Bill Text: CA AB1577 | 2017-2018 | Regular Session | Amended

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: California Safe Drinking Water Act: Sativa-Los Angeles County Water District.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Passed) 2018-09-28 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 859, Statutes of 2018. [AB1577 Detail]

Download: California-2017-AB1577-Amended.html

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Amended  IN  Senate  August 24, 2018

Amended  IN  Senate  August 07, 2018

Amended  IN  Senate  June 27, 2018

Amended  IN  Senate  June 14, 2018

Amended  IN  Senate  June 06, 2018

Amended  IN  Assembly  March 21, 2017

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2017–2018 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill

No. 1577

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Introduced by Assembly Member Gipson

February 17, 2017

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An act to amend Section 116686 of, and to add Section 116687 to, to the Health and Safety Code, relating to drinking water, making an appropriation therefor, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

AB 1577, as amended, Gipson. California Safe Drinking Water Act: Sativa-Los Angeles County Water District.

Existing law, the California Safe Drinking Water Act, provides for the operation of public water systems and imposes on the State Water Resources Control Board various responsibilities and duties. The act authorizes the state board to order consolidation with a receiving water system where a public water system or a state small water system, serving a disadvantaged community, consistently fails to provide an adequate supply of safe drinking water. The act authorizes the state board, for the purpose of providing affordable, safe drinking water to disadvantaged communities and preventing fraud, waste, and abuse, to contract with an administrator to provide administrative and managerial services to a designated public water system and to order the designated public water system to accept those administrative and managerial services, including full management and control, if sufficient funding is available and if the state board finds that consolidation with another system or extension of service from another system is either not appropriate or not technically and economically feasible.

This bill would authorize the state board to order a designated public water system to accept managerial and administrative services without first making a finding that consolidation or extension of service is not appropriate or not technically and economically feasible if the state board finds that an emergency circumstance exists to warrant immediate action to protect the public health. The bill would require the state board to order the Sativa-Los Angeles County Water District to accept administrative and managerial services, including full management and control, from an administrator selected by the state board. The bill would appropriate $200,000 from the General Fund to the state board for the purpose of contracting with or providing a grant to an administrator. The bill would authorize, if the water district is consolidated with a receiving water system as prescribed by the act, the subsumed territory of the water district to include both unincorporated territory of the County of Los Angeles and incorporated territory of the City of Compton. The bill would limit the liability of any administrator, any successor agency to the Sativa-Los Angeles County Water District designated by the Local Agency Formation Commission for the County of Los Angeles to take over the Sativa-Los Angeles County Water District, any receiving water agency that is consolidated with the Sativa-Los Angeles County Water District, or any water corporation that acquires the Sativa-Los Angeles County Water District, as specified.

This bill would require the state board to order the Sativa-Los Angeles County Water District to accept administrative and managerial services, including full management and control, from an administrator selected by the state board. The bill would require the district’s board of directors, upon the appointment of an administrator, to surrender all control to the appointed administrator and would provide that the district shall thereafter cease to exist. The bill would authorize, if the Local Agency Formation Commission for the County of Los Angeles approves a dissolution of the district, a successor agency designated in the dissolution, in consultation with the Local Agency Formation Commission for the County of Los Angeles, to solicit proposals, evaluate submittals, and select any public water system to be the receiving water system and provide retail water service to existing and future ratepayers within the former territory of the district, as provided. The bill would limit the liability of specified entities involved in the dissolution of the Sativa-Los Angeles County Water District and make related changes.

This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the Sativa-Los Angeles County Water District.

This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Digest Key

Vote: 2/3   Appropriation: YESNO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: NO  

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Bill Text

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.Section 116686 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to read:

116686.

(a)(1)To provide affordable, safe drinking water to disadvantaged communities and to prevent fraud, waste, and abuse, the state board may do both of the following, if sufficient funding is available and if the state board finds that consolidation with another system or extension of service from another system is either not appropriate or not technically and economically feasible:

(A)(i)Contract with an administrator to provide administrative and managerial services to a designated public water system to assist the designated public water system with the provision of an adequate and affordable supply of safe drinking water.

(ii)To fulfill the requirements of this section, the state board may contract with more than one administrator, but only one administrator may be assigned to provide services to a given designated public water system.

(iii)An administrator may provide administrative and managerial services to more than one designated public water system.

(B)Order the designated public water system to accept administrative and managerial services, including full management and control, from an administrator selected by the state board.

(2)In performing its duties pursuant to paragraph (1), the state board may use criteria from the policy handbook adopted pursuant to Section 116760.43.

(3)Notwithstanding paragraph (1), the state board may order a designated public water system to accept administrative and managerial services without first making a finding that consolidation or extension of service is not appropriate or not technically and economically feasible if the state board finds that an emergency circumstance exists to warrant immediate action to protect the public health.

