BILL ANALYSIS
AB 2488
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Date of Hearing: April 28, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Cameron Smyth, Chair
AB 2488 (Ruskin) - As Amended: April 8, 2010
SUBJECT : City and County of San Francisco: regional water
system.
SUMMARY : Makes various clarifying changes to the San Francisco
Bay Area Regional Water System Financing Authority Act and the
Bay Area Water Supply and Conservation Agency Act. Specifically,
this bill :
1)Removes the Skyline County Water District from the list of
member entities of the Bay Area Water Supply and Conservation
Agency (BAWSCA) and the San Francisco Regional Water System
Financing Authority (RFA).
2)Clarifies that the July 2009 Water Supply Agreement, or any
subsequent water supply contract, between a water purchaser in
the specified counties and the City and County San Francisco
will be used to determine "eligible public entities" instead
of the current Master Water Sales Contract.
3)Authorizes the chairperson or vice chairperson of BAWSCA board
or the secretary
of BAWSCA to administer the oath of office for directors.
4)Authorizes the chairperson or vice chairperson of RFA board or
the secretary of RFA to administer the oath of office for
directors.
5)Clarifies that BAWSCA is eligible to receive grants or
financial assistance made available for regional water
management activities through various bond programs.
6)Clarifies BAWSCA's authority to assist, at the request of its
member agencies, in developing and implementing conservation
measures on regional basis.
7)Allows the computations involved in BAWSCA's weighted voting
process to be adjusted automatically in the case of any future
mergers or transfers between member agencies.
AB 2488
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EXISTING LAW :
1)Establishes the formation of BAWSCA by at least 15 of the 25
public entities in Alameda, San Mateo, and Santa Clara
Counties that currently purchase water from the City and
County of San Francisco.
2)Creates the RFA to finance improvements to the Hetch Hetchy
water system.
3)Prescribes the membership of RFA to include the City and
County of San Francisco, the public entities in the Counties
of Alameda, San Mateo, and Santa Clara that purchase water
from San Francisco.
4)Authorizes BAWSCA to apply for and receive state and federal
grants, loans, and other financial assistance.
FISCAL EFFECT : None
COMMENTS :
1)When the Legislature enacted BAWSCA's and RFA's enabling
legislation, AB 2058 (Papan), Chapter 844, Statues of 2002 and
SB 1870 (Speier), Chapter 849, Statues of 2002, respectively,
it identified the need for coordinated planning and
implementation of strategies for water supply, water
conservation, and water recycling among the member agencies -
the 24 cities and water districts plus the California Water
Service Company and Stanford University which sell water in
portions of the Bay Area outside San Francisco that are served
by the regional water system operated by San Francisco.
2)Since 2002, both the Legislature and the voters have enacted
additional laws emphasizing water planning and conservation on
a regional level. This bill would clarify BAWSCA's authority
to assist its member agencies in developing and implementing
conservation measures on a regional basis, in compliance with
new laws, and at their request.
3)AB 2488 also makes clear that BAWSCA is eligible to receive
grants or financial assistance made available for regional
water management activities by recent bond measures, as well
as by future bond measures such as that scheduled for this
AB 2488
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November. The author believes that these changes will promote
sound management of limited water supplies on behalf of
BAWSCA's member agencies, their residents, businesses and
community organizations.
4)Support Arguments : Supporters argue that this measure will
strengthen BAWSCA's water-conservation and water-supply
efforts, which is especially important at this time when the
state and local communities must conserve additional water and
find new supplies.
Opposition Arguments : None at this time.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Bay Area Water Supply and Conservation Agency
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Katie Kolitsos / L. GOV. / (916)
319-3958