BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 938
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 938 (V. Manuel Pérez)
As Amended May 4, 2011
Majority vote
ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY 6-3
APPROPRIATIONS 12-5
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|Ayes:|Wieckowski, Campos, |Ayes:|Fuentes, Blumenfield, |
| |Chesbro, Davis, Feuer, | |Bradford, Charles |
| |Bonnie Lowenthal | |Calderon, Campos, Davis, |
| | | |Gatto, Hall, Hill, Lara, |
| | | |Mitchell, Solorio |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
|Nays:|Miller, Morrell, Valadao |Nays:|Harkey, Donnelly, |
| | | |Nielsen, Smyth, Wagner |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Requires the written public notice of noncompliance
with drinking water standards given by a public water system to
include information in English, Spanish and other languages
spoken by the impacted community, as specified. Specifically,
this bill :
1)Requires, commencing July 1, 2012, a public water system's
written public notice of noncompliance with drinking water
standards to:
a) Be provided in English, Spanish, and in the language
spoken by any non-English-speaking group that exceeds 10%
of persons served by the public water system;
b) Contain a telephone number or address where residents
may contact the public water system for assistance; and,
c) Contain information regarding the importance of the
notice and a telephone number or address where the public
water system will provide either a translated copy of the
notice or assistance in the appropriate language for each
group that speaks a language other than English or Spanish
and that exceeds 1,000 residents or 10% of the persons
served by the public water system, whichever is less.
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2)Establishes, after July 1, 2012, a presumption of compliance
that the notice has been properly given, with respect to the
language of notification, if the public water system utilized
the data available through the American Community Survey of
the United States Census Bureau and the county registrar.
3)Authorizes and encourages the public water system to, in
addition to non-written notification provided for in the
public water system's emergency notification plan, provide
notice through foreign language media outlets.
4)Adds environmental documentation to the list of costs to be
considered when determining affordability using Department of
Public Health (DPH) criteria for Safe Drinking Water State
Revolving Fund (Revolving Fund) funding.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, absorbable costs to DPH for reviewing notifications
and for implementation, and unknown costs to public water
systems, which can be public or private entities, to provide
notice as required by this bill.
COMMENTS :
Need for the bill . According to the author, "Before 2006, ŬDPH]
had the regulatory authority to determine when it was
appropriate for a public notice pertaining to contaminated water
to be multilingual. Revisions to the regulations in 2006,
however, changed the notification requirements, thereby removing
important public health protections for non-English speaking
residents impacted by contaminated drinking water.
Specifically, the new regulations allow community water systems
the option to provide the notice only in English so long as the
notice also contains a telephone number or address where the
non-English speaking residents may obtain a translated copy of
the notice.
"Public notification to residents regarding contaminated
drinking water is necessary to prevent illness and disease and
protect public health. When a public water system sends a
public notification only in English to non-English speakers, the
risks to public health persist. If public notices are not
provided in the language spoken by the impacted community,
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residents may not know that the water in their homes is unsafe
and what precautions are necessary to protect the health and
safety of their family."
Current regulations . California Code of Regulations (22 Cal.
Code Regs. Section 64465) currently requires each public notice
for noncompliance provided by a water system to contain
information in Spanish about the importance of the notice, or to
contain contact information that Spanish speaking residents may
use to obtain a translated copy of the public notice or other
assistance in Spanish. For each non-English speaking group
other than Spanish speaking that exceeds 1,000 residents or 10%
of the residents in the community served, whichever is less, the
public notice must contain information in the appropriate
language(s) regarding the importance of the notice, or contain
contact information that such residents may use to obtain a
translated copy of the notice or assistance in the appropriate
language.
This bill seeks to expand upon these existing regulations in
order to better inform non-English speaking communities about
their drinking water quality.
Clarifying amendment . This bill corrects a drafting error in AB
1438 (Conway) Chapter 531, Statutes of 2009, which sets a limit,
under the Revolving Fund, of $500,000 for planning, engineering
studies, environmental documentation, and design of a single
project. Current law also requires total funding for planning,
engineering studies, project design, and construction costs,
whether in the form of a loan or grant, to be determined by an
assessment of affordability using criteria established by DPH.
AB 1438 (Conway) failed to include "environmental documentation"
in the affordability assessment requirement. This bill corrects
this oversight.
Analysis Prepared by : Shannon McKinney / E.S. & T.M. / (916)
319-3965
AB 938
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FN: 0000737