BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 2334
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 10, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON WATER, PARKS AND WILDLIFE
Jared Huffman, Chair
AB 2334 (Fong) - As Amended: April 9, 2012
SUBJECT : California Water Plan: Affordable drinking water
analysis
SUMMARY : Requires the Department of Water Resources (DWR) to
analyze how drinking water and wastewater services could be made
more affordable for low-income residents. Specifically, this
bill :
1)Finds that reliable and potable drinking water and wastewater
services are not affordable or accessible for hundreds of
thousands of low-income residents in Californians and that it
is in the public interest to meet these basic needs.
2)Finds that while California has adopted programs to assure
that low-income households have access to affordable and
dependable basic energy and telecommunications services, there
is no similar program for water and wastewater.
3)Requires DWR to include an analysis in the California Water
Plan which:
a) Identifies which systems are struggling or failing to
meet affordability benchmarks;
b) Determines the factors contributing to high costs in
these systems;
c) Assesses existing low-income affordability programs;
and,
d) Proposes appropriate programs to help make water
affordable to disadvantaged communities.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Specifies that the California Water Plan is the master plan
which guides the orderly and coordinated control, protection,
conservation, development, management and efficient
utilization of California's water resources.
2)Requires that DWR update the California Water Plan every five
years and include a determination of the amount of water
needed to meet the state's future needs and to recommend
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programs, policies, and facilities to meet those needs.
3)Includes, among other requirements, that DWR include a
discussion in the California Water Plan of the potential for
alternative water pricing policies to change current and
projected urban, commercial, industrial, agricultural and open
space water uses.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : Catarina de Albuquerque, the United Nations Human
Rights Council's independent expert on the human right to safe
drinking water and sanitation, presented the results of her
United States visit and research in a report to the U.N. General
Assembly on August 2, 2011. Regarding California, she
identified that 10% of the population resides in the San Joaquin
Valley, which is 90% reliant on groundwater for its domestic
supplies. She stated the region is experiencing "enormous
challenges, particularly nitrate contamination, with regard to
drinking water." In her further analysis, Ms. de Albuquerque
identified that 20% of the San Joaquin Valley's residents are
living below the poverty line and 46% are Latino. She concluded
that the difficulty in assigning responsibility for groundwater
contamination meant that "no one is obligated to pay for the
clean-up costs. In these circumstances, the affected community
inevitably bears these costs." She found that groundwater
contamination in Tulare County meant the residents of Seville,
who still had to pay their regular water bills, were also
"forced to purchase bottled water to ensure safe and clean water
for drinking and cooking. The cost of bottled water thus
becomes the de facto water rate, which is not including the cost
of transport to the store. With a median income of $14,000 per
year, households, in total, are devoting approximately 20 per
cent of their income to water and sanitation." She concluded
that other households, who could not afford to supplement their
supplies or were uniformed about water quality, fell "into a
protection gap."
There is no universal lifeline water or sewer rate in
California. In December 2005, the California Public Utilities
Commission (CPUC) adopted a Water Action Plan (WAP) "setting
forth its policy objectives for the regulation of investor-owned
water utilities and highlighting the actions the CPUC
anticipated or would consider taking in order to implement these
objectives." One of those objectives was to "Assist low income
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ratepayers" with the CPUC stating, "Low-income customers often
struggle with payments for basic monthly water service." To
implement the 2005 WAP, the CPUC held a symposium on "Securing
Clean & Affordable Water," followed by issuance of an October
2007 "Water Utility Low-Income Assistance Programs Report" and a
December 2009 Low Income Rulemaking to streamline low-income
customers eligibility so that a customer who is already enrolled
in one low-income utility program could use that to demonstrate
eligibility for discounted water or sewer service. The CPUC's
2010 WAP update seeks, among other goals, to track water utility
shut offs to evaluate whether tariff rule changes are warranted
for low-income ratepayers and to develop standardized tariff
discounts and eligibility criteria. The CPUC noted that
low-income assistance programs very between percent discounts on
total bills, dollar discounts on total bills, and percent
discounts on service charges.
The CPUC does not require its regulated entities to offer
low-income water programs and even among CPUC regulated entities
which do offer low income programs, eligibility and benefits
vary. For example, the Sacramento Regional County Sanitation
District offers "eligible low-income customers savings of $75 to
$100 per year on the Regional Sewer portion of their sewer
bill." California American Water has a "H2O to Help Others
Program" to provide assistance to low income families. In the
Monterey area, for example, California-American offers qualified
low-income ratepayers a dollar discount depending on the number
of people who reside in the home: $8.00 per month if it is 1-4
people; $12.00 if it is 5-8 people; and, $16.00 if it is over 8.
In addition, many drinking water providers in California are not
regulated by the CPUC. Essentially, the CPUC's authority is
delineated by the Legislature but, as a general rule, it only
extends to the establishment of rates for water and sewer
services provided by private entities. Based on existing
statutory and case law, the CPUC has no jurisdiction over
municipal entities or entities that are expressly exempted by
statute.
Support Arguments : According to the author "unlike many other
goods and services, drinking water is a basic necessity that
every person requires and, because it is consumed, low-quality
drinking water has profound public health impacts. Despite
this, across California there are water districts that struggle
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to provide safe, affordable drinking water to their customers."
Supporters state this bill is an important step "by establishing
a process to assess the scale of the water affordability
challenge in California and to develop effective strategies to
address the problem."
Previous bills, notably AB 1242 (Ruskin/2009) and AB 685
(Eng/2011) tried to establish, as a State policy, a human right
to safe, clean and affordable water for human consumption,
cooking, and sanitary purposes. AB 1242 was vetoed by Governor
Arnold Schwarzenegger and AB 685 was held in the Senate
Appropriations Committee. Much of the opposition to both bills
centered on uncertainty regarding where the burden would fall to
provide affordable water to California's low-income residents if
that should be determined to be a human right. This bill, if
implemented, could help answer the question as to how to
implement an equitable statewide program to help provide
affordable drinking water to underserved residents and families
that does not undermine the ability of retail water suppliers to
meet their operational costs.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Rural Legal Assistance
Foundation (Sponsor)
PolicyLink (Sponsor)
Clean Water Action (Sponsor)
Community Water Center (Sponsor)
ACCESS/Women's Health Rights Coalition
ACT for Women and Girls
Alliance of Californians for Community
Empowerment
Asian Health Services
Asian Pacific American Legal Center
Black Women for Wellness
California Immigrant Policy Center
California Latinas for Reproductive Justice
California Pan-Ethnic Health Network
California Partnership
California Public Utilities Commission
Division of Ratepayer Advocates
Cal-Islanders Humanitarian Association
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Central Valley Partnership
Centro Binacional Para el Desarrollo
Ind�gena Oaxaque�o, Inc.
Coalition for Humane Immigrant
Rights of Los Angeles
Communities for a New California
Education Fund
Earth Mama Healing
Frente Ind�gena de Orbanizaciones
Binacionales
Great Beginnings for Black Babies
Guam Communications Network
Korean Community Center of East Bay
Korean Resource Center
Latino Coalition for a Health California
Libreria del Pueblo, Inc.
Low-Income Families' Empowerment
through Education
Madera Coalition for Community Justice
Nana's Wish
Pacific Islander Cancer Survivors Network
San Jerardo Cooperative Inc.
Services, Immigrant Rights, and Education
Network
South Asian Network
SSG - PALS for Health
Street Level Health
The Council of Mexican Federations
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Tina Cannon Leahy / W., P. & W. / (916)
319-2096