Bill Text: CA SB1188 | 2021-2022 | Regular Session | Chaptered
Bill Title: Safe Drinking Water State Revolving Fund: financial assistance.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Passed) 2022-09-28 - Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 680, Statutes of 2022. [SB1188 Detail]
Download: California-2021-SB1188-Chaptered.html
Senate Bill
No. 1188
CHAPTER 680
An act to amend Sections 116760.20, 116760.50, 116761.20, and 116761.65 of the Health and Safety Code, relating to drinking water, and making an appropriation therefor.
[
Approved by
Governor
September 28, 2022.
Filed with
Secretary of State
September 28, 2022.
]
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 1188, Laird.
Safe Drinking Water State Revolving Fund: financial assistance.
Existing law, the Safe Drinking Water State Revolving Fund Law of 1997, establishes the continuously appropriated Safe Drinking Water State Revolving Fund to provide financial assistance for the design and construction of projects for public water systems that will enable those systems to meet safe drinking water standards. Existing law authorizes the State Water Resources Control Board, to the extent permitted by federal law, to provide up to 100% grant funding, and principal forgiveness and 0% financing on loans, from the fund to a project for a water system that serves a severely disadvantaged community. Existing law requires the interest rate for repayable financing provided from the fund to be 0% if the financing is for a public water system that serves a disadvantaged community with a financial hardship or if the financing is for a public water system that provides matching
funds.
This bill would delete those provisions relating to 0% financing and interest and would instead generally authorize the board, to the extent authorized by federal law, to provide reduced or 0% financing to further the purposes of the Safe Drinking Water State Revolving Fund Law of 1997. The bill would delete the requirement that a water system serve a severely disadvantaged community in order to be provided with up to 100% grant funding or principal forgiveness and instead authorize providing that grant funding or principal forgiveness to certain other water systems. By making moneys in the Safe Drinking Water State Revolving Fund, a continuously appropriated fund, available for new purposes, the bill would make an appropriation.
Existing law, for community water systems and not-for-profit noncommunity water systems, allows planning and preliminary engineering studies, project design, and construction costs incurred
by those water systems to be funded by loans and other repayable financing from the fund and requires the board to determine what portion of the full costs the water system is capable of repaying. Existing law authorizes providing grant or principal forgiveness to those water systems from the fund only to the extent the board finds the water system is unable to repay the full costs of the financing. Existing law imposes limitations on the financial assistance provided pursuant to these provisions to water corporations regulated by the Public Utilities Commission.
This bill would delete the authorization to provide grant or principal forgiveness to those water systems only to the extent the board finds the water system is unable to repay the full costs of the financing. The bill
would also delete those limitations on the financial assistance provided to water corporations regulated by the Public Utilities Commission.
The bill would also define “community water system” for purposes of the Safe Drinking Water State Revolving Fund Law of 1997.
Digest Key
Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: YES Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: NOBill Text
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
Section 116760.20 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to read:116760.20.
Unless the context otherwise requires, the following definitions govern the construction of this chapter:(a) “Acceptable result” means the project that, when constructed, solves the problem for which the project was placed on the project priority list, ensures the owner and operator of the improved or restructured public water system shall have long-term technical, managerial, and financial capacity to operate and maintain the public water system in compliance with state and federal safe drinking water standards, can provide a dependable source of safe drinking water long-term, and is both short-term and long-term affordable, as determined by the board.
(b) “Administrative fund” means the Safe Drinking Water State
Revolving Fund Administration Fund created by Section 116761.70.
(c) “Board” means the State Water Resources Control Board.
(d) “Community water system” has the meaning set forth in Section 116275.
(e) “Cost-effective” means achieves an acceptable result at the most reasonable cost.
(f) “Disadvantaged community” means a community that meets the definition provided in Section 116275.
(g) “Federal Safe Drinking Water Act” or “federal act” means the federal Safe Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 300f et seq.) and acts amendatory thereof or supplemental thereto.
(h) “Fund” means the Safe Drinking Water State Revolving Fund created by Section 116760.30.
(i) “Financing” means financial assistance awarded under this chapter, including loans, refinancing, installment sales agreements, purchase of debt, loan guarantees for municipal revolving funds, and grants.
(j) “Matching funds” means state money that equals that percentage of federal contributions required by the federal act to be matched with state funds.
(k) “Project” means cost-effective facilities for the construction, improvement, or rehabilitation of a public water system. It also may include the planning and design of the facilities, annexation or
consolidation of water systems, source water assessments, source water protection, and other activities specified under the federal act.
(l) “Public agency” means any city, county, city and county, whether general law or chartered, district, joint powers authority, or other political subdivision of the state, that owns or operates a public water system, or any municipality, as that term is defined in the federal act.
(m) “Public water system” or “public water supply system” means a system for the provision to the public of water for human consumption, as defined in Section 116275.
(n) “Safe drinking water standards” means those standards established pursuant to Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 116270), as
they may now or hereafter be amended.
(o) “Severely disadvantaged community” means a community with a median household income of less than 60 percent of the statewide average.
(p) “Small community water system” has the meaning set forth in Section 116275.
(q) “Supplier” means any person, partnership, corporation, association, public agency, or other entity that owns or operates a public water system.
SEC. 2.
Section 116760.50 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to read:116760.50.
(a) The board shall establish eligibility criteria for project financing pursuant to this chapter that shall be consistent with federal requirements.(b) To the extent permitted by federal law, the board may provide up to 100 percent grant funding, and principal forgiveness on loans, from the Safe Drinking Water State Revolving Fund to a project for a water system eligible under subdivision (a) of Section 116761.20.
SEC. 3.
Section 116761.20 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to read:116761.20.
(a) Planning and preliminary engineering studies, project design, and construction costs incurred by a community water system or not-for-profit noncommunity water system may be funded under this chapter.(b) (1) The board shall determine what portion of the full costs the water system is capable of repaying and may authorize funding in the form of a loan or other repayable financing for up to that amount.
(2) Where an otherwise eligible water system is not a water corporation regulated by the Public Utilities Commission and serves a severely disadvantaged community with fewer than 200 service connections, the water system is deemed to have no ability to repay any financing for a project serving the severely disadvantaged community.
(c) At the request of the board, the Public Utilities Commission shall submit comments concerning the ability of water systems, subject to its jurisdiction, to finance the
project from other sources and to repay the financing.
SEC. 4.
Section 116761.65 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to read:116761.65.
(a) The board shall establish, and may periodically adjust, the interest rate for repayable financing made pursuant to this chapter at a rate not to exceed 50 percent of the average interest rate, computed by the true interest cost method, paid by the state on general obligation bonds issued in the prior calendar year, rounded up to the closest one-tenth of 1 percent.(b) Notwithstanding subdivision (a),
to the extent authorized by federal law, the board may provide reduced or 0 percent financing to further the purposes of this chapter.
