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BILL NUMBER: AB 83	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Corbett

                        JANUARY 6, 2003

   An act to add Section 111197 to the Health and Safety Code,
relating to drinking water.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 83, as introduced, Corbett.  Drinking water: consumer
confidence reports.
   Existing law, the Sherman Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Law, contains
various provisions regarding the packaging, labeling, and advertising
of food, drugs, and cosmetics.  Existing law also provides for the
licensure and regulation by the State Department of Health Services
of specified persons engaged in certain activities relating to
bottled water.  Violation of any of these provisions is a crime.
   This bill would require each water bottler, water vendor, water
hauler, and retail water facility to prepare and distribute an annual
consumer confidence report containing specified information to its
respective customers.  The bill would provide that each bottled water
facility, water vending machine, and retail water facility shall be
subject to annual inspections by the department, and would permit the
department to make unannounced inspections of those facilities to
determine compliance with statutory requirements.
   The bill would also, commencing July 1, 2004, require each water
bottling plant, water vending machine owner, water hauler, retail
water facility, private water source operator, and bottled water
distributor to reimburse the department, at a specified hourly rate,
for costs incurred for certain inspection and enforcement activities.

   Since a violation of the bill would be a crime, this bill would
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.
   Vote:  majority.  Appropriation:  no.  Fiscal committee:  yes.
State-mandated local program:  yes.


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


  SECTION 1.  The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
   (a) Published reports indicate that nearly 70 percent of all
Californians consume some or all of their drinking water from bottled
water sources.
   (b) The general public perception is that bottled water and vended
water products are safer, or are of higher quality, than tap water.
However, the water quality standards for bottled water are, for the
most part, no more stringent than for tap water.
   (c) While bottled water, vended water, and tap water are subject
to similar water quality standards, bottled water and vended water
are regulated as food products and are not subject to many of the
statutory protections for consumers that apply to drinking water
supplied by public water systems.
   (d) Bottled water products are not subject to water quality "right
to know" consumer reporting requirements such as consumer confidence
report requirements that apply to tap water, resulting in a lack of
reliable and credible information for consumers concerning the
contents of bottled water and vended water products.
   (e) The existing levels of fees for the bottled water regulatory
program are not sufficient to completely fund rigorous oversight of
bottled water and vended water products, when compared to funding
that is generated by drinking water program regulatory fees paid by
public water systems.
   (f) Legislation is necessary to improve consumer protection and
eliminate the double standards regarding the water quality "right to
know" consumer reporting requirements and regulatory oversight of
bottled water products versus the regulation of tap water.
  SEC. 2.  Section 111197 is added to the Health and Safety Code, to
read:
   111197.  (a) Each water bottler, water vendor, water hauler, and
retail water facility shall prepare and distribute an annual consumer
confidence report to its customers that is substantially the same as
the consumer confidence report prepared and distributed annually by
public water systems pursuant to Section 116470.  This annual
consumer confidence report shall include, but not be limited to, all
of the following:
   (1) Source of the bottled, vended, or hauled water.
   (2) Identification of any regulated contaminants detected in the
source of the bottled or vended water during the past year.
   (3) The level of the contaminant detected and the corresponding
maximum contaminant level.
   (4) Any violations of the maximum contaminant level that have
occurred and a brief and plainly worded statement of health concerns
that resulted in the regulation of the contaminant.
   (b) Each bottled water facility, water vending machine, and retail
water facility shall be subject to annual inspections by the
department, and the department may make unannounced inspections of
those facilities, to determine compliance with this article.  In
carrying out this authority, the department may, at any reasonable
hour of the day, do any of the following:
   (1) Enter and inspect any bottled water or vended water facility
or any place where bottled water or vended water records are stored,
kept, or maintained.
   (2) Inspect and copy any records, reports, test results, or other
information required to carry out this article.
   (3) Set up and maintain monitoring equipment for purposes of
assessing compliance with this article.
   (4) Obtain samples of the water supply.
   (c) In addition to the annual license fees set forth in Section
111130, commencing July 1, 2004, each water bottling plant, water
vending machine owner, water hauler, retail water facility, private
water source operator, and bottled water distributor shall reimburse
the department for the actual costs incurred by the department in
conducting the activities provided for in this article and Article 2
(commencing with Section 110140) of Chapter 2 relating to
inspections, monitoring, surveillance, and water quality evaluation.
For the first year, reimbursement to the department shall be in the
amount of eighty-six dollars ($86) per hour, consistent with the
hourly cost rate imposed on public water systems pursuant to Section
116565.  In subsequent years, the department shall annually adjust
the hourly cost rate to ensure that the amount of reimbursement shall
be sufficient to pay, but in no event exceed, the department's
actual cost in conducting these activities.
  SEC. 3.  No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because
the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school
district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or
infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty
for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the
Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the
meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
Constitution.