State Water Resources Control Board: local primacy delegation: funding stabilization program.

Existing law, the California Safe Drinking Water Act, requires the State Water Resources Control Board to administer provisions relating to the regulation of drinking water to protect public health, including, but not limited to, conducting research, studies, and demonstration projects relating to the provision of a dependable, safe supply of drinking water, enforcing the federal Safe Drinking Water Act, adopting implementing regulations, and conducting studies and investigations to assess the quality of water in private domestic water wells. The act authorizes the state board to delegate, by means of a local primacy delegation agreement, primary responsibility for the act's administration and enforcement within a county to a local health officer, as specified. The act requires that a local primacy delegation remain in effect until specified conditions occur. This bill would authorize the state board to delegate partial responsibility for the act's administration and enforcement by means of a local primacy delegation agreement. The bill would authorize the state board, for a county that has not been delegated primary responsibility as of January 1, 2021, to offer an opportunity for the county to apply for partial or primary responsibility if the state board determines that it needs assistance in performing administrative and enforcement activities, as specified. The bill would authorize the state board to approve the application for delegation if the state board determines that the local health officer is able to sufficiently perform the administrative and enforcement activities and would specify that a local primacy agency has all of the authority over designated public water systems as is granted to the state board by the act. The act establishes the Safe Drinking Water Account, moneys in which are available for use by the state board, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for the administration of the act. The act requires the state board to provide the local primacy agency, to the extent funds are available from the Safe Drinking Water Account, with an annual drinking water surveillance program grant to cover the costs of conducting inspection, monitoring, surveillance, and water quality evaluation activities specified in the local primacy agreement. This bill would eliminate the annual drinking water surveillance program grant. The act requires the state board to evaluate the drinking water program of each local primacy agency at least annually and to prepare a report of the evaluation and list any program improvements needed. The act requires a copy of the report to be provided to the local primacy agency and the county board of supervisors. The act requires a local primacy agency to be granted a reasonable amount of time to make any needed program improvements before the initiation of any local primacy revocation actions. This bill would instead require the state board to evaluate each local primacy agency's oversight program at least annually and the report prepared by the state board to list any deficiencies of each local primacy agency and to be made available on the state board's internet website. The bill would require the reasonable amount of time granted to a local primacy agency to make any needed program improvements to not exceed 2 years. The act requires the state board to adopt a schedule of fees and requires a public water system under the jurisdiction of a local primacy agency to pay these fees to the local primacy agency in lieu of the state board. The act makes it a crime for any person to knowingly commit certain acts, including making a false statement or representation in any record submitted, maintained, or used for the purposes of compliance with the act, possessing a record required to be maintained by the act that has been altered or concealed, and destroying, altering, or concealing any record required to be maintained by the act. This bill would authorize any local primacy agency, with approval of the state board, to elect to participate in a funding stabilization program effective for the 2022–23 fiscal year and fiscal years thereafter, as specified. The bill would require a public water system under the jurisdiction of a local primacy agency participating in the funding stabilization program to pay the fees to the state board, and would require the state board to provide funding to the local primacy agency each year for the reasonable costs incurred for the implementation of activities set forth in the work plan submitted by the local primacy agency to, and approved by, the state board. The bill would prohibit a participating local primacy agency from charging a designated public water system any fee in addition to those fees and would require all fines, penalties, and reimbursement of costs for the local primacy agency's activities to be payable to the state board for deposit in the Safe Drinking Water Account. The bill would require a participating local primacy agency to identify small water systems suitable for consolidation and to report the identified systems to the state board, as specified. The bill would require a participating local primacy agency to establish and maintain accurate accounting records of all costs it incurs and periodically to make these records available to the state board. By requiring new records for the purpose of complying with the act, this bill would expand the scope of a crime and thereby impose a state-mandated local program. 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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.