(b)Before the state board determines that a public water system is a designated public water system, the state board shall do both of the following:

(1)Provide the public water system with notice and an opportunity to show either of the following:

(A)That the public water system has not consistently failed to provide an adequate and affordable supply of safe drinking water.

(B)That the public water system has taken steps to timely address its failure to provide an adequate and affordable supply of safe drinking water.

(2)(A)Conduct a public meeting in a location as close as feasible to the affected community.

(B)The state board shall make reasonable efforts to provide a 30-day notice of the meeting to affected ratepayers, renters, and property owners.

(C)Representatives of the public water system, affected ratepayers, renters, and property owners shall be provided an opportunity to present testimony at the meeting.

(D)The meeting shall provide an opportunity for public comment.

(c)The state board shall make financial assistance available to an administrator for a designated public water system, as appropriate and to the extent that funding is available.

(d)An administrator may do any of the following:

(1)Expend available moneys for capital infrastructure improvements that the designated public water system needs to provide an adequate and affordable supply of safe drinking water.

(2)Set and collect user water rates and fees, subject to approval by the state board. The provisions of this section are subject to all applicable constitutional requirements, including Article XIII D of the California Constitution.

(3)Expend available moneys for operation and maintenance costs of the designated public water system.

(e)The state board shall work with the administrator of a designated public water system and the communities served by that designated public water system to develop, within the shortest feasible timeframe, adequate technical, managerial, and financial capacity to deliver safe drinking water so that the services of the administrator are no longer necessary.

(f)A designated public water system shall not be responsible for any costs associated with an administrator.

(g)Administrative and managerial contracts pursuant to this section shall be exempt from Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 10290) of Part 2 of Division 2 of the Public Contract Code and may be awarded on a noncompetitive bid basis as necessary to implement the purposes of this section.

(h)For purposes of this section, a local government, as defined in Article XIII C of the California Constitution, that sets water rates in accordance with Article XIII D of the California Constitution shall be deemed to be providing affordable water.

(i)This section does not apply to a charter city, charter county, or charter city and county.

(j)For purposes of this section, the following terms have the following meanings:

(1)“Administrator” means a person whom the state board has determined is competent to perform the administrative and managerial services of a public water system, as described in subdivision (d). In determining competency, the state board may consider demonstrated experience in managing and operating a public water system.

(2)“Designated public water system” means a public water system that serves a disadvantaged community, as defined in Section 79505.5 of the Water Code, and that the state board finds consistently fails to provide an adequate and affordable supply of safe drinking water.

SEC. 2.SECTION 1.

 Section 116687 is added to the Health and Safety Code, to read:

116687.

 (a) To For purposes of this section, the following terms have the following meanings:

(1) “District” means the Sativa-Los Angeles County Water District.

(2) “Commission” means the Local Agency Formation Commission for the County of Los Angeles.

(b) To provide affordable, safe drinking water to disadvantaged communities, the state board shall order the Sativa-Los Angeles County Water District district to accept administrative and managerial services, including full management and control, from an administrator selected by the state board, as prescribed in Section 116686, except that the state board is not required to conduct a public meeting as described in paragraph (2) of subdivision (b) of Section 116686. Consistent with paragraph (3) of subdivision (a) of Section 116686, the state board is not required to first find that consolidation with another system or extension of service from another system is not appropriate or not technically and economically feasible before ordering the Sativa-Los Angeles County Water District to accept services pursuant to this section.

(b)The sum of two hundred thousand dollars ($200,000) is hereby appropriated from the General Fund to the state board for the purpose of contracting with or providing a grant to an administrator, as described in subdivision (a).

(c) (1) Upon the appointment of an administrator, all of the following shall apply:

(A) Notwithstanding Article 1 (commencing with Section 30500) of Chapter 1 of Part 3 of Division 12 of the Water Code, the district’s board of directors shall surrender all control to the appointed administrator and shall thereafter cease to exist.

(B) The members of the board of directors of the district shall have no standing to represent the district’s ratepayers, and a member of the board of directors shall have no claim for benefits other than those he or she actually received while a member of the board of directors.

(C) Any action by the board of directors to divest the district of its assets shall be deemed tampering with a public water system pursuant to Section 116750 and shall be subject to the criminal penalties provided for in that section.

(2) Within 90 days of the appointment of an administrator, the Controller shall perform a desk audit or financial review of the district. The state board shall exercise its legal authority to facilitate the desk audit or financial review, including, but not limited to, its authority to take possession of the district’s financial records.

(3) Any decision by the commission about the dissolution or consolidation of the district shall not be subject to the provisions of Section 57113 of the Government Code, nor to any other requirement for a protest proceeding or election. The commission shall not impose any condition on the successor agency that requires a protest proceeding or an election, as described in Part 4 (commencing with Section 57000) and Part 5 (commencing with Section 57300) of Division 3 of Title 5 of the Government Code, respectively.

