BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 118
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ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 118 (Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials Committee)
As Introduced January 14, 2013
Majority vote
ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY 7-0
APPROPRIATIONS 17-0
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|Ayes:|Alejo, Dahle, Bloom, |Ayes:|Gatto, Harkey, Bigelow, |
| |Donnelly, Perea, Stone, | |Bocanegra, Bradford, Ian |
| |Ting | |Calderon, Campos, |
| | | |Donnelly, Eggman, Gomez, |
| | | |Hall, Ammiano, Linder, |
| | | |Pan, Quirk, Wagner, Weber |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Authorizes the California Department of Public Health
(CDPH), when implementing the Safe Drinking Water State
Revolving Fund (SDWSRF), to adopt interim regulations and take
other actions to expedite the process of providing funds for
drinking water projects, especially to severely disadvantaged
communities. Specifically, this bill :
1)Authorizes CDPH to adopt interim regulations for the SDWSRF
not subject to the provisions of the Administrative Procedures
Act (APA) and that may remain in effect for up to three years.
2)Requires an applicant for SDWSRF funding to a) demonstrate it
has technical, managerial and financial capacity to operate
and maintain its water system, including the project,
according to all legal requirements for at least 20 years,
consistent with CDPH guidelines, or b) submit a plan,
acceptable to CDPH, for achieving this capacity by the time
the project is to be completed, and c) complete a rate study.
3)Declares that severely disadvantaged communities are unable to
afford SDWSRF loans and are eligible to receive grants.
4)Limits the proportion of grants from the SDWSRF to no more
than 30% of the annual capitalization grant provided by the
federal government.
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5)Authorizes an applicant to receive up to the full cost of the
project in the form of a loan bearing interest, instead of the
current limit of $20 million per project.
6)Authorizes CDPH to, as part of its annual Intended Use Plan,
to establish a reasonable schedule of administrative fees for
loans, which CDPH is authorized to levy under current law.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Authorizes, pursuant to the federal Safe Drinking Water
Revolving Fund, the United States Environmental Protection
Agency (US EPA) to set standards for drinking water quality
and to oversee the states, localities, and water suppliers who
implement those standards. Under the State Drinking Water Act
(SDWA) Amendments of 1996 (PL 104-182), establishes the SDWSRF
program, which authorizes the US EPA to award capitalization
grants to states and authorizes the states to provide low-cost
loans and other types of assistance to public water systems to
finance the costs of infrastructure projects needed to achieve
or maintain compliance with federal SDWA requirements.
2)Establishes, pursuant to the Safe Drinking Water State
Revolving Fund (SDWSRF) Law of 1997 the SDWSRF and
continuously appropriates the SDWSRF to CDPH to provide grants
or revolving fund loans for the design and construction of
projects for public water systems that will enable suppliers
to meet safe drinking water standards.
3)Establishes, pursuant to the Administrative Procedure Act,
rulemaking procedures and standards for state agencies.
Requires state regulations to also be adopted in compliance
with regulations adopted by the Office of Administrative Law.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee the bill would result in a range of potential fiscal
effects including:
1)Potential, but unspecified, increased risk of default on loans
made by CDPH to cover the full cost of a project to be funded
by interest-bearing loans.
2)Increased viability of maintaining the SDWSRF as a revolving
fund, resulting from limiting the proportion of grants from
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the SDWSRF to no more than 30% of the annual capitalization
grant provided by the federal government. Current law limits
grants to no more than 30% of the overall amount deposited in
the fund, which may diminish fund amounts over time.
3)Minor, absorbable costs to CDPH, at least partially covered by
the administrative fee authorized by this bill.
4)Possible minor CDPH workload reduction from simplifying the
CDPH process for determining a community cannot afford a
SDWSRF loan.
COMMENTS :
Need for the bill : According to the author, "This is a
technical bill enables the CDPH to ease the process of providing
funds to correct small water system deficiencies, particularly
those serving severely disadvantaged communities. Since the
SDWSRF was implemented in 1997, changes have occurred in federal
and state laws that affect the administration of the Safe
Drinking water Program. To address these changes, it is
necessary that CDPH has greater flexibility in its rulemaking
process in order to be more responsive to changes in federal
laws, the needs of the public water systems, and the communities
they serve. In addition, this bill would provide CDPH with
authority to increase the level of funding for projects and
thereby decreases the current backlog of funding allocations."
Safe Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (SDWSRF) : Congress
established the SDWSRF as part of the SDWA Amendments of 1996 to
better enable public water systems to comply with national
primary drinking water standards and to protect public health.
The SDWSRF provides financial assistance in the form of
capitalization grants to states to provide low interest loans
and other assistance to public water systems.
Analysis Prepared by : Bob Fredenburg/ E.S. & T.M. / (916)
319-3965 FN:
0000826
AB 118
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