BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 2238
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
Senator S. Joseph Simitian, Chairman
2011-2012 Regular Session
BILL NO: AB 2238
AUTHOR: Perea
AMENDED: June 25, 2012
FISCAL: Yes HEARING DATE: July 2, 2012
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT: Joanne Roy
SUBJECT : DRINKING WATER: SAFE DRINKING WATER STATE
REVOLVING FUND
SUMMARY :
Existing law , pursuant to the Safe Drinking Water State
Revolving Fund Law of 1997:
1) Provides funding for public water systems through the Safe
Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (SDWSRF) to correct
deficiencies and problems that pose public health risks and
meet safe drinking water standards. (Health and Safety
Code �116760.10)
2) Establishes SDWSRF and requires the California Department
of Public Health (DPH) to administer SDWSRF. (�116760.30)
3) Declares that in order to address water contamination
problems in small water systems, it is in the best interest
of the state to encourage the consolidation of these
systems. (�116760.10(g))
4) Requires DPH to establish a priority list of proposed
projects to be considered for SDWSRF funding and requires
priority be given to projects that meet specified criteria.
(�116760.70)
5) Authorizes DPH to enter into contracts with applicants for
grants or loans in accordance with SDWSRF. (�116761.50)
6) Authorizes up to 100 percent grant funding to a small
community water system or nontransient noncommunity water
system that serves severely disadvantaged communities for
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project costs to the extent the system cannot afford a
loan. (�116761.23)
This bill requires DPH to do all of the following when
considering an application for SDWSRF funding:
1) Review and consider applicable local agency formation
commission (LAFCO) studies or municipal service review, and
other pertinent information identifying regional solutions
to meeting the safe drinking water goals.
2) Consult with the appropriate LAFCO executive officer to
determine whether any additional information exists that
would assist DPH in evaluating the application.
3) Report to the applicant regarding the review and
consultation required in (1) and (2).
COMMENTS :
1) Purpose of Bill . The author states, "Hundreds of thousands
of Californians do not have access to safe and affordable
drinking water. Many of these Californians cannot access
funding to address their drinking water problems because
they (a) rely on private wells, (b) rely on a water system
that has fewer than 15 connections, (c) live in
disadvantaged communities that simply do not have the
technical and managerial capacity or economy of scale to
support its own drinking water improvement project?More and
more, local agencies and actors, including the local agency
formation commission and local pilot programs, are
identifying how and where consolidation and service
extension may offer the best solution to drinking water
concerns, especially in disadvantaged communities. �DPH]
is the principal funding agency for safe drinking water.
Unfortunately, the Department does not have a policy or
practice of identifying how their funding programs can
address drinking water problems on more than a community by
community basis?"
2) SDWSRF . Congress established the federal Drinking Water
State Revolving Fund (DWSRF) as part of the 1996 Safe
Drinking Water Act Amendments to better enable public water
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systems to comply with national primary drinking water
standards and to protect public health. DWSRF provides
financial assistance in the form of capitalization grants
to states to provide low-interest loans and other
assistance to public water systems. In order to receive
these funds, states must provide a state match equal to 20%
of the federal capitalization grants and must create a
drinking water state revolving fund program for public
water system infrastructure needs and other drinking
water-related activities. In response, California
established SDWSRF through SB 1307 (Costa) Chapter 734,
Statutes of 1997, to help fund the state's drinking water
needs. The fund provides public water systems the
opportunity to use subsidized funding to correct
infrastructure problems, assess and protect source water,
and improve technical, managerial, and financial
capability.
3) Consideration of Local/Regional Impacts . Each county has a
local agency formation commission (LAFCO) which is
responsible for seeing that services in the area are
provided efficiently and economically and that agricultural
and open-space lands are protected.
LAFCOs control how local officials alter the boundaries of
cities and special districts. LAFCO boundary decisions
must be consistent with "spheres of influence" which a
LAFCO adopts to show the future boundaries and service
areas of cities and special districts within the LAFCO
purview. Before a LAFCO may adopt their sphere of
influence, it must prepare a "municipal service review"
which analyzes population growth, public facilities, and
service demands. LAFCOs control annexations of cities and
special districts, city incorporations, consolidations, and
disincorporations as well as special district formations,
consolidations, and dissolutions.
In order to ensure that DPH considers local and regional
factors when processing SDWSRF grant and loan funding for
community water systems, this bill requires DPH to take
into account applicable local studies and review as well as
consult with the appropriate LAFCO executive officer.
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4) Related legislation . AB 2208 (Perea) authorizes DPH to
combine proposed studies or projects from multiple
applicants, with their consent, when evaluating
applications for SDWSRF funding. The Senate Environmental
Quality Committee will hear this bill on July 2, 2012.
AB 2529 (Wieckowski) makes several changes to the SDWSRF Law
of 1997 related to implementation of the act, administering
SDWSRF, and processing applications for grant and loan
funding. The Senate Environmental Quality Committee will
hear this bill on July 2, 2012.
5) Prior legislation . AB 983 (Perea) Chapter 515, Statutes of
2011, made several changes to the laws governing the state
program providing grants and loans for safe drinking water
projects, including allowing certain disadvantaged
communities to be eligible for grants up to 100 percent of
project costs.
AB 2515 (V.M. Perez) Chapter 601, Statutes of 2010, authorized
DPH to provide a grant from SDWSRF for point-of-entry and
point-of-use water treatment systems.
AB 2356 (Arambula) Chapter 607, Statutes of 2008, required the
State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) to take
specified actions when allocating funds to small,
disadvantaged communities for wastewater collection,
treatment or disposal projects and establishing a payment
process pursuant to which the recipient of financial
assistance receives funds within 30 days of the date on
which SWRCB receives a project payment request.
AB 783 (Arambula) Chapter 614, Statutes of 2007, directed DPH
to prioritize funding of water projects in disadvantaged
communities; and directs DPH to promote, provide funds for
studies on, and prioritize funding for projects which
consolidate small public water systems in certain
situations.
SOURCE : California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation
Environmental Justice Coalition for Water
PolicyLink
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Clean Water Action
Community Water Center
SUPPORT : California Association of Local Agency Formation
Commissions
County of Tuolumne Local Agency Formation
Commission
Unitarian Universalist Service Committee
OPPOSITION : None on file