BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    �



                                                                  SB 1063
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   August 8, 2012

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                Felipe Fuentes, Chair

                   SB 1063 (Gaines) - As Amended:  April 23, 2012 

          Policy Committee:                             Environmental 
          Safety and Toxic Materials                    Vote: 9-0

          Urgency:     Yes                  State Mandated Local Program: 
          No     Reimbursable:              No

           SUMMARY  

          This bill conditionally allows recreation that includes human 
          bodily contact at the Bear Lake Reservoir through 2015.  The 
          conditions allowing such regulation include subsequent water 
          treatment, monitoring, compliance with all conditions and 
          restrictions required by the reservoir operator or the 
          Department of Public Health (DPH) and a report by the Lake 
          Alpine Water Company to the Legislature on water quality.

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          Minor absorbable costs to DPH to review and monitor reservoir 
          water quality management activities and data and take 
          enforcement action, if necessary.

           COMMENTS  

           1)Rationale.   The author intends this bill to once again allow 
            recreational activities, such as swimming and paddling, on 
            Bear Lake Reservoir.

           2)Background.   Current law prohibits bodily contact with bodies 
            of water that serve as drinking water supplies.  This is 
            because humans shed fecal matter and other contaminants that 
            can harm those who drink water containing such contaminants.  
            The law, however, makes several exemptions to this general 
            prohibition, mainly to accommodate historic recreation 
            patterns.

            Bear Lake Reservoir is a small, private alpine lake south of 
            Lake Tahoe and North of Yosemite.  The lake is accessible only 
            by members of Bear Lake Residents Incorporated and their 
            guests.  The reservoir was created and is managed by the Lake 






                                                                  SB 1063
                                                                  Page  2

            Alpine Water Company, a private supplier of drinking water 
            regulated by the California Public Utilities Commission.

            Prior legislation (AB 1934 (Leslie), Chapter 374, Statutes of 
            2004) exempted Bear Lake Reservoir from the bodily contact 
            prohibition.  However, and seemingly unbeknownst to the Lake 
            Alpine Water Company, the exemption provided by AB 1934 
            expired in 2007.  In 2011, DPH issued a letter to the water 
            company, indicating the company, by continuing to allow bodily 
            contact with the reservoir, was in violation of the law.  The 
            letter also noted that the water company had failed to provide 
            a report to the Legislature, as required by AB 1934.  The Lake 
            Alpine Water Company responded by prohibiting bodily contact 
            with the reservoir and by submitting the report.

           Analysis Prepared by  :    Jay Dickenson / APPR. / (916) 319-2081