BILL NUMBER: AB 2238 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 11, 2012
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 29, 2012
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Perea
FEBRUARY 24, 2012
An act to amend Sections 56378 and Section
56430 of the Government Code, to amend Section 116326 of the
Health and Safety Code, and to amend Section 75125 of, and to add
Section 75129.5 to, the Public Resources Code, relating to public
water systems.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2238, as amended, Perea. Public water systems: drinking water.
Existing law requires the State Department of Public Health to
administer programs to fund improvements and expansion of small
community water systems using specified priorities. Existing law
requires the department to encourage the consolidation of small
community water systems that serve disadvantaged communities if
consolidation will help the affected agencies and the state meet
specified goals. Existing law allows funding of studies regarding the
feasibility of consolidating 2 or more community water systems, at
least one of which is a small community water system that serves a
disadvantaged community. Existing law requires the department to give
funding priority to projects involving physical restructuring of 2
or more community water systems into a single, consolidated system
when it is shown that the consolidation would further specified
goals.
This bill would require the department to promote the
consolidation and merger of small community water systems that serve
disadvantaged communities, as specified, and would require the
studies performed prior to a construction project to include the
feasibility of consolidating or merging community water systems. This
bill would prohibit the department from determining the
consolidation or merger to be infeasible if the local agency
formation commission (LAFCO) also conducted a study or service review
of the project within the previous 5 calendar years and
determined the project was feasible. This bill would also require the
department to give priority to funding projects involving managerial
consolidation or merger when the consolidation or merger would
further specified goals.
Existing law requires LAFCOs to conduct a service review of the
municipal services provided in the county, as specified, and to
review all of the agencies that provide the service within a
designated geographic area. Existing law permits LAFCOs to assess
various alternatives for improving efficiency and affordability of
infrastructure and service delivery, as specified.
This bill would require LAFCOs to also assess various alternatives
for improving efficiency and affordability of infrastructure and
service delivery for drinking water and wastewater services. By
imposing additional duties on local officials, this bill would impose
a state-mandated local program.
The Safe Drinking Water, Water Quality and Supply, Flood Control,
River and Coastal Protection Bond Act of 2006, an initiative measure,
provides funding for safe drinking water, water quality and supply,
flood control, natural resource protection, and park improvements.
Existing law establishes the Strategic Growth Council and
appropriates $500,000 from the funding provided by the initiative to
support the council and its activities. Existing law requires the
council to manage and award grants and loans to support the planning
and development of sustainable communities, as specified.
This bill would provide that LAFCOs intending to fund
consolidation, merger, or extension of services projects for the
purposes of promoting water conservation , and to support
the planning and development of sustainable communities, are eligible
for funding under the Safe Drinking Water, Water Quality and Supply,
Flood Control, River and Coastal Protection Bond Act of 2006.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local
agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates
determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state,
reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these
statutory provisions.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 56378 of the Government Code
is amended to read:
56378. (a) In addition to its other powers, the commission shall
initiate and make studies of existing governmental agencies. Those
studies shall include, but shall not be limited to, inventorying
those agencies and determining their maximum service area and service
capacities. In conducting those studies, the commission may ask for
land use information, studies, and plans of cities, counties,
districts, including school districts, community college districts,
and regional agencies and state agencies and departments. Cities,
counties, districts, including school districts, community college
districts, regional agencies, and state agencies and departments,
shall comply with the request of the commission for that information
and the commission shall make its studies available to public
agencies and any interested person. In making these studies, the
commission may cooperate with the county planning commissions.
(b) The commission, or the board of supervisors on behalf of the
commission, may apply for or accept, or both, any financial
assistance and grants-in-aid from public or private agencies or from
the state or federal government or from a local government. This
shall include assistance that would enable a commission that serves a
severely disadvantaged community to meet the long-term water needs
of the community by conducting feasibility studies of, or providing
funding for, the consolidation, merger, or extension of services of
public water systems.
SECTION 1. It is the intent of the Legislature to
encourage local area formation commissions to focus on the
consolidation, merger, or extension of public water systems,
especially those located in disadvantaged communities, by seeking
financial assistance in order to perform the necessary service
reviews and other appropriate studies.
