BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 963
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Date of Hearing: May 11, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 963 (Valadao) - As Amended: April 12, 2011
Policy Committee: Environmental
Safety and Toxic Materials Vote: 8-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill requires the Department of Public Health (DPH) to
establish guidelines for Proposition 84 grants for small
community drinking water system infrastructure improvements.
Specifically, this bill requires DPH to:
1)Develop guidelines in collaboration with the State Water
Resources Control Board to:
a) Fund projects for disadvantaged or severely
disadvantaged communities.
b) Govern the selection of projects that consider
demonstrated prevention of illness and adverse public
health effects in a community.
2)Provide guidelines for:
a) Improving replacement drinking water systems in areas
with contaminated groundwater that may not be economically
remediated for drinking water purposes.
b) The acquisition of public water systems by local
agencies as part of a project to provide clean and safe
water for small communities.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)Costs during 2011-12 and 2012-13 totaling about $185,000 to
DPH for one engineering analyst to develop the guidelines
required by this bill. (Special fund.)
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2)To the extent this bill results in DPH funding drinking water
projects that it would not otherwise have funded, the bill
will result in a shift in use of Proposition 84 funds,
potentially in the millions of dollars.
COMMENTS
1)Rationale . This author intends this bill to assist rural,
economically disadvantaged communities suffering from drinking
water contamination, such as the Central Valley community of
Kettleman City. The author intends the guidelines required by
this bill to encourage DPH to consider funding projects that
newly connect such communities to existing sources of clean
drinking water.
2)Background.
a) Kettleman City Drinking Water Not Fit to Drink.
Kettleman City is located near and adjacent to active
agricultural areas and two highways and is approximately
3.5 miles northeast of the state's principal hazardous
waste landfill. The area's public drinking water supply
has arsenic at levels that exceed the allowable amount
established by DPH's standard.
Since September 2007, there seems to have been an increase
in the number of babies born with structural defects, some
of whom have died. As a result, suspicion has grown within
and without the community that Kettleman City's
contaminated groundwater is sickening those who drink it.
b) Proposition 84 Small Community Drinking Water Grants.
Proposition 84 of 2006 allowed the state to sell $5.4
billion in general obligation bonds for safe drinking
water, water quality, and water supply; flood control;
natural resource protection; and park improvements.
Proposition 84 includes $180 million for grants to small
community drinking water system infrastructure improvements
to meet safe drinking water standards. The proposition
gives priority to projects that address chemical and
nitrate contaminants, other health hazards and communities
that are disadvantaged or severely disadvantaged.
Kettleman City has applied to DPH for a Proposition 84
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grant for a project to provide surface water from the
California Aqueduct as a replacement for its current ground
water sources, which DPH has yet to award. It is unclear
whether such a project is eligible for funding under
Proposition 84.
3)You Can't Improve What Doesn't Exist. The author intends this
bill to enable certain communities to receive Proposition 84
funding to construct a new water system to replace an
existing, contaminated water system. However, as written, the
bill describes guidelines for "improving replacement drinking
water systems." It may be more accurate to refer to the
construction of replacement drinking water systems, rather
than the improvement of such systems.
4)There is no support or opposition registered to this bill.
Analysis Prepared by : Jay Dickenson / APPR. / (916) 319-2081