BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 2451
Page 1
Date of Hearing: May 7, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Mike Gatto, Chair
AB 2451 (Daly) - As Amended: April 10, 2014
Policy Committee: Local
GovernmentVote:9 - 0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
Yes Reimbursable: Yes
SUMMARY
As proposed to be amended, this bill makes changes to the laws
governing the inspection, testing and certification of water
submeters. Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires a county sealer to inspect, calibrate, test and
certify to the accuracy of a water submeter within his or her
county if any of the follow apply:
a) Additional service outside the regular inspection
schedule is requested in writing.
b) The submeter is not intended to be placed into service
in the county within six months.
c) The submeter is intended to be placed into service in a
different county.
2)Allows the county sealer to establish a fee schedule and to
collect fees to cover the cost of the new services in this
bill. Fees are limited to the actual cost of services.
3)Requires a county sealer to authorize the installation of a
water submeter that has been inspected, tested, and sealed by
the county sealer of another county if the submeter bears the
most recent seal of the county in which the water submeter was
inspected, is installed within 12 months, and the county
sealer does not have reason to believe the water submeter has
been tampered with, damaged, or otherwise rendered inoperable.
4)Requires a water submeter submitted to a sealer for inspection
AB 2451
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and testing before its initial installation that is found to
be incorrect, to be returned to a service agent only if the
submeter has no signs of intentional tampering and is not
being placed into service in California.
5)Deletes from the definition of "placed in service" the
submission of a device to a sealer for verification prior to
installation.
FISCAL EFFECT
Negligible state costs. Counties are given fee authority to
cover their costs.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose of the bill . The intent of this bill is to ensure an
adequate supply of submeters in California for installation
and use in rental housing, particularly newly constructed
rental housing. According to the author, "as water grows
increasingly scarce and expensive, water submeters are
becoming increasingly popular in California. The City of San
Diego passed an ordinance in 2010 mandating that submeters be
installed in all new rental housing construction. The City of
Long Beach is developing a similar ordinance and, over the
past several years, the state legislature has tried (and
failed) to enact a submeter mandate (like San Diego's)."
2)Background . Water submeters are commercially utilized by
landlords in rental units, including apartment complexes,
mobile home parks, and marinas to allow each tenant to receive
a separate utility reading and be billed separately for water
consumption. While residential and commercial water,
electric, and gas meters are regulated by the Public Utilities
Commission, water submeters are regulated by the Division of
Measurement Standards (DMS) under the California Department of
Food and Agriculture (CDFA) in collaboration with the local
sealer of weights and measures. There are approximately
200,000 to 400,000 water submeters in the state.
3)Suggested Amendment . In order to ensure that county sealer's
can recover their costs for performing the new services
required in this bill, on page 8, lines 14 and 15, strike "and
shall not exceed the amount specified for water submeters in
Section 12240." That section covers a different set of duties
AB 2451
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and is not the appropriate bench mark for the requirements in
this bill.
4)Previous Legislation .
a) SB 744 (Wyland) of 2011 would have deemed, until January
1, 2016, any water submeter tested by equipment that is
regularly calibrated according to standards promulgated by
the National Institute of Standards and Technology to be
tested, sealed, and approved for commercial use, if
specified conditions are met. SB 744 was vetoed.
b) AB 19 (Fong) of 2011 would have mandated that water
purveyors adopt policies requiring that multiunit
residential structures or mixed use residential and
commercial structures that apply for water connections
after January 1, 2014, have, as a condition of new water
service, submeters that measure the water supplied to each
individual dwelling unit. AB 19 was held in the Assembly
HCD Committee.
c) AB 1975 (Fong) of 2010 would have required multiunit
residential structures or mixed use residential and
commercial structures to add, as a condition of new
service, water meters or submeters that measure the water
supplied to each individual unit. AB 1975 was held in the
Senate Appropriations Committee.
d) AB 1173 (Keene) of 2007 would have required water
suppliers to require, for all multiunit residential
structures (apartment complexes) for which a construction
permit is issued, the installation of meters or submeters
on each rental unit as a condition for providing water
service. AB 1173 was held in the Assembly Appropriations
Committee.
Analysis Prepared by : Jennifer Swenson / APPR. / (916)
319-2081