Bill Text: CA AB2208 | 2011-2012 | Regular Session | Amended

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

---

Bill Title: Water quality.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2012-08-27 - Read second time. Ordered to third reading. Re-referred to Com. on RLS. pursuant to Senate Rule 29.10(c). [AB2208 Detail]

Download: California-2011-AB2208-Amended.html

---

BILL NUMBER: AB 2208	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 16, 2012
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 9, 2012
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MARCH 29, 2012

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Perea

                        FEBRUARY 23, 2012

   An act to  add   amend  Section 
116337 to   116760.90 of  the Health and Safety
Code, relating to drinking water  , and making an
appropriation therefor  .


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 2208, as amended, Perea.  Community water systems:
community of Lanare.   Drinking water   . 

   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.
Existing law, the Safe Drinking Water State Revolving Fund Law of
1997, establishes the Safe Drinking Water State Revolving Fund, which
is continuously appropriated to the department for the provision of
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. Existing law  limits grants
for planning, engineering studies, environmental documentation, and
design of a single project to $500,000   prohibits the
department from   approving applications for this funding
unless the department determines the proposed study or project meets
specified criteria  . 
   This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to require the
department to consider regional solutions when awarding grant money
to provide clean water to underserved communities. This bill would
authorize the department to combine proposed studies and projects
from multiple applicants to enable these applicants to meet safe
drinking water standards in a cost-effective manner. This bill would
require the department to give priority to those proposed studies or
projects that consolidate services, especially in unincorporated
communities, as specified.  
   Existing law, the Safe Drinking Water, Water Quality and Supply,
Flood Control, River and Coastal Protection Bond Act of 2006,
authorizes the issuance of general obligation bonds, a portion of
which is made available to the department, upon appropriation by the
Legislature, to address the most critical water needs of the state,
including the provision of safe drinking water to all Californians,
the protection of water quality and the environment, and the
improvement of water supply reliability.  
   This bill would require the Lanare Community Services District to
conduct a feasibility study, as prescribed, that would, in part,
consider the consolidation or merger of the community water systems
of the communities of Lanare and Riverdale, to identify and recommend
a project that would solve arsenic contamination in the community of
Lanare. This bill would prohibit the department from taking action
on any project relating to the community water system of the
community of Riverdale until this feasibility study is complete. This
bill would provide that if the study recommends the consolidation or
merger of these community water systems, and if either community, or
both, applies to the department for funding from the funds described
above, any funds awarded by the department shall be used to
implement the study's recommendation. By requiring the Lanare
Community Services District to conduct a feasibility study, this bill
would impose a state-mandated local program.  
   This bill would appropriate unspecified sums from the Safe
Drinking Water State Revolving Fund and the Safe Drinking Water,
Water Quality and Supply, Flood Control, River and Coastal Protection
Fund of 2006 to the department for the purposes of remitting funds
to the Lanare Community Services District to compensate the district
for the costs of implementing these provisions.  
   The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local
agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.  
   This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates
determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state,
reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these
statutory provisions. 
   Vote: majority. Appropriation:  yes   no
 . Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: 
yes   no  .


