Water submeters: testing.

(1) Existing law requires that a person who uses, or intends to use, any weight or measure, or weighing or measuring instrument for commercial purposes, cause them to be sealed by a sealer before using the same, unless they have been sealed before sale, in which case existing law allows the purchaser to use them for the remainder of the period authorized by regulations adopted by the Secretary of Food and Agriculture. There is within the Department of Food and Agriculture the Division of Measurement Standards, whose activities are designed to ensure, among other things, the accuracy of commercial weighing and measuring devices. This bill would provide that any water submeter tested by equipment that is regularly calibrated by tests that are directly traceable to standards promulgated by the National Institute of Standards and Technology shall be deemed to be sealed and approved for commercial use, as specified, provided that the submeter satisfies certain criteria, including that the submeter is otherwise a type approved by the Division of Measurement Standards. (2) Existing law regulates the utilization and repair of weighing or measuring devices. Under existing law, for purposes of weighing and measuring devices, the term "placed in service" means to permit the use of a device that has been tested and found to be correct, as specified, and type approved, as provided, or to submit a device to a sealer for verification prior to installation. Under existing law, a device may only be placed in service by a sealer or a service agency. This bill would provide that for the purposes of any applicable law or regulation relating to the placing of a water submeter in service, including, but not limited to, the above provisions, no water submeter shall be considered to have been put into service prior to its installation if the water submeter is to be used in a multiunit residential structure. The bill would provide that any person installing or possessing a water submeter that complies with these provisions would not be guilty of a misdemeanor unless there is a knowing and willful intent to use an incorrect or inaccurate water submeter. The bill would authorize a county sealer to test a water submeter, as provided, and would require an incorrect water submeter to be replaced with a compliant one within a reasonable period of time if one is available. The bill would require manufacturers of submeters, or the licensed service agent responsible for the installation of water submeters, to notify the county sealer of the date water submeters are installed or otherwise placed in service and would provide that a failure to do so shall only be punishable by a civil penalty of not more than $1,000, as provided. The bill would also make related conforming changes. This bill would make the above provisions operative until January 1, 2016, and would state that the repeal of these provisions renders the provisions subject to review by the appropriate policy committees of the Legislature.