BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 2451
Page 1
CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB 2451 (Daly)
As Amended August 13, 2014
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |78-0 |(May 15, 2014) |SENATE: |36-0 |(August 18, |
| | | | | |2014) |
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Original Committee Reference: L. GOV.
SUMMARY : Makes a number of changes to law governing the
inspection, testing, and certification of water submeters.
The Senate amendments :
1)Provide that an owner, user, or operator of a water submeter
shall not be subject to criminal prosecution or liable for
other fines or penalties if a water submeter that has been
sealed, installed and used commercially is found to be
incorrect, if all of the following conditions apply:
a) The water submeter was one of a submeter lot that had
been previously sampled and tested by a sealer, as
specified;
b) The specific water submeter had not been previously
tested by a sealer, as specified;
c) The water submeter has been deemed by the sealer to show
no signs of intentional tampering, damage or alteration, as
specified; and,
d) The owner, user, or operator has maintained the water
submeter, as specified.
2)Provide that a water submeter that meets the conditions in 1)
above, shall not be reinstalled and placed into commercial use
unless it is repaired and recalibrated, as specified, and
inspected and sealed by the sealer.
AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY , this bill:
1)Required a county sealer who possesses the appropriate
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equipment to perform tests on water submeters to inspect,
calibrate, test, and certify to the accuracy of a water
submeter, within his or her county and upon written request of
the owner, user, or operator of the water submeter, if any of
the following circumstances exist:
a) The service is requested to be performed in addition to,
or according to a schedule different from, any inspection
frequency established by regulations adopted by the
Secretary of the Department of Food and Agriculture (DFA)
pursuant to current law governing the inspection frequency
of all commercially used weights, measures, and weighing
and measuring apparatus in the state;
b) The requested service pertains to a water submeter not
intended to be placed into service in the county within six
months; or,
c) The requested service pertains to a water submeter
intended to be placed into service in a different county.
2)Allowed the board of supervisors to authorize the sealer to
establish, from time to time, a schedule of fees to cover the
cost of services provided under 1) above, and to charge and
collect the fees. The fee schedule shall be limited to the
actual cost of performing those services and shall not exceed
the amount specified for water submeters in current law, which
is $2 per device per space or apartment.
3)Required a county sealer, within his or her county and upon
written request of the owner, user, or operator of the water
submeter, to authorize the installation of a water submeter
that has been inspected, tested, and sealed by the county
sealer of another county if all of the following conditions
are met:
a) The meter bears a seal that represents the most recent
seal of the county in which the water submeter was
inspected, in accordance with current law, as specified;
b) The water submeter is installed no later than 12 months
after the water submeter was inspected, tested, and sealed;
and,
c) The county sealer does not have reason to believe the
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water submeter has been tampered with, damaged, or
otherwise rendered inoperable since the inspection,
testing, and sealing by the other county sealer.
4)Required a water submeter submitted to a sealer by an owner,
user, or operator for inspection and testing before its
initial installation that is found to be incorrect, as defined
in current law, to be marked with the words, "Out of Order,"
in accordance with current law, and to be returned to a
service agent only if both of the following conditions are
met:
a) The water submeter has no signs of intentional tampering
by which to facilitate fraud; and,
b) The water submeter shall not be placed into service in
California.
5)Deleted from the definition of "placed in service" the
submission of a device to a sealer for verification prior to
installation.
6)Provided that no reimbursement is required by this bill
pursuant to the California Constitution for certain costs that
may be incurred by a local agency or school district because a
local agency or school district has the authority to levy
service charges, fees, or assessments sufficient to pay for
the program or level of service mandated by this bill or
because costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school
district will be incurred because this bill creates a new
crime or infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or
changes the penalty for a crime or infraction, within the
meaning of state law, or changes the definition of a crime
within the meaning of the California Constitution. However,
if the Commission on State Mandates determines that this act
contains other costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to
local agencies and school districts for those costs shall be
made pursuant to current law governing state mandated local
costs.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8, negligible state costs.
