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104-1() Legislative Bill Action ................................ ............................... The following are summaries of just a few of the legislative bills that are currently being acted !ipon by the League of California Cities. For more information about these and other bills, please visit the League website's new "Issues and Advocacy" page fwww.cacities.oro/ issuesandadvocacv) — a one -stop location to access information about legislation, policy issues and related developments. You can track information on bills ( www. cacities .org /legislativesearch), locate legislators and legislative committees, send letters to legislators or the media through the online Advocacy Center, research League policy positions, access useful related links, and much more. TRANSPORTATION, COMMUNICATIONS AND PUBLIC WORKS a neutral position on the AB 897. Staff: Yvonne Hunter, Status: AsmFir; Position: Neutral. ACA 7 (Dutra). Transportation Funding. Sales and Use Tax. ACA 7 authorizes a local transportation agency and a regional transporta- tion agency to impose an additional sales and use tax for a period of 20 to 30 years, as specified, at a rate of 0.5% exclusively for transportation purposes within the jurisdiction of the local or regional transportation agency if the additional tax is approved by 55% of the voters of the jurisdiction voting on the proposition to impose the tax. This bill passed out Assembly Appropriations by a vote 17 -7 on 6/2. Staff: Natasha Fooman, Status: AsmFlr, Position: Support. ENVIRONMENTAL AB 897 (Jackson). Water Quality. Enforce- ment. The League has agreed to remove our opposition to AB 897 along with CSAC and CASA. After a productive meeting with the author's staff and representatives of the State Water Resources Control Board, it appears that the local govern- ment associations' objections to the bill can be resolved. In particular, local government associa- tions were concerned with provisions of the bill dealing with deposit of penalty monies, legal challenges to water quality control plans, and creation of new felony offenses under the Water Code. Amendments to the bill that address these issues in a satisfactory manner were accepted, and the League, CSAC and CASA have now taken AB 306 /AB 514 (Kehoe). Water Meters. Existing law requires the installation of water meters on new residential and nonagricultural commercial development built after January 1, 1992, but does not require that customers be charged for water based upon the quantity used. AB 306 which would have mandated new water meter installation and required water customers that already have water meters installed to be charged based upon volume or quantity of water used, was made into a two year bill. At its last meeting, the League Board of Directors discussed AS 306 and rather than adopt a formal position at this time, the League Board voted to defer taking a final position on the bill until later this summer. In the meantime, the author has replaced the text of AB 514 as introduced with language that would require urban water suppliers that receive water from the Central Valley Project under a water services contract to install water meters on all residential and nonagricultural service connec- tions by January 2008. The League is soliciting comments from those cities that would be affected by the bill. In particular, we are evaluating the preemption language included in the most recent version of AB 514 that would "supercede and preempt all enactments of counties, cities, includ- ing Charter counties and cities." The League's final position on AB 306 will be resolved at the June EQ Policy Committee meet- ing and July Board meeting, and we are carefully PAGE 10 /PRIORITY FOCUS Visit the League's Official Web Site-- www.cacities.org