BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    �




                   Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
                            Senator Kevin de Le�n, Chair


          SB 1395 (Block) - Public beaches: inspection for contaminants.
          
          Amended: March 25, 2014         Policy Vote: Health 7-0, EQ 7-0
          Urgency: No                     Mandate: No
          Hearing Date: May 12, 2014      Consultant: Brendan McCarthy
          
          This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
          
          
          Bill Summary: SB 1395 would authorize the Department of Public  
          Health to adopt regulations for alternative beach water quality  
          tests and authorize the Department to allow local environmental  
          health officers to use a specified alternative test, if certain  
          conditions are met.

          Fiscal Impact: 
              Costs of about $400,000 per year, likely for one to two  
              years for the Department of Public Health to evaluate  
              testing methods and revise regulations (General Fund).

          Background: Under current law, the Department of Public Health  
          has adopted regulations establishing minimum standards for water  
          quality off public beaches, including requirements for testing,  
          notification, and beach closures. Local health officers are  
          required to implement the beach water monitoring program when  
          funding is provided by the state and to report information about  
          beach closures to the State Water Resources Control Board.  
          Current law requires local health officers to test the water off  
          public beaches weekly from April 1st  to October 1st.

          Proposed Law: SB 1395 would authorize the Department of Public  
          Health to adopt regulations for alternative beach water quality  
          tests provided the alternative tests are as protective of public  
          health as the currently required tests.

          The bill would also authorize the Department to allow local  
          environmental health officers to use an approved polymerase  
          chain reaction testing method as the single test for  
          contamination, provided that the local health environmental  
          officer has demonstrated that the new test is as effective as  
          the currently required test.









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