AgdaPkt 2020-01-27 Joint - Laserfiche WebLink

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6.A. - Page 21 of 27 Ch. 891 —2 water system that discontinues residential service to provide the customer with information on how to restore service. The bill would require an urban and community water system to waive interest charges on delinquent bills for, and would limit the amount of a reconnection of service fee imposed on, a residential customer who demonstrates, as prescribed, to the urban and community water system household income below 200% of the federal poverty line. The bill would require an urban and community water system that furnishes individually metered residential service to residential occupants of a detached single-family dwelling, a multiunit structure, mobilehome park, or permanent residential structure in a labor camp, and that the owner, manager, or operator of the dwelling, structure, or park is the customer of record, to make every good faith effort to inform the residential occupants by written notice that service will be terminated and that the residential occupants have the right to become customers, as specified. The bill would require an urban and community water system to report the number of annual discontinuations of residential service for inability to pay on its Internet Web site and to the board, and the bill would require the board to post on its Internet Web site the information reported. The bill would require an urban water supplier, as defined, or an urban and community water system regulated by the commission, to comply with the bill's provisions on and after February 1, 2020, and any other urban and community water system to comply with the bill's provisions on and after April 1, 2020. The bill would provide that the provisions of the bill are in addition to the provisions in existing law duplicative of the bill and that where the provisions are inconsistent, the provisions described in the bill apply. The people of the State of California do enact as follows: SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares as follows: (a) All Californians have the right to safe, accessible, and affordable water as declared by Section 106.3 of the Water Code. (b) It is the intent of the Legislature to minimize the number of Californians who lose access to water service due to inability to pay. (c) Water service discontinuations threaten human health and well-being, and have disproportionate impact on infants, children, the elderly, low-income families, communities of color, people for whom English is a second language, physically disabled persons, and persons with life-threatening medical conditions. (d) When there is a delinquent bill, all Californians, regardless of whether they pay a water bill directly, should be treated fairly, and fair treatment includes the ability to contest a bill, seek alternative payment schedules, and demonstrate medical need and severe economic hardship. (e) The loss of water service causes tremendous hardship and undue stress, including increased health risks to vulnerable populations. (f) It is the intent of the Legislature that this act provide additional procedural protections and expand upon the procedural safeguards contained 90 25