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

   SECTION   1   .    (a) It is the
intent of the Legislature to require the State Department of Public
Health to consider regional solutions when awarding grant money to
provide clean water to underserved communities.  
   (b) Requiring the department to consider regional solutions should
prevent situations like the one currently faced by the small central
valley communities of Lanare and Riverdale. The communities of
Lanare and Riverdale, whose arsenic-contaminated water systems are
only three miles apart from each other, have both received public
funds to give them access to clean water, yet the option of a joint
solution has not been thoroughly considered. Instead, an unaffordable
water treatment plant was built in Lanare and drove the community
into debt before the plant shut down, while a new water treatment
plant is currently being proposed for Riverdale.  
   (c) For the sake of these small communities, and other communities
like them, the State of California must improve its governmental
practices and develop affordable solutions to water contamination by
considering solutions that help as many people as possible, including
the consolidation of water systems between communities in close
proximity that suffer from similar problems. 
   SEC.   2   .    Section 116760.90
of the   Health and Safety Code   is amended to
read: 
   116760.90.  (a) The department shall not approve an application
for funding unless the department determines that the proposed study
or project is necessary to enable the applicant to meet safe drinking
water standards, and is consistent with an adopted countywide plan,
if any. The department may refuse to fund a study or project if it
determines that the purposes of this chapter may more economically
and efficiently be met by means other than the proposed study or
project. The department shall not approve an application for funding
a project with a primary purpose to supply or attract future growth.
The department may limit funding to costs necessary to enable
suppliers to meet primary drinking water standards, as defined in
Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 116270).
   (b) With respect to applications for funding of project design and
construction, the department shall also determine all of the
following:
   (1) Upon completion of the project, the applicant will be able to
supply water that meets safe drinking water standards.
   (2) The project is cost-effective.
   (3) If the entire project is not to be funded under this chapter,
the department shall specify which costs are eligible for funding.

   (c) (1) The department, when evaluating applications for funding
for proposed studies and projects, may combine proposed studies and
projects from multiple applicants to enable these applicants to meet
safe drinking water standards in a cost-effective manner.  
   (2) The department shall give priority to those proposed studies
or projects that consolidate services, especially in unincorporated
communities, pursuant to an adopted countywide plan or a
recommendation contained in a service review, pursuant to Section
56430 of the Government Code, made by a local agency formation
commission within the previous five calendar years.  
   (c) 
    (d)  In considering an application for funding a project
that meets all other requirements of this chapter and regulations,
the department shall not be prejudiced by the applicant initiating
the project prior to the department approving the application for
funding. Preliminary project costs that are otherwise eligible for
funding pursuant to the provisions of this chapter shall not be
ineligible because the costs were incurred by the applicant prior to
the department approving the application for funding. Construction
costs that are otherwise eligible for funding pursuant to the
provisions of this chapter shall not be ineligible because the costs
were incurred after the approval of the application by the department
but prior to the department entering into a contract with the
applicant pursuant to Section 116761.50. 
  SECTION 1.    Section 116337 is added to the
Health and Safety Code, to read:
   116337.  (a) The Lanare Community Services District shall conduct,
publish, and submit to the State Department of Public Health, as
soon as practicable, a feasibility study to identify and recommend a
project that will solve arsenic contamination in the community of
Lanare. The feasibility study shall, at a minimum, do all of the
following:
   (1) Identify and analyze potential projects, including, but not
limited to, the consolidation or merger of the community water
systems of the Lanare Community Services District and the Riverdale
Public Utilities District.
   (2) Identify the long-term costs and the cost-effectiveness of
each project, including whether the ongoing costs of operations and
maintenance can be supported by the ratepayers in the community of
Lanare.
   (3) Recommend the project that is the most feasible, effective,
and cost-effective solution to arsenic contamination in the community
of Lanare.
   (b) The department shall not take action on any project relating
to the community water system of the community of Riverdale until the
Lanare Community Services District completes the feasibility study
pursuant to subdivision (a).
   (c) If the study recommends consolidation or merger of the
community water systems of the community of Lanare and the community
of Riverdale, and if either community, or both, applies to the
department for funding from the Safe Drinking Water State Revolving
Fund or the Safe Drinking Water, Water Quality and Supply, Flood
Control, River Coastal Protection Fund of 2006, any funds awarded by
the department shall be used to implement the study's recommendation.

   (d) The sum of ____ dollars ($____) is hereby appropriated from
the Safe Drinking Water State Revolving Fund and the Safe Drinking
Water, Water Quality and Supply, Flood Control, River and Coastal
Protection Fund of 2006 to the department for the purpose of
compensating the Lanare Community Services District for the costs of
conducting the feasibility study required by subdivision (a).
 
  SEC. 2.    If the Commission on State Mandates
determines that this act contains costs mandated by the state,
reimbursement to local agencies and school districts for those costs
shall be made pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of
Division 4 of Title 2 of the Government Code.