BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 482
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
Senator S. Joseph Simitian, Chairman
2011-2012 Regular Session
BILL NO: SB 482
AUTHOR: Kehoe
AMENDED: April 25, 2011
FISCAL: Yes HEARING DATE: May 2, 2011
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT:
Rachel Machi Wagoner
SUBJECT : PUBLIC BEACH CONTAMINATION: STANDARDS: TESTING:
CLOSURE
SUMMARY :
Existing federal law :
Pursuant to the Clean Water Act, requires all municipal,
industrial, and commercial facilities that discharge wastewater
or stormwater directly from a point source into waters of the
United States (such as a lake, river or ocean) to obtain a
National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit.
Existing California law :
1) Requires California Department of Public Health (DPH) to
adopt regulations establishing minimum standards for the
sanitation of public beaches for the protection of the
public's health and safety including requirements for
testing, monitoring, inspection, notification, posting and
beach closures.
2) Authorizes the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB)
and the regional water quality control boards to establish
waste discharge requirements for the discharge of stormwater
by municipalities and industries in accordance with the
federal Clean Water Act.
3) Requires local environmental health agencies to implement
and enforce the beach monitoring program when funding is
provided by the state and to report to SWRCB prescribed
information regarding beach posting and closures.
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4) Requires SWRCB to post beach closure information on its
website.
This bill:
1) Transfers beach water quality monitoring and reporting
requirements from the DPH to the SWRCB.
2) Allows SWRCB to determine options for modifying wastewater
and stormwater discharge monitoring requirements.
COMMENTS :
1) Purpose of Bill . The author believes that protecting the
public's health is of the utmost importance and should be
prioritized by the state of California. According to the
author, recreating in waters with increased bacteria
concentrations has been directly linked to human health
impacts, ranging from nausea and skin rashes to pinkeye,
respiratory infections, meningitis and hepatitis. The author
contends that poor beach water quality in Los Angeles and
Orange Counties alone is associated with as many as 1.5
million excess cases of gastrointestinal illness a year,
which equates to an economic loss of $21 to $51 million per
year (Pendleton et al. 2006). California depends heavily on
coastal tourism revenue, which the author claims could be
jeopardized by a lack of routine monitoring. With between
150 million and nearly 400 million visits made to California
beaches each year, the author believes that clean beaches are
a vital source of tourism and livelihood for the state and
that beach water quality monitoring keeps millions of
beachgoers in California safe.
2) Background . California has some of the most popular
beaches in the country. Over 150 million day visits are
generated by tourists and residents who use them annually to
swim, wade, surf, and dive. Beach visitors spend over $10
billion each year in California. Beach water quality
monitoring and strong pollution prevention measures are
critical for protecting beach goers from waterborne diseases.
California has the most extensive and comprehensive
monitoring and regulatory program for beaches in the nation.
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Monitoring is performed by county health agencies in
seventeen different coastal and San Francisco Bay Area
counties, publicly owned sewage treatment plants, other
dischargers along the coastal zone, environmental groups and
numerous citizen-monitoring groups.
The last available data from SWRCB website from 2005 shows
that there were 486 days of total closures and 1,142 events
where posting was required on California monitored beaches.
DPH used General Fund dollars to provide funding to the
counties to implement the beach monitoring program through
June 30, 2008. However, Governor Schwarzenegger used his
line item veto authority to strike the funding in the
2008/2009 fiscal year. Since 2008, SWRCB has provided
short-term, temporary funding grants from both the
Costa-Machado Water Act of 2000 (Proposition 13) and the
Water Security, Clean Drinking Water, Coastal and Beach
Protection Act of 2002 (Proposition 50) while long-term
funding solutions are explored.
By transferring the primary responsibility for the
administration of the beach monitoring program to SWRCB this
bill would give the board the flexibility needed to find
appropriate funding for this program.
SOURCE : California Association of Environmental Health
Administrators
SUPPORT : Alameda County, Department of Environmental Health
CalCoast
California Coastal Coalition
California Coastkeeper Alliance
Center for Oceanic Awareness Research and
Education
Humboldt County, Department of Public Health
Los Angeles County, Department of Public Health
Marin County, Department of Environmental Health
Services
Natural Resources Defense Council
San Diego County
San Luis Obispo COASTKEEPER
Save Our Shores
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Sierra Club California
OPPOSITION : None on file