SEC. 2. Section 56430 of the Government Code is amended to read:
56430. (a) In order to prepare and to update spheres of influence
in accordance with Section 56425, the commission shall conduct a
service review of the municipal services provided in the county or
other appropriate area designated by the commission. The commission
shall include in the area designated for service review the county,
the region, the subregion, or any other geographic area as is
appropriate for an analysis of the service or services to be
reviewed, and shall prepare a written statement of its determinations
with respect to each of the following:
(1) Growth and population projections for the affected area.
(2) The location and characteristics of any disadvantaged
unincorporated communities within or contiguous to the sphere of
influence.
(3) Present and planned capacity of public facilities, adequacy of
public services, and infrastructure needs or deficiencies including
needs or deficiencies related to sewers, municipal and industrial
water, and structural fire protection in any disadvantaged,
unincorporated communities within or contiguous to the sphere of
influence.
(4) Financial ability of agencies to provide services.
(5) Status of, and opportunities for, shared facilities.
(6) Accountability for community service needs, including
governmental structure and operational efficiencies.
(7) Any other matter related to effective or efficient service
delivery, as required by commission policy.
(b) In conducting a service review, the commission shall
comprehensively review all of the agencies that provide the
identified service or services within the designated geographic area.
The commission may assess various alternatives for improving
efficiency and affordability of infrastructure and service delivery
within and contiguous to the sphere of influence, including, but not
limited to, the consolidation of governmental agencies. The
commission shall comprehensively assess various alternatives for
improving efficiency and affordability of infrastructure and service
delivery for drinking water and wastewater services unless
the commission or executive officer of the commission makes a written
determination that the assessment is not reasonable under the
circumstances .
(c) In conducting a service review, the commission may include a
review of whether the agencies under review, including any public
water system as defined in Section 116275, are in compliance with the
California Safe Drinking Water Act (Chapter 4 (commencing with
Section 116270) of Part 12 of Division 104 of the Health and Safety
Code). A public water system may satisfy any request for information
as to compliance with that act by submission of the consumer
confidence or water quality report prepared by the public water
system as provided by Section 116470 of the Health and Safety Code.
(d) The commission may request information, as part of a service
review under this section, from identified public or private entities
that provide wholesale or retail supply of drinking water, including
mutual water companies formed pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with
Section 14300) of Division 3 of Title 1 of the Corporations Code, and
private utilities, as defined in Section 1502 of the Public
Utilities Code.
(e) The commission shall conduct a service review before, or in
conjunction with, but no later than the time it is considering an
action to establish a sphere of influence in accordance with Section
56425 or 56426.5 or to update a sphere of influence pursuant to
Section 56425.
SEC. 3. Section 116326 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to
read:
116326. In administering programs to fund improvements and
expansions of small community water systems, the department shall do
all of the following:
(a) Give priority to funding projects in disadvantaged
communities.
(b) Promote the consolidation or merger of small community water
systems that serve disadvantaged communities in instances where
consolidation or merger will help at least one of the affected
agencies and the state to meet all of the following goals:
(1) Improvement in the quality of water delivered.
(2) Improvement in the reliability of water delivery.
(3) Reduction in the cost of drinking water for ratepayers.
(c) Pursuant to subdivision (b), require that funding for
feasibility studies performed prior to a construction project include
studies of the feasibility of consolidating two or more community
water systems or merging a community water system with a city water
system, if at least one of the water systems is a small community
water system that serves a disadvantaged community, unless the
department makes a written determination that consolidation or merger
is not feasible under the circumstances. The department shall not
make a determination of infeasibility if , within the previous
five calendar years, the local agency formation
commission conducted a study, pursuant to Section 56378 of the
Government Code, or conducted a service review, pursuant to Section
56430 of the Government Code, which found the consolidation or merger
feasible.
(d) If it is shown that small community water system consolidation
or merger will further the goals of subdivision (b), give priority
to funding construction projects that involve the physical
restructuring and managerial consolidation of two or more community
water systems or merger of one or more community water systems, at
least one of which is a small community water system that serves a
disadvantaged community, into a single, consolidated system.
