BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 467
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
Senator S. Joseph Simitian, Chairman
2011-2012 Regular Session
BILL NO: AB 467
AUTHOR: Eng
AMENDED: May 31, 2012
FISCAL: Yes HEARING DATE: June 18, 2012
URGENCY: Yes CONSULTANT: Rachel Wagoner
SUBJECT :SAFE DRINKING WATER, WATER QUALITY AND SUPPLY, FLOOD
CONTROL, RIVER AND COASTAL PROTECTION BOND ACT OF
2006
SUMMARY :
Existing law :
1) Under the California Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA),
requires the Department of Public Health (DPH) to regulate
drinking water and enforce the federal Safe Drinking Water
Act and other regulations.
2) Under the Safe Drinking Water, Water Quality and Supply,
Flood Control, River and Coastal Protection Bond Act of
2006 (Proposition 84):
a) Authorizes $5.388 billion in general obligation bonds
to fund safe drinking water, water quality and supply,
flood control, waterway and natural resource protection,
water pollution and contamination control, state and
local park improvements, public access to natural
resources, and water conservation efforts. (Public
Resources Code �75001 et seq.).
b) Provides $60 million to DPH for loans and grants for
projects to prevent or reduce contamination of
groundwater that serves as a source of drinking water
for the San Gabriel Valley. (�75025).
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c) Requires DPH, when implementing the provisions of
Proposition 84, among other things, to develop and adopt
guidelines and regulations for establishing a project,
grant, loan or other financial assistance program,
including specific provisions for the repayment of costs
that are subsequently recovered from parties responsible
for the contamination. (��75100 and 75101).
d) Requires repayment to DPH of costs that are
subsequently recovered from parties responsible for the
contamination. (�75025).
This bill :
1) Specifies that the regulations prepared by DPH for
allocation of Proposition 84 recovered funds must:
a) Be adopted as emergency regulations as specified.
b) Authorize DPH to enter into an agreement with a
recipient of a Proposition 84 grant that would authorize
the expenditure of the recovered funds from responsible
parties to implement ongoing remediation and treatment
activities at the site for which the funds were
recovered.
2) Establishes the Groundwater Contamination Prevention
Account in the State Treasury and requires funds recovered
from responsible parties to be deposited into the account.
3) Authorizes DPH to expend up to 3% of the recovered funds to
pay for DPH oversight costs to ensure the grantee expends
the recovered funds on additional groundwater cleanup
activities.
4) Authorizes DPH to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding
with the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) to
authorize SWRCB to administer the recovered funds utilizing
the State Water Pollution Cleanup and Abatement Account.
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5) Contains an urgency clause.
COMMENTS :
1) Purpose of Bill . According to the author, AB 467 is needed
to allow local agencies that have been awarded Proposition
84 funds from DPH for groundwater projects, and that
subsequently recover funds from responsible parties, to
keep the recovered funds to fund additional groundwater
cleanup activities. Should local agencies be successful in
recovering the costs from responsible parties, this bill
will save significant state administrative costs and allow
the local agencies to use all of the recovered funds for
groundwater cleanup.
2) Background . SB 1679 (Russell) Chapter 776, Statutes of
1992, enacted the San Gabriel Basin Water Quality Authority
Act. The State Water Resources Control Board and the Los
Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board had
investigated the groundwater conditions since 1979. The
basin is the primary drinking water source for residents
and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) had
placed four areas of the basin on its Superfund list in
1984. US EPA released a "San Gabriel Basinwide Technical
Plan" in 1990, describing a strategy to remediate
groundwater pollution. The above three entities prepared a
"white paper" describing institutional and financial
aspects of a comprehensive local groundwater management
program and concluded that a local program must possess
powers to construct and operate cleanup works, to
coordinate and regulate groundwater extraction and cleanup,
and to finance activities.
The three water agencies in the basin formed a joint powers
authority (JPA) and the watermaster ( i.e. , a judicially
created association of private and public groundwater
users) obtained authority to regulate pumping for water
quality protection. However, because of concerns that the
JPA was not effective, SB 1679 created the act with certain
powers to address the contamination problems.
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In 1992, the Legislature was also considering SB 44 (Torres),
a bill giving the JPA more power to address the problem.
AB 2173 (Margett) Chapter 281, Statutes of 1996, extended a
1998 sunset to 2002, reduced the cap on the annual pumping
right assessment from $35 to $20 per acre foot, and
established a "limited function status" provision. AB 2544
(Calderon) Chapter 905, Statutes of 2000, increased the
number of board members from five to seven and required two
members to be producer members, reduced the annual pumping
right assessment cap from $20 to $13, revised the board
voting practices for certain actions, and made various
other changes to the act. SB 334 (Romero) Chapter 192,
Statutes of 2003, reduced the annual pumping right
assessment cap from $13 to $10.
SB 822 (Margett) Chapter 271, Statutes of 2005, authorized the
San Gabriel Basin Water Quality Authority to receive state
funds for the purpose of meeting certain nonfederal
matching fund requirements.
3) State of Proposition 84 funding . Of the $60 million
authorized under Proposition 84 to DPH for groundwater
cleanup grants $38,353,935 has been allocated in the first
round of projects. There is $14,546,065 remaining. The
cost of the second round of invited projects would be
$20,929,000, meaning that many of these projects will not
be funded.
SOURCE : San Gabriel Basin Water Quality Authority
SUPPORT : Association of California Water Agencies,
California Water Association, San Gabriel
Valley Civic Alliance, San Gabriel Valley
Council of Governments, San Gabriel Valley
Economic Partnership, San Gabriel Valley
Legislative Caucus, San Gabriel Valley Water
Association, Upper San Gabriel Valley Municipal
Water District, West Valley Water District
OPPOSITION : None on file.
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