BILL ANALYSIS �
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 115|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 115
Author: Perea (D), et al.
Amended: 6/17/13 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY COMMITTEE : 9-0, 6/12/13
AYES: Hill, Gaines, Calderon, Corbett, Fuller, Hancock,
Jackson, Leno, Pavley
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 7-0, 8/30/13
AYES: De Le�n, Walters, Gaines, Hill, Lara, Padilla, Steinberg
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 76-0, 4/18/13 (Consent) - See last page for
vote
SUBJECT : Safe Drinking Water State Revolving Fund
SOURCE : California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation
DIGEST : This bill expands the eligibility for grants and
loans from the Safe Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (SDWSRF)
administered by the Department of Public Health (DPH).
ANALYSIS :
Existing law:
1.Under the federal Safe Drinking Water Act:
A. Requires the federal Environmental Protection Agency
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(U.S. EPA) to set standards for drinking water quality and
oversee the states, localities, and water suppliers who
implement those standards. California has authority over
drinking water, delegated by U.S. EPA.
B. Establishes the federal Drinking Water State Revolving
Fund, which provides states with a financing mechanism to
ensure safe drinking water to the public.
1.Under the California Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA):
A. Requires DPH to administer provisions relating to the
regulation of drinking water to protect public health,
including, but not limited to, conducting research,
studies, and demonstration programs relating to the
provision of a dependable, safe supply of drinking water,
enforcing the federal SDWA, adopting and enforcing
regulations, and conducting studies and investigations to
assess the quality of water in domestic water supplies.
B. Establishes the SDWSRF, which is continuously
appropriated to the DPH for the provision of grants and
revolving fund loans to provide for the design and
construction of projects for public water systems that will
enable suppliers to meet safe drinking water standards.
Requires DPH to establish criteria for projects to be
eligible for the grant and loan program, including that a
legal entity exist that has the authority to enter into
contracts and incur debt on behalf of the community to be
served and owns the public water system or has the right to
operate the public water system under a lease with a term
of at least 20 years, unless otherwise authorized by DPH.
This bill:
1.Expands the eligibility for grants and loans from the SDWSRF
administered by DPH.
2.Allows the submission of multi-agency SDWSRF applications when
at least one of the communities served by the construction
project will meet safe drinking water standards.
3.Allows SDWSRF money to be used for funding projects to upgrade
existing drinking water systems that will serve disadvantaged
communities which are distinct from the agency that is
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requesting the funds.
4.Requires DPH to allow multiple water systems to apply for
funding as a single application for the purpose of
consolidating drinking water systems, or for extending
existing services to households relying on private wells.
5.Requires that to be considered eligible, the consolidated
application includes at least one disadvantaged or severely
disadvantaged community with drinking water violations and
that at least 50% of the proposed project funds will be
directed to that community.
6.Provides that the purpose of the consolidation or service
extension is to provide compliance with SDWA.
7.Requires, for purposes of considering eligibility for
construction funding, a legal entity to exist that is not
necessarily the applicant, but that has the authority to enter
into contracts and incur debt on behalf of at least one of the
communities to be served and has the right to operate at least
one of the public water systems under a lease or memorandum of
understanding with a term of at least 20 years.
8.Delays the implementation if legislation is enacted in 2013
that transfers the statutory and regulatory authority for the
SDWA from DPH.
Background
The DPH, under the SDWA, administers grants and loans from the
SDWSRF to provide for the design and construction of public
water systems projects that will enable suppliers to meet safe
drinking water standards. Existing law requires DPH to
establish eligibility criteria within specified parameters and
to establish a priority list of proposed projects.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: Yes Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, unknown cost
pressures, potentially in the millions of dollars, to the SDWSRF
(special) for increased applications for grants and loans.
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SUPPORT : (Verified 8/31/13)
California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation (source)
Association of California Water Agencies
California Municipal Utilities Association
California Special Districts Association
Clean Water Action
Community Water Center
East Bay Municipal Utility District
Environmental Justice Coalition for Water
PolicyLink
Rural County Representatives of California
Santa Clara Valley Water District
Western Growers Association
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author, "The bill
seeks to make disadvantaged and severely disadvantaged
communities, served by public water systems or on private wells,
whose water fails to meet drinking water standards eligible or
more competitive for state funding to improve drinking water
quality and affordability. Additionally, it seeks to
incentivize consolidation of drinking water systems and
extension of drinking water services to improve drinking water
quality and affordability to disadvantaged and severely
disadvantaged communities. Similarly, it facilitates a joint
application for funding from more than one agency."
The author argues that, "often the best solution of efficient,
reliable and affordable drinking water delivery to small,
disadvantaged communities who rely on contaminated drinking
water is through consolidation with another district or through
extension of services from another district. It is difficult
for small, disadvantaged water systems to access necessary
funding to accomplish such projects. Communities relying on
private wells and without public water systems are not eligible
at all for funding from the SDWSRF. Finally, larger systems
that are eligible and have the technical capacity to access
SDWSRF funds have little - if any - incentive to develop
projects that serve neighboring disadvantaged communities. As a
result, there remains no mechanism to effectively address the
critical drinking water needs of disadvantaged communities.
This bill provides both a mechanism for disadvantaged
communities who rely on contaminated drinking water to apply in
collaboration with an often larger water system for funding and
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creates an incentive for larger, more economically advantaged
water systems to apply in collaboration with and through a
proposed project to serve a disadvantaged community.
Administrative avenues have been exhausted."
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 76-0, 4/18/13
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Bigelow, Bloom,
Blumenfield, Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown,
Buchanan, Ian Calderon, Campos, Chau, Ch�vez, Chesbro, Conway,
Cooley, Dahle, Daly, Dickinson, Donnelly, Eggman, Fong, Fox,
Frazier, Beth Gaines, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gordon, Gorell,
Gray, Grove, Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Roger Hern�ndez, Jones,
Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Linder, Logue, Maienschein, Mansoor,
Medina, Melendez, Morrell, Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nazarian,
Nestande, Olsen, Pan, Patterson, Perea, V. Manuel P�rez,
Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Salas, Skinner, Stone, Ting,
Torres, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wieckowski, Wilk, Williams,
Yamada, John A. P�rez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Holden, Lowenthal, Mitchell, Vacancy
RM:ej 9/3/13 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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