BILL ANALYSIS �
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1527|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1527
Author: Perea (D)
Amended: 8/20/14 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY COMMITTEE : 6-0, 6/25/14
AYES: Hill, Gaines, Hancock, Jackson, Leno, Pavley
NO VOTE RECORDED: Fuller
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 54-24, 5/28/14 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Public water systems: Safe Drinking Water State
Revolving Fund
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill requires the State Water Resources Control
Board (Board) to provide incentives for the consolidation of
public water systems based upon a service review developed by a
local agency formation commission.
Senate Floor Amendments of 8/20/14 make conforming changes to
make the bill consistent with the 2014-2015 Budget Bill, which
transferred the Drinking Water Program from the Department of
Public Health to the Board.
ANALYSIS : Existing law:
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1.Establishes, under the Safe Drinking Water State Revolving
Fund Law of 1997, the Safe Drinking Water State Revolving Fund
(SDWSRF) to provide grants or revolving fund loans for the
design and construction of projects for public water systems
that will enable those systems to meet safe drinking water
standards.
2.Requires the Board to implement this law pursuant to the
adoption of a policy handbook.
3.Establishes the Strategic Growth Council (SGC) and requires
the SGC to identify and review activities and funding programs
of member state agencies that may be coordinated to improve
air and water quality, improve natural resource protection,
increase the availability of affordable housing, improve
transportation, meet the goals of the California Global
Warming Solutions Act of 2006, encourage sustainable land use
planning, and revitalize urban and community centers in a
sustainable manner. Requires the SGC to manage and award
grants and loans to support the planning and development of
sustainable communities.
This bill:
1.Requires the Board to provide incentives for the consolidation
of public water systems based upon a service review developed
by a local agency formation commission.
2.Repeals these provisions as of January 1 of the next calendar
year occurring after the board provides notice to the
Legislature and the Secretary of State and posts notice on its
Internet Web site that the board has adopted a policy
handbook.
Background
Recent State Drinking Water Policy . The Legislature and
Governor Brown recognized the principle that all people have a
right to safe drinking water by enacting AB 685 (Eng, Chapter
524, Statutes of 2012). This state policy declares that every
human being has the right to clean, affordable, and accessible
water adequate for human consumption, cooking, and sanitary
purposes. While in California the majority of residents receive
drinking water that meets public health standards, recent
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studies have shown that many disadvantaged and rural communities
have not had, and continue not to have access to safe,
accessible, and affordable drinking water.
Prevalence of Contaminated Drinking Water Sources . The January
2013 State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) report
"Communities that Rely on Contaminated Groundwater," identified
682 community public water systems (PWSs) that rely on
contaminated groundwater as a primary source of drinking water.
These water systems serve nearly 21 million people. The SWRCB
report also revealed that 265 community PWSs that rely on
contaminated groundwater and serve a little over two million
people had received at least one drinking water quality
violation within the last Department of Public Health (DPH)
compliance cycle. The findings from this report and a January
2012, University of California at Davis study, "Addressing
Nitrate in California's Drinking Water," suggest that drinking
water contamination in California disproportionally affects
small, rural, and low-income communities that depend mostly on
groundwater as their drinking water source.
DPH Consolidation Requirements . According to United States
Environmental Protection Agency, restructuring can be an
effective means to help small water systems achieve and maintain
technical, managerial, and financial capacity, and to reduce the
oversight and resources that states need to devote to these
systems.
The goal of consolidation and regional projects was recognized
from the inception of the SDWSRF (SB 1307, Thompson and Costa,
Chapter 734, Statutes of 1997), which is the state program to
implement the federal funding program, when the Legislature
declared that it is in the interest of the people to encourage
the consolidation of the management and the facilities of small
water systems. To promote consolidation, the DPH established
the Consolidation Incentive Program, which provides an incentive
to encourage larger systems to consolidate nearby noncompliant
systems. Typically, the DPH only invites drinking water systems
that are out of compliance with drinking water standards to
submit applications for SDWSRF funding. However, through the
consolidation incentive process, lower-ranked projects that do
not usually receive SDWSRF invitations can become eligible for
SDWSRF funding. By agreeing to consolidate a neighboring
noncompliant system, the DPH will re-rank a low-ranked project
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into a fundable category.
In order to provide further support and direction for the DPH's
consolidation efforts, AB 783 (Arambula, Chapter 614, Statutes
of 2007) required the DPH to prioritize funding of water
projects in disadvantaged communities and directs the DPH to
encourage, provide funds for studies on, and prioritize funding
for projects that consolidate small public water systems in
certain situations.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/21/14)
California Local Agency Formation Commissions
City of Salinas
Sierra Club California
OPPOSITION : (Verified 8/21/14)
California Special Districts Association
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 54-24, 5/28/14
AYES: Alejo, Ammiano, Bloom, Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta,
Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, Ian Calderon, Campos, Chau,
Chesbro, Cooley, Dababneh, Daly, Dickinson, Eggman, Fong, Fox,
Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Hall, Roger
Hern�ndez, Holden, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Lowenthal, Medina,
Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Pan, Perea, John A. P�rez, V.
Manuel P�rez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas,
Rodriguez, Salas, Skinner, Stone, Ting, Weber, Wieckowski,
Williams, Yamada, Atkins
NOES: Achadjian, Allen, Bigelow, Ch�vez, Conway, Dahle,
Donnelly, Beth Gaines, Gorell, Grove, Hagman, Harkey, Jones,
Linder, Logue, Maienschein, Mansoor, Melendez, Nestande,
Olsen, Patterson, Wagner, Waldron, Wilk
NO VOTE RECORDED: Frazier, Vacancy
RM:nl 8/21/14 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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