BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 1130
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( Without Reference to File )
SENATE THIRD READING
SB 1130 (Roth)
As Amended April 21, 2014
2/3 vote. Urgency
SENATE VOTE :36-0
JUDICIARY 9-0 ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY 7-0
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|Ayes:|Wieckowski, Wagner, |Ayes:|Alejo, Dahle, Bloom, |
| |Alejo, Chau, Dickinson, | |Donnelly, Gomez, |
| |Garcia, Gorell, | |Lowenthal, Ting |
| |Muratsuchi, Stone | | |
| | | | |
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APPROPRIATIONS 17-0
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|Ayes:|Gatto, Bigelow, | | |
| |Bocanegra, Bradford, Ian | | |
| |Calderon, Campos, | | |
| |Donnelly, Eggman, Gomez, | | |
| |Holden, Jones, Linder, | | |
| |Pan, Quirk, | | |
| |Ridley-Thomas, Wager, | | |
| |Lowenthal | | |
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| | |
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SUMMARY : Provides limited immunities from liability for the
Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District (EVMWD), the Eastern
Municipal Water District (EMWD), the Western Municipal Water
District (WMWD), and the Metropolitan Water District of Southern
California (MWDSC) for claims by past or existing County Water
Company of Riverside (CWC) customers, or those who consumed
water provided through the CWC water system, prior to and during
an interim operation period, as specified. Provides that this
bill is an urgency measure.
EXISTING LAW :
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1)Authorizes, whenever the Department of Public Health (DPH)
determines that any public water system is unable or unwilling
to adequately serve its users, has been actually or
effectively abandoned by its owners, or is unresponsive to its
rules or orders, DPH to petition the superior court, as
specified, for the appointment of a receiver to assume
possession of its property and to operate its system.
Authorizes the court to provide, as a condition of its order,
that the receiver appointed pursuant to the order not be held
personally liable for any good faith, reasonable effort to
assume possession of, and to operate the system in compliance
with the order. (Health and Safety Code Section 116665)
2)Provides that a public entity is not liable for an injury,
whether such injury arises out of an act or omission of the
public entity, or a public employee, or any other person.
Provides that the liability of a public entity, as specified,
is subject to any immunity of the public entity provided by
statute and is subject to any defenses that would be available
to the public entity if it were a private person. (Government
Code Section 815)
3)Provides, except as exempted by statute, that a public entity
is liable for injury caused by a dangerous condition of its
property if the plaintiff establishes that the property was in
a dangerous condition at the time of the injury, that the
injury was proximately caused by the dangerous condition, that
the dangerous condition created a reasonably foreseeable risk
of the kind of injury which was incurred, as specified.
(Government Code Section 835)
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, enactment of this bill will have a negligible fiscal
impact on the State Programs.
COMMENTS : The CWC currently serves approximately 140 customers
near the communities of Wildomar and Menifee in Riverside County
from a single well that exceeds the state's standard for nitrate
in drinking water. This well is operationally unreliable and
occasionally unable to pump water or meet fire flow criteria,
leaving residents without a supply of piped water or fire
protection for periods of time. Recently, CWC representatives
announced the company is going broke and getting out of the
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business, and the system is in danger of complete failure.
EMWD and EVMWD, which service nearby communities, have agreed to
take over service to the neighborhood. DPH awarded Proposition
84 (Safe Drinking Water, Water Quality and Supply, Flood
Control, River and Coastal Protection Bond Act of 2006)
emergency funds to EVMWD, on behalf of the CWC, on July 30,
2013, in the amount of $250,000, for the purposes of
constructing an emergency intertie until a more permanent
solution can be constructed. Proposition 84 planning funds were
also awarded on September 4, 2013, to EMWD in the amount of
$500,000, to fund the planning and design for the eventual split
consolidation of CWC into EMWD and EVMWD. In addition, the Safe
Drinking Water State Revolving Fund program issued letters of
commitment to EMWD and EVMWD on October 31, 2013, for $6 million
($3 million each) in construction funding for the eventual
construction of the split consolidation project pending
completion of the Proposition 84 funded planning project.
While funds have been awarded to commence this project, both
EMWD and EVMWD have indicated that they are unable to connect to
CWC until this bill is effective. EMWD argues that during the
interim construction period during which they must continue to
supply water through the existing dilapidated system, they, and
therefore their existing customers, are vulnerable to lawsuits
potentially relating to water quality or quantity, or
insufficient pressure for fire protection. This bill is an
effort to protect the public water agencies' existing customers,
while the districts work to supply safe drinking water to CWC
residents through reconstruction and future operation of the
system in a manner consistent with all health and safety
standards.
Analysis Prepared by : Shannon McKinney / E.S. & T.M. / (916)
319-3965
FN:
0004231
SB 1130
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