Bill Text: CA AB118 | 2013-2014 | Regular Session | Chaptered
Bill Title: Safe Drinking Water State Revolving Fund.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 7-0)
Status: (Passed) 2013-10-08 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 631, Statutes of 2013. [AB118 Detail]
Download: California-2013-AB118-Chaptered.html
BILL NUMBER: AB 118 CHAPTERED
BILL TEXT
CHAPTER 631
FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE OCTOBER 8, 2013
APPROVED BY GOVERNOR OCTOBER 8, 2013
PASSED THE SENATE SEPTEMBER 12, 2013
PASSED THE ASSEMBLY SEPTEMBER 12, 2013
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 17, 2013
INTRODUCED BY Committee on Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials
(Alejo (Chair), Bloom, Lowenthal, Stone, and Ting)
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Perea and Wieckowski)
JANUARY 14, 2013
An act to amend Sections 116761.20 and 116761.23 of the Health and
Safety Code, relating to drinking water.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 118, Committee on Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials.
Safe Drinking Water State Revolving Fund.
Existing law, the California Safe Drinking Water Act, requires the
State Department of Public Health to administer provisions relating
to the regulation of drinking water to protect public health. The
department's duties include, but are not limited to, conducting
research, studies, and demonstration programs relating to the
provision of a dependable, safe supply of drinking water, enforcing
the federal Safe Drinking Water Act, adopting and enforcing
regulations, and conducting studies and investigations to assess the
quality of water in domestic water supplies.
Existing law establishes the Safe Drinking Water State Revolving
Fund, which is continuously appropriated to the department for grants
and revolving fund loans for the design and construction of projects
for public water systems that will enable suppliers to meet safe
drinking water standards. Under existing law, a grant is authorized
only to the extent the department finds the public agency or
not-for-profit water company is unable to repay the full costs of a
loan.
This bill would limit loans and grants from the fund for planning
and preliminary engineering studies, project design, and construction
costs to those incurred by community and not-for-profit noncommunity
public water systems and would specify that a small community water
system or nontransient noncommunity water system that is owned by a
public agency or a private not-for-profit water company and is
serving a severely disadvantaged community, is deemed to have no
ability to repay a loan.
Under existing law, the maximum amount of a construction grant
award to a public water system for a single project is $3 million or,
for a public water system that serves a disadvantaged community, $10
million, as specified.
This bill would authorize an applicant, subject to specified
conditions, to receive up to the full cost of a project in the form
of a loan.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 116761.20 of the Health and Safety Code is
amended to read:
116761.20. (a) Planning and preliminary engineering studies,
project design, and construction costs incurred by community and
not-for-profit noncommunity public water systems may be funded under
this chapter by loans, and, if these systems are owned by public
agencies or private not-for-profit water companies, by grants or a
combination of grants and loans.
(b) (1) The department shall determine what portion of the full
costs the public agency or private not-for-profit water company is
capable of repaying and authorize funding in the form of a loan for
that amount. The department shall authorize a grant only to the
extent the department finds the public agency or not-for-profit water
company is unable to repay the full costs of a loan.
(2) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, a small
community water system or nontransient noncommunity water system that
is owned by a public agency or a private not-for-profit water
company and serving a severely disadvantaged community, is deemed to
have no ability to repay a loan.
(c) At the request of the department, the Public Utilities
Commission shall submit comments concerning the ability of suppliers,
subject to its jurisdiction, to finance the project from other
sources and to repay the loan.
SEC. 2. Section 116761.23 of the Health and Safety Code is amended
to read:
116761.23. (a) The maximum amount of a planning grant permitted
under this chapter for each participating public water system's share
of the costs of the planning, engineering studies, environmental
documentation, and design of a single project shall be no more than
five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000).
(b) Unless the department approves an increase pursuant to this
subdivision, the maximum amount of a construction grant award
authorized under this chapter to each participating public water
system for its share of the cost of the construction of a single
project shall be no more than three million dollars ($3,000,000). The
department may approve an increase in the maximum amount for a
construction grant award authorized under this chapter so that the
maximum amount of the construction grant award does not exceed ten
million dollars ($10,000,000) only if the department makes all of the
following findings:
(1) A public water system that serves a disadvantaged community
has a defined project need that exceeds the maximum grant amount of
three million dollars ($3,000,000).
(2) The defined project has been bypassed in at least one funding
cycle due to a lack of funds.
(3) The defined project is eligible for funding pursuant to the
program regulations.
(4) The defined project represents the highest public health risk
among unfunded projects, as determined by the department according to
its standard criteria.
(c) Total funding under this article for planning, engineering
studies, environmental documentation, project design, and
construction costs of a single project, whether in the form of a loan
or a grant, or both, shall be determined by an assessment of
affordability using criteria established by the department.
(d) Subject to all other limitations of this chapter, a small
community water system or nontransient noncommunity water system,
owned by a public agency or private not-for-profit water company,
serving severely disadvantaged communities shall be eligible to
receive up to 100 percent of eligible project costs in the form of a
grant, to the extent the system cannot afford a loan as determined by
the department pursuant to Section 116761.20.
(e) Subject to the availability of funds and the applicant's
ability to repay, an applicant may receive up to the full cost of the
project in the form of a loan bearing interest at the rate
established pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 116761.65.
