Bill Text: CA AB249 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Amended

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

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Bill Title: Water: schoolsites: lead testing.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)

Status: (Vetoed) 2024-02-01 - Consideration of Governor's veto stricken from file. [AB249 Detail]

Download: California-2023-AB249-Amended.html

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Amended  IN  Senate  September 01, 2023

Amended  IN  Senate  June 22, 2023

Amended  IN  Assembly  May 18, 2023

Amended  IN  Assembly  March 30, 2023

Amended  IN  Assembly  March 20, 2023

Amended  IN  Assembly  March 07, 2023

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill

No. 249

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Introduced by Assembly Member Holden
(Principal coauthors: Assembly Members Arambula and Robert Rivas)

January 18, 2023

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An act to amend Sections 116577 and 116650 of, and to add Sections 116270.5 and 116277 to, to the Health and Safety Code, relating to water.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

AB 249, as amended, Holden. Water: schoolsites: lead testing: conservation. testing.

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. The act requires the state board to establish a grant program, in consultation with the State Department of Education, to award grants to local educational agencies for the purposes of improving access to, and the quality of, drinking water in public schools serving kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive, and preschools and child daycare facilities located on public school property.

This bill would require a community water system that serves a schoolsite, as defined, to test for lead in the potable water system outlets of the schoolsite before January 1, 2027, except for potable water system outlets in buildings that were either constructed after January 1, 2010, or modernized after January 1, 2010, and all faucets and other end point devices used for providing potable water were replaced as part of the modernization. as provided. The bill would require the community water system to report its findings to the applicable schoolsite or local educational agency and to the state board. The bill would require the local educational agency or schoolsite, if the lead level exceeds a specified level at a schoolsite, to notify the parents and guardians of the pupils who attend the schoolsite, take immediate steps to make inoperable and shut down from use all potable water system outlets where the excess lead levels may exist, and work to ensure that a lead-free source of drinking water is provided for pupils, as specified. The bill would require a community water system to test a potable water system outlet that replaces an outlet that is found to have excess levels of lead. The bill would require a community water system to prepare a sampling plan for each schoolsite where lead sampling is required under these provisions, as specified. The bill would require the schoolsite, local education educational agency, and state board to make the results of schoolsite lead sampling publicly available by posting the results on its internet website. The bill would require a schoolsite and a local educational agency, if an internet website is not maintained, to provide the results upon request. By imposing additional duties on local agencies, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

Existing law authorizes the state board to issue a citation for violations of the act or any regulation, permit, standard, citation, or order issued or adopted under the act, and to assess a penalty in an amount not to exceed $1,000 per day for each day a violation occurs, as provided. Existing law requires a public water system to reimburse the state board for enforcement costs incurred, as specified.

This bill would expand the state board’s authority to issue citations and penalties for violations of the act or any regulation, permit, standard, citation, or order issued or adopted under the act, as well as the requirement to reimburse the state board for enforcement costs, to apply to any person, as provided.

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 the statutory provisions noted above.

Digest Key

Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: YES  

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Bill Text

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

SECTION 1.

 Section 116270.5 is added to the Health and Safety Code, to read:

116270.5.

 (a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:

(1) The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that there is no safe level of lead in children.

(2) The State Department of Public Health reports that lead exposure at very low levels can cause learning, behavioral, and attention difficulties in children, and nervous system and organ damage. Exposure to high levels of lead can be fatal.

(3) No effective treatments ameliorate the long-lasting developmental effects of lead toxicity, and it is believed that these effects are permanent.

(4) As of January 2023, the United States Environmental Protection Agency estimated that as much as 20 percent of a child’s lead exposure comes from lead in drinking water, when water lead levels are five parts per billion. Drinking water can be an even larger source of lead exposure for infants who consume mostly water-based formula.

(5) The United States Environmental Protection Agency’s maximum contaminant level goal, the value the agency deems acceptable for health, is zero for lead in water.

(6) In 2016, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended that state and local governments take steps to ensure that water fountains in schools do not exceed water lead concentrations of one part per billion.

(b) It is therefore the goal of the state to ensure all of the following:

(1) Water served to or consumed by children while they attend school or are cared for in licensed childcare facilities contains no more than zero parts per billion of lead.