(4) If the commission approves a dissolution of the district initiated by the commission, a successor agency designated in the dissolution by the commission, in consultation with the commission, may solicit proposals, evaluate submittals, and select any public water system to be the receiving water system and subsume all assets, liabilities, adjudicated water rights, responsibilities, and service obligations to provide retail water service to existing and future ratepayers within the former territory of the district. The successor agency shall represent the interests of the public and the ratepayers in the former territory of the district.

(d) The state board may provide additional funding to the administrator or the Water Replenishment District of Southern California or the successor agency designated by the commission for urgent infrastructure repairs to the public water system of the district without regard to the future ownership of any facilities affected by this funding. For purposes of this section, “urgent infrastructure repairs” are those that are immediately necessary to protect the public health, safety, and welfare of those served by the district.

(c)

(e) If the Sativa-Los Angeles County Water District district is consolidated with a receiving water system as prescribed in Sections 116682 and 116684, the subsumed territory of the Sativa-Los Angeles County Water District district may include both unincorporated territory of the County of Los Angeles and incorporated territory of the City of Compton.

(d)

(f) (1) Any administrator appointed pursuant to subdivision (a), (b), any successor agency to the Sativa-Los Angeles County Water District district designated by the Local Agency Formation Commission for the County of Los Angeles commission to take over the Sativa-Los Angeles County Water District, district, any receiving water agency that is consolidated with the Sativa-Los Angeles County Water District, or operator of a public water system that provides service to the territory of the district, any water corporation that acquires the Sativa-Los Angeles County Water District district, and the commission shall not be held liable for claims by past or existing Sativa-Los Angeles County Water District customers district ratepayers or those who consumed water provided through the Sativa-Los Angeles County Water District district concerning the operation and supply of water from the Sativa-Los Angeles County Water District district during the interim operation period specified in subdivision (e) (g) for any good faith, reasonable effort using ordinary care to assume possession of, to operate, or to supply water to, the Sativa-Los Angeles County Water District. ratepayers within the territory of the district.

(2) Any administrator appointed pursuant to subdivision (a), (b), any successor agency to the Sativa-Los Angeles County Water District district designated by the Local Agency Formation Commission for the County of Los Angeles commission to take over the Sativa-Los Angeles County Water District, district, any receiving water agency that is consolidated with the Sativa-Los Angeles County Water District, or operator of a public water system that provides service to the territory of the district, any water corporation that acquires the Sativa-Los Angeles County Water District district, and the commission shall not be held liable for claims by past or existing Sativa-Los Angeles County Water District customers district ratepayers or those who consumed water provided through the Sativa-Los Angeles County Water District district for any injury that occurred prior to the commencement of the interim operation period specified in subdivision (e). (g).

(e)(1)

(g) (1) Notwithstanding subdivision (d) of Section 116684, for any successor agency to the Sativa-Los Angeles County Water District district designated by the Local Agency Formation Commission for the County of Los Angeles commission to take over the Sativa-Los Angeles County Water District, district, any receiving water agency that is consolidated with the Sativa-Los Angeles County Water District, operator of a public water system that provides service to the territory of the district, or any water corporation that acquires the Sativa-Los Angeles County Water District, district, the interim operation period shall commence upon the execution of an agreement or designation by the Local Agency Formation Commission for the County of Los Angeles commission to provide water services to the Sativa-Los Angeles County Water District district and shall end one year later. Upon the showing of good cause, the interim operation period shall be extended by the Local Agency Formation Commission for the County of Los Angeles commission for up to three successive one-year periods at the request of an entity described in this paragraph.

(2) For the administrator appointed pursuant to subdivision (a), (b), the interim operation period shall commence upon being appointed by the state board and shall end when a successor agency has been designated by the Local Agency Formation Commission for the County of Los Angeles commission to provide water service to customers of the Sativa-Los Angeles County Water District, ratepayers of the district, a receiving water agency is consolidated with or extends service to customers of the Sativa-Los Angeles County Water District, or ratepayers of the district, a water corporation acquires the Sativa-Los Angeles County Water District, district with the approval of the Public Utilities Commission, or when the administrator’s obligation to provide interim administrative and managerial services has otherwise ended.

SEC. 3.SEC. 2.

 The Legislature finds and declares that a special statute is necessary and that a general statute cannot be made applicable within the meaning of Section 16 of Article IV of the California Constitution because of the unique circumstances in the Sativa-Los Angeles County Water District regarding the need to ensure the residents served by the Sativa-Los Angeles County Water District have access to safe, clean drinking water.

SEC. 4.SEC. 3.

 This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the meaning of Article IV of the California Constitution and shall go into immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:

In order to ensure the customers ratepayers of the Sativa-Los Angeles County Water District have access to affordable, safe drinking water as soon as possible, it is necessary for this act to take effect immediately.