BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 938
Page 1
CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB 938 (V. Manuel Pérez)
As Amended August 23, 2011
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |53-26|(May 31, 2011) |SENATE: |29-8 |(August 30, |
| | | | | |2011) |
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Original Committee Reference: E.S. & T.M.
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. Makes technical
changes to the Safe Drinking Water State Revolving Fund
affordability assessment requirements.
The Senate amendments specify that the notice requirement
provisions affect a written Tier 1 drinking water violation
public notice given by a public water system. The amendments
change the community to receive a specified notice to be a
non-English-speaking group that speaks a language other than
Spanish that exceeds 1,000 residents but is less than 10% of the
persons served by the public water system. The amendments also
expand the presumption of compliance provisions.
AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY, this bill required a public water
system's written public notice of noncompliance with drinking
water standards to contain specified information 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.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, enactment of this bill could result in 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]
AB 938
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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, 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.
Analysis Prepared by : Shannon McKinney / E.S. & T.M. / (916)
AB 938
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319-3965
FN: 0002298