Bill Text: CA SB1395 | 2013-2014 | Regular Session | Chaptered
Bill Title: Public beaches: inspection for contaminants.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Passed) 2014-09-30 - Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 928, Statutes of 2014. [SB1395 Detail]
Download: California-2013-SB1395-Chaptered.html
BILL NUMBER: SB 1395 CHAPTERED
BILL TEXT
CHAPTER 928
FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE SEPTEMBER 30, 2014
APPROVED BY GOVERNOR SEPTEMBER 30, 2014
PASSED THE SENATE AUGUST 27, 2014
PASSED THE ASSEMBLY AUGUST 26, 2014
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 26, 2014
AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 27, 2014
AMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 25, 2014
INTRODUCED BY Senator Block
FEBRUARY 21, 2014
An act to amend Section 115880 of the Health and Safety Code,
relating to public beaches.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 1395, Block. Public beaches: inspection for contaminants.
Existing law requires the State Department of Public Health to
adopt regulations for the minimum public health standards of public
beaches, including requiring the testing of waters adjacent to all
public beaches for specified microbial contaminants. Existing law
authorizes the department to require testing of the waters adjacent
to all public beaches for additional microbial indicators if the
department establishes that those indicators are as protective of the
public health.
This bill would authorize the department to allow a local health
officer to use specified polymerase chain reaction testing methods
published by the United States Environmental Protection Agency or
approved as an alternative test procedure pursuant to federal law to
determine the level of enterococci bacteria as a single test based on
a single indicator at one or more beach locations within that
jurisdiction if the local health officer demonstrates through
side-by-side testing over a beach season that the use of the test
method provides a reliable indication of overall microbiological
contamination conditions. The bill would require the department, in
making the determination of whether to authorize the use of those
testing methods by a local health officer, to take into account
whether the alternative indicators and related test method can
provide results more quickly. The bill would specify that its
provisions do not require the use of those testing methods.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 115880 of the Health and Safety Code is amended
to read:
115880. (a) The department shall, by regulation and in
consultation with the board, local health officers, and the public,
establish, maintain, and amend as necessary, minimum standards for
the sanitation of public beaches, including, but not limited to, the
removal of refuse, as it determines are reasonably necessary for the
protection of the public health and safety.
(b) Prior to final adoption or amendment by the department, the
regulations and standards required by this section shall undergo an
external comprehensive review process similar to the process set
forth in Section 57004 of the Health and Safety