Bill Text: CA SB658 | 2013-2014 | Regular Session | Amended

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Bill Title: Orange County Water District Act: investigation, cleanup, and liability.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2014-02-06 - Died on file pursuant to Joint Rule 56. [SB658 Detail]

Download: California-2013-SB658-Amended.html

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BILL NUMBER: SB 658	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN SENATE  MAY 15, 2013
	AMENDED IN SENATE  APRIL 11, 2013

INTRODUCED BY   Senator Correa
    (   Coauthor:   Senator
  Wyland   ) 
    (   Coauthors:  
Assembly Members   Hagman,  
  Harkey,    
Mansoor,     and Wagner 
 ) 

                        FEBRUARY 22, 2013

   An act to amend Section 8 of the Orange County Water District Act
(Chapter 924 of the Statutes of 1933), relating to water 
quality, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect
immediately   quality  .



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 658, as amended, Correa. Orange County Water District Act:
investigation, cleanup, and liability.
   Existing law, the Municipal Water District Law of 1911, authorizes
the formation of a municipal water district to acquire and sell
water, and specifies the powers and purposes of a municipal water
district. The Municipal Water District of Orange County is a district
established pursuant to that law.
   The Orange County Water District Act establishes the Orange County
Water District, consisting of specified lands in the County of
Orange, including the Cities of Anaheim, Fullerton, and Santa Ana.
The act authorizes the district to investigate the quality of the
surface and groundwaters within the district to determine whether the
waters are contaminated or polluted and authorizes the district to
expend funds to perform any cleanup, abatement, or remedial work to
prevent, abate, or contain the contamination of, or pollution to, the
surface or groundwaters of the district. The act requires the person
causing or threatening to cause the contamination or pollution to be
liable to the district for reasonable costs actually incurred in
cleaning up or containing the contamination or pollution, abating the
effects of the contamination or pollution, or taking other remedial
action.
   This bill would require the person also to be liable for the costs
actually incurred in investigating the contamination or pollution.
The bill would provide that these remedies are in addition to all
other legal and equitable remedies available to the water district,
including declaratory relief. 
   This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as
an urgency statute. 
   Vote:  2/3   majority  . Appropriation:
no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no.


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

  SECTION 1.  The Legislature finds and declares that, in adding
Section 8 to the Orange County Water District Act in 1989, the
Legislature intended that (1) the costs incurred by the district in
conducting investigations to study, monitor, and evaluate the cause,
and the nature and extent of any existing or threatened
contamination, would be part of the cleanup, abatement, and remedial
costs recoverable against the persons causing, or threatening to
cause, contamination of the surface or groundwaters within the
district, and (2) the district would be entitled to commence a civil
action against, and recover damages from, the persons causing, or
threatening to cause, the contamination, investigation, cleanup,
abatement, and remedial costs incurred, or to be incurred, by the
district at the time the liability of the persons was determined in
litigation, regardless of whether all investigative, cleanup,
abatement, and remedial work was completed by that time. The
Legislature further finds and declares that this act is declaratory
of existing law.
  SEC. 2.  Section 8 of the Orange County Water District Act (Chapter
924 of the Statutes of 1933), as added by Section 4 of Chapter 802
of the Statutes of 1989, is amended to read:
  Sec. 8.  (a) The district may conduct any investigation of the
quality of the surface and groundwaters within the district that the
district determines to be necessary and appropriate to determine
whether those waters are contaminated or polluted.
   (b) The district may expend available funds to perform any
 investigation   investigation,  cleanup,
abatement, or remedial work required under the circumstances that, in
the determination of the board of directors, is required by the
magnitude of the endeavor or the urgency of prompt action needed to
prevent, abate, or contain any threatened or existing contamination
of, or pollution to, the surface or groundwaters of the district.
This action may be taken in default of, or in addition to, remedial
work by the person causing the contamination or pollution, or other
persons. The district may perform the work itself, by contract, or by
or in cooperation with another governmental agency.
   (c) If, pursuant to subdivision (b), any contamination or
pollution is investigated, cleaned up, or contained, the effects of
the contamination or pollution abated, or in the case of threatened
contamination or pollution, other necessary remedial action is taken,
the person causing or threatening to cause that contamination or
pollution shall be liable to the district to the extent of the
reasonable costs actually incurred in investigating, cleaning up, or
containing the contamination or pollution, abating the effects of the
contamination or pollution, or taking other remedial action. The
amount of those costs, together with court costs and reasonable
attorney's fees, shall be recoverable in a civil action by, and paid
to, the district. In this action, the necessity for the
investigation, cleanup, containment, abatement, or remedial work, and
the reasonableness of the costs incurred therewith, shall be
presumed, and the defendant shall have the burden of proving that the
work was not necessary, and the costs not reasonable.
   (d) The remedies provided under this section are in addition to
all other legal or equitable remedies available to the district under
statute or common law, including declaratory relief regarding
liability for the district's future costs. 
  SEC. 3.    This act is an urgency statute
necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health,
or safety within the meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and
shall go into immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity
are:
   In order to ensure that the Orange County Water District may, at
the earliest possible opportunity, investigate, clean up, and
remediate groundwater contamination that affects the quality of
drinking water resources of approximately 2,400,000 Orange County
residents, it is necessary that this act take effect immediately.