to the regulation of drinking water to protect public health,
including, but not limited to, conducting research, studies, and
demonstration programs relating to the provision of a dependable,
safe supply of drinking water, enforcing the federal Safe Drinking
Water Act, adoption of enforcement regulations, and conducting
studies and investigations to assess the quality of water in domestic
water supplies.
Existing law establishes the Safe Drinking Water State Revolving
Fund, continuously appropriated to the department 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. The department may
establish specified separate accounts or subaccounts within the fund.
This bill would allow the department to establish a wellhead
protection account within the fund, as specified.
Under existing law, the funding for grants for the planning and
preliminary engineering studies, and design and construction of a
single project is set at a maximum of $1,000,000.
This bill would require the department to set and publish, as
specified, the maximum grant amounts for the planning, engineering
studies, environmental documentation, design, and
or construction of a single project.
Existing law requires the department to establish a priority list
of proposed projects, including consideration of whether the
applicant has sought other funds when providing funding for a project
to upgrade an existing system to accommodate a reasonable amount of
growth. Existing law defines "reasonable amount of growth," in part,
to mean an increase in growth not to exceed 10% of the design
capacity needed, based on peak flow, to serve the water demand in
existence at the time the plans and specifications are approved by
the department.
This bill would include fire flow as part of the water demand in
the definition of reasonable amount of growth.
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. Section 116760.20 of the Health and Safety Code is
amended to read:
116760.20. Unless the context otherwise requires, the following
definitions govern the construction of this chapter:
(a) "Cost-effective project" means a project that achieves an
acceptable result at the most reasonable cost.
(b) "Department" means the State Department of Public Health.
(c) "Federal Safe Drinking Water Act" or "federal act" means the
federal Safe Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 300f et seq.) and
acts amendatory thereof or supplemental thereto.
(d) "Fund" means the Safe Drinking Water State Revolving Fund
created by Section 116760.30.
(e) "Funding" means a loan or grant, or both, awarded under this
chapter.
(f) "Matching funds" means state money that equals that percentage
of federal contributions required by the federal act to be matched
with state funds.
(g) "Project" means proposed facilities for the construction,
improvement, or rehabilitation of a public water system, and may
include all items set forth in Section 116761 as necessary to carry
out the purposes of this chapter. It also may include refinancing
loans, annexation or consolidation of water systems, source water
assessments, source water protection, and other activities specified
under the federal act.
(h) "Public agency" means any city, county, city and county,
whether general law or chartered, district, joint powers authority,
or other political subdivision of the state, that owns or operates a
public water system.
(i) "Public water system" or "public water supply system" means a
system for the provision to the public of water for human
consumption, as defined in Chapter 4 (commencing with Section
116270), as it may be amended from time to time.
(j) "Reasonable amount of growth" means an increase in growth not
to exceed 10 percent of the design capacity needed, based on peak
flow, to serve the water and fire flow demand in existence at the
time plans and specifications for the project are approved by the
department, over the 20-year useful life of a project. For projects
other than the construction of treatment plants including, but not
limited to, storage facilities, pipes, pumps, and similar equipment,
where the 10-percent allowable growth cannot be adhered to due to the
sizes of equipment or materials available, the project shall be
limited to the next available larger size.
(k) "Safe drinking water standards" means those standards
established pursuant to Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 116270),
as they may now or hereafter be amended.
(l) "Supplier" means any person, partnership, corporation,
association, public agency, or other entity that owns or operates a
public water system.
SEC. 2. Section 116760.40 of the Health and Safety Code is amended
to read:
116760.40. The department may undertake any of the following
actions to implement the Safe Drinking Water State Revolving Fund:
(a) Enter into agreements with the federal government for federal
contributions to the fund.
(b) Accept federal contributions to the fund.
(c) Use moneys in the fund for the purposes permitted by the
federal act.
(d) Provide for the deposit of matching funds and other available
and necessary moneys into the fund.
(e) Make requests, on behalf of the state, for deposit into the
fund of available federal moneys under the federal act.
(f) Determine, on behalf of the state, that public water systems
that receive financial assistance from the fund will meet the
requirements of, and otherwise be treated as required by, the federal
act.
(g) Provide for appropriate audit, accounting, and fiscal
management services, plans, and reports relative to the fund.
(h) Take additional incidental action as may be appropriate for
adequate administration and operation of the fund.
(i) Enter into an agreement with, and accept matching funds from,
a public water system. A public water system that seeks to enter into
an agreement with the department and provide matching funds pursuant
to this subdivision shall provide to the department evidence of the
availability of those funds in the form of a written resolution, or
equivalent document, from the public water system before it requests
a preliminary loan commitment.
(j) Charge public water systems that elect to provide matching
funds a fee to cover the actual cost of obtaining the federal funds
pursuant to Section 1452(e) of the federal act (42 U.S.C. Sec.
300j-12) and to process the loan application. The fee shall be waived
by the department if sufficient funds to cover those costs are
available from other sources.
(k) Use money returned to the fund under Section 116761.85 and any
other source of matching funds, if not prohibited by statute, as
matching funds for the federal administrative allowance under Section
1452(g) of the federal act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 300j-12).
() Establish separate accounts or subaccounts as required or
allowed in the federal act and related guidance, for funds to be used
for administration of the fund and other purposes. Within the fund
the department shall establish the following accounts, including, but
not limited to:
(1) A fund administration account for state expenses related to
administration of the fund pursuant to Section 1452(g)(2) of the
federal act.
(2) A water system reliability account for department expenses
pursuant to Section 1452(g)(2)(A), (B), (C), or (D) of the federal
act.
(3) A source protection account for state expenses pursuant to
Section 1452(k) of the federal act.
(4) A small system technical assistance account for department
expenses pursuant to Section 1452(g)(2) of the federal act.
(5) A state revolving loan account pursuant to Section 1452(a)(2)
of the federal act.
(6) A wellhead protection account established pursuant to Section
1452(a)(2) of the federal act.
(m) Deposit federal funds for administration and other purposes
into separate accounts or subaccounts as allowed by the federal act.
(n) Determine, on behalf of the state, whether sufficient progress
is being made toward compliance with the enforceable deadlines,
goals, and requirements of the federal act and the California Safe
Drinking Water Act, Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 116275).
SEC. 3. Section 116761.23 of the Health and Safety Code is amended
to read:
116761.23. (a) The maximum amount of a grant permitted under this
chapter for the planning, engineering studies, environmental
documentation, and construction, or
design of a single project shall be established by the department and
published in the Intended Use Plan submitted annually to the federal
Environmental Protection Agency.
(b) The maximum amount of a grant permitted under this chapter for
the construction of a single project shall be established by the
department and published in the Intended Use Plan submitted annually
to the federal Environmental Protection Agency.
(c)
(b) Total funding under this article for
planning, engineering studies, project design, and construction costs
of a single project, whether in the form of a loan or a grant, or
both, shall be determined by an assessment of affordability using
criteria established by the department.