COMMENTS :
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1)Purpose of this bill. This bill makes a number of changes to
laws governing testing and certification of water submeters in
order to increase their ready availability for new development
of multi-family housing. This bill is sponsored by the
Utility Management and Conservation Association and the
California Apartment Association.
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 Division of
Measurement Standards (DMS) under DFA in collaboration with
the local sealer of weights and measures.
Generally, a landlord of a rental property has a master water
meter, pays for the entire water bill for the property, and
bills the tenant by including water charges as part of the
rent. Water submeters and direct billing of water consumption
encourages tenants to conserve water. There is no state law
requiring the installation of water submeters, although some
counties, such as San Diego, have adopted ordinances to that
effect.
In order for a manufacturer to sell and install a water
submeter in California, current law requires DMS to test a
type or design of a water submeter for approval, then
subsequently requires a local sealer to test a sample of
DMS-approved water submeters prior to installation in
counties. Once DMS approves a prototype, the water submeter
manufacturer is allowed to produce water meters for
installation for counties.
The county sealer is the local weights and measures official
who checks all weighing, measuring, and timing devices used in
sales made to the public, and tests for accuracy to protect
both the buyer and seller. The county sealer seals, or locks,
the adjusting mechanism of a device after the item has been
inspected and found accurate. Sealing prevents an individual
from changing the instrument's calibration and notates when
the accuracy check was performed. Before the meters are
installed in counties, a county sealer will test a 20% sample
of the water submeters (unless there are less than a hundred,
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in which case all submeters are tested). If the water
submeter manufacturer fails the county sealer's test of the
sample, the manufacturer can repair and retest the water
submeters for approval within DFA tolerance levels.
Once water submeters are installed, property owners and
tenants can contact the county sealer if they suspect that a
water submeter's reading is inaccurate. If the water submeter
needs to be replaced, the property owner is responsible for
any costs. Water submeters are retested every 10 years and,
at that time, are most likely replaced. The current
requirement that county sealers test a sample of water
submeters may reduce the number of substandard or faulty
submeters that are installed.
Service agents provide utility billing and submetering
services to owners and managers of multifamily housing.
3)Author's statement. According to the author, "As water grows
increasingly scarce and expensive, water submeters - devices
that measure water use inside an individual tenancy - 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).
"Over the years there have been complaints from housing
developers that it is often difficult to find submeters in
California when and where they're needed. Manufacturers say
that the bottlenecks causing the availability problems are to
be found in the state's extensive regulatory program and they
have identified several specific concerns including quality
and reliability of state testing, the prospect of civil and
criminal liability associated with simply submitting submeters
to be tested, disposal requirements when a submeter fails
testing, (and) rigid requirements to prevent approved devices
- despite their need - to be used in counties outside the one
where the testing occurred. Knowing that the testing fix is a
longer-term effort, submeter manufacturers (and billing
companies which also serve as service agents, responsible for
the installation, monitoring and maintenance of submeters)
believe that the lesser reforms (embodied in this bill) will
go a long way to reducing the level of uncertainty which was
making them reluctant to ship to California and frustrating
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housing developers."
4)State Mandate. This bill is keyed a state mandate, which
means the state could be required to reimburse local agencies
and school districts for implementing the bill's provisions if
the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill
contains costs mandated by the state.
5)Arguments in support. The Utility Management and Conservation
Association and the California Apartment Association, sponsors
of this bill, state, "UMCA [Utility Management and
Conservation Association] believes AB 2451 will help begin to
mainstream water submeters by reducing the uncertainty in
California associated with submeter availability and insuring
there is a ready supply when needed - at the time new
multifamily housing is about to begin construction. In that
way, California can more systematically improve water
conservation while supporting the resurgence of housing
construction."
6)Arguments in opposition. None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Angela Mapp / L. GOV. / (916) 319-3958
FN: 0004691