(2) State requirements for lead in drinking water in schools are at least as health protective as national standards and complement the requirements established by the United States Environmental Protection Agency for the control of lead and copper imposed pursuant to Title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations.

(3) Any future state requirements for the testing of lead in drinking water in schools will use the most protective standard possible, or no more than five parts per billion of lead.

SEC. 2.

 Section 116277 is added to the Health and Safety Code, to read:

116277.

 (a) (1) A community water system that serves a schoolsite shall test on that schoolsite for lead in each of the schoolsite’s potable water system outlets on or before January 1, 2027. The appropriate local educational agency shall provide the community water system that serves the schoolsite with the specific location of each potable water system outlet at the schoolsite.

(2) (A) This section does not apply to a potable water system outlet in a building on a schoolsite that satisfies either of the following criteria:

(A)

(i) The building was constructed after January 1, 2010.

(B)

(ii) The building was modernized after January 1, 2010, and all faucets and other end point devices used for providing potable water were replaced as part of the modernization.

(B) This section does not apply to a schoolsite where prior testing already showed results of five parts per billion of lead or higher and the schoolsite has taken action to replace the faucet or fixture, or where the schoolsite has otherwise replaced the faucet or fixture since the prior testing.

(3) (A) Each local educational agency or schoolsite shall allow the community water system access to each schoolsite where lead sampling is required pursuant to this subdivision to conduct testing.

(B) Before a community water system enters a schoolsite to conduct lead sampling, the community water system shall request access to the schoolsite from the local educational agency or schoolsite pursuant to this subparagraph. The community water system shall provide a written notice to the local educational agency or schoolsite at least 30 days in advance of the date on which the community water system intends to enter the schoolsite. If the local educational agency or schoolsite fails to respond to the notice within 30 days, the community water system shall provide a second written notice to the local educational agency or schoolsite.

(C) If the local educational agency or schoolsite refuses to allow the community water system access to the schoolsite or fails to respond to the second written notice described in subparagraph (B) within 30 days, the community water system shall notify the state board that the local educational agency or schoolsite is not in compliance with the requirements of this section.

(D) If a community water system provides the notices described in subparagraphs (B) and (C) but is not permitted to access the schoolsite, the community water system shall be deemed to have complied with the requirements of this section with respect to that schoolsite.

(b) When testing for lead, a community water system shall develop a sampling plan, conduct testing, and interpret results pursuant to, but not limited to, Modules 4 and 5 of the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s 3Ts for Reducing Lead in Drinking Water in Schools and Child Care Facilities toolkit, EPA 815-B-18-007, or subsequent United States Environmental Protection Agency guidance as identified by the state board.

(c) (1) Each community water system, in cooperation with the appropriate corresponding local educational agency or schoolsite, shall prepare a sampling plan for each schoolsite where lead sampling is required pursuant to subdivision (a). In developing the plan, the community water system may request assistance from the state board or any local health agency responsible for regulating community water systems.

(2) A local educational agency may perform the lead sampling required pursuant to subdivision (a) itself, in which case the community water system shall provide local educational agency employees working at the schoolsite training for purposes of this section.

(d) A community water system that serves a schoolsite where lead sampling is required pursuant to subdivision (a) shall report the water lead level findings to both of the following:

(1) The applicable schoolsite or local educational agency, within 10 business days after the community water system receives the results from the testing laboratory, or within two business days after the community water system receives the results if it is found that the water lead level from any potable water system outlet on the schoolsite exceeds five parts per billion of lead.

(2) The state board, as specified by the state board.

(e) If the testing results show lead levels in excess of five parts per billion for any potable water system outlet, the applicable local educational agency or schoolsite shall do all of the following:

(1) (A) Notify the parents and guardians of the pupils who attend the schoolsite where the elevated lead levels are found no later than 30 schooldays during the academic year, or otherwise within 60 days after receiving the results from the community water system, and provide information developed by the state board on the impact of elevated lead levels on children.

(B) The local educational agency or schoolsite may include a description of a remediation plan as part of the notice provided pursuant to this paragraph.

(2) Take immediate steps to make inoperable and shut down from use all potable water system outlets where the excess lead levels may exist.

(3) (A) Work to ensure that a lead-free source of drinking water is provided for pupils at each potable water system outlet that has been shut down due to elevated lead levels.