SEC. 4. Section 75125 of the Public Resources Code is amended to
read:
75125. The council shall do all of the following:
(a) Identify and review activities and funding programs of member
state agencies that may be coordinated to improve air and water
quality, improve natural resource protection, increase the
availability of affordable housing, improve transportation, meet the
goals of the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006
(Division 25.5 (commencing with Section 38500) of the Health and
Safety Code), encourage sustainable land use planning, and revitalize
urban and community centers in a sustainable manner. At a minimum,
the council shall review and comment on the five-year infrastructure
plan developed pursuant to Article 2 (commencing with Section 13100)
of Chapter 2 of Part 3 of Division 3 of the Government Code and the
State Environmental Goals and Policy Report developed pursuant to
Section 65041 of the Government Code.
(b) Recommend policies and investment strategies and priorities to
the Governor, the Legislature, and to appropriate state agencies to
encourage the development of sustainable communities, such as those
communities that promote equity, strengthen the economy, protect the
environment, and promote public health and safety, consistent with
subdivisions (a) and (c) of Section 75065.
(c) Provide, fund, and distribute data and information to local
governments and regional agencies that will assist in developing and
planning sustainable communities.
(d) Manage and award grants and loans to support the planning and
development of sustainable communities, pursuant to Sections 75127,
75128, 75129, and 75129.5. To implement this subdivision, the council
may do all of the following:
(1) Develop guidelines for awarding financial assistance,
including criteria for eligibility and additional consideration.
(2) Develop criteria for determining the amount of financial
assistance to be awarded. The council shall award a revolving loan to
an applicant for a planning project, unless the council determines
that the applicant lacks the fiscal capacity to carry out the project
without a grant. The council may establish criteria that would allow
the applicant to illustrate an ongoing commitment of financial
resources to ensure the completion of the proposed plan or project.
(3) Provide for payments of interest on loans made pursuant to
this article. The rate of interest shall not exceed the rate earned
by the Pooled Money Investment Board.
(4) Provide for the time period for repaying a loan made pursuant
to this article.
(5) Provide for the recovery of funds from an applicant that fails
to complete the project for which financial assistance was awarded.
The council shall direct the Controller to recover funds by any
available means.
(6) Provide technical assistance for application preparation.
(7) Designate a state agency or department to administer technical
and financial assistance programs for the disbursing of grants and
loans to support the planning and development of sustainable
communities, pursuant to Sections 75127, 75128, 75129, and 75129.5.
(e) (1) No later than July 1, 2010, and every year thereafter,
provide a report to the Legislature that shall include, but is not
limited to, all of the following:
(A) A list of applicants for financial assistance.
(B) Identification of which applications were approved.
(C) The amounts awarded for each approved application.
(D) The remaining balance of available funds.
(E) A report on the proposed or ongoing management of each funded
project.
(F) Any additional minimum requirements and priorities for a
project or plan proposed in a grant or loan application developed and
adopted by the council pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 75126.
(2) A report submitted pursuant to paragraph (1) shall be
submitted in accordance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.
SEC. 5. Section 75129.5 is added to the Public Resources Code, to
read:
75129.5. To support the planning and development of sustainable
communities, the council shall manage and award financial assistance
to a city, county, local area formation commission, special district,
nonprofit organization, or entity formed pursuant to Chapter 5
(commencing with Section 6500) of Division 7 of Title 1 of the
Government Code, or a local agency formation commission formed
pursuant to Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 56425) of Division 7
of Title 1 of the Government Code, if at least one of the parties to
the joint powers agreement qualifies as an eligible applicant, for
the preparation, planning, and implementation of a public water
system consolidation, merger, or extension of services project for
the purposes of promoting water conservation. The financial
assistance provided pursuant to this section shall be funded from
moneys made available pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 75065.
The council shall give priority to funding projects proposed by an
economically disadvantaged community.
SEC. 6. If the Commission on State Mandates determines that this
act contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to local
agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made pursuant
to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division 4 of Title 2 of
the Government Code.