(B) For purposes of subparagraph (A), providing a lead-free source of drinking water may include, but is not limited to, replacing any fixtures that are contributing to the elevated lead levels, providing onsite water filtration, or providing alternative sources of potable water.

(f) A local educational agency or schoolsite shall not attempt to remediate excess levels of lead by flushing the water in a potable water system outlet.

(g) If a potable water system outlet is replaced because of excess levels of lead found as a result of the lead sampling conducted pursuant to subdivision (a), the community water system shall test the replacement potable water system outlet.

(h) The local educational agency and schoolsite shall each post all test results on a publicly accessible internet website that the local educational agency or schoolsite maintains. If a local educational agency or schoolsite does not maintain an internet website, the local educational agency or schoolsite shall provide the test results upon request.

(i) The state board shall make the results of schoolsite lead sampling conducted pursuant to subdivision (a) publicly available by posting the results on its internet website, including, but not limited to, periodic updates on sampling results and associated data descriptions and disclaimers.

(j) The state board shall work with community water systems and schoolsites to eliminate duplicative testing that may occur based on applicable federal requirements in a regulation promulgated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency on or before January 1, 2027, including through application for a waiver from those requirements.

(j)

(k) For purposes of this section, the following definitions apply:

(1) “Local educational agency” means a school district, county office of education, or charter school.

(2) “Potable water system outlet” means all cold water outlets, including single-handle faucets that dispense both hot and cold water, which are reasonably expected to be used for drinking and food preparation. preparation as depicted in Module 4 of the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s “3Ts for Reducing Lead in Drinking Water in Schools and Child Care Facilities” manual.

(3) “Lead-free” has the same meaning as in subdivision (f) of Section 116875 of the Health and Safety Code.

(4) “Schoolsite” means a public school that receives funding pursuant to Title I of the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. Sec. 6301 et seq.).

SEC. 3.Section 116577 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to read:

116577.

(a) Each person shall reimburse the state board for actual costs incurred by the state board for any of the following enforcement activities related to that person:

(1) Preparing, issuing, and monitoring compliance with, an order or a citation.

(2) Preparing and issuing public notification.

(3) Conducting a hearing pursuant to Section 116625.

(b) The state board shall submit an invoice for these enforcement costs to the person that requires payment before September 1 of the fiscal year following the fiscal year in which the costs were incurred. The invoice shall indicate the total hours expended, the reasons for the expenditure, and the hourly cost rate of the state board. The costs set forth in the invoice shall not exceed the total actual costs to the state board of enforcement activities specified in this section.

(c) Notwithstanding the reimbursement of enforcement costs of the local primacy agency pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 116595 by a public water system under the jurisdiction of the local primacy agency, a person shall also reimburse enforcement costs, if any, incurred by the state board pursuant to this section.

(d) “Enforcement costs,” as used in this section, does not include “litigation costs” pursuant to Section 116585.

(e) The state board shall not be entitled to enforcement costs pursuant to this section if a court determines that enforcement activities were in error.

(f)Payment of the invoice shall be made within 90 days of the date of the invoice. Failure to pay the invoice within 90 days shall result in a 10-percent late penalty that shall be paid in addition to the invoiced amount.

(g)The state board may, at its sole discretion, waive payment by a public water system of all or any part of the invoice or penalty.

SEC. 4.Section 116650 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to read:

116650.

(a)If the state board determines that a person is in violation of this chapter or any regulation, permit, standard, citation, or order issued or adopted thereunder, the state board may issue a citation to the person. The citation shall be served upon the person personally or by certified mail. Service shall be deemed effective as of the date of personal service or the date of receipt of the certified mail. If a person to whom a citation is directed refuses to accept delivery of the certified mail, the date of service shall be deemed to be the date of mailing.

(b)Each citation shall be in writing and shall describe the nature of the violation or violations, including a reference to the statutory provision, standard, order, citation, permit, or regulation alleged to have been violated.

(c)A citation may specify a date for elimination or correction of the condition constituting the violation.

(d)A citation may include the assessment of a penalty as specified in subdivision (e).

(e)The state board may assess a penalty in an amount not to exceed one thousand dollars ($1,000) per day for each day that a violation occurred, and for each day that a violation continues to occur. A separate penalty may be assessed for each violation and shall be in addition to any liability or penalty imposed under any other law.

SEC. 5.SEC. 3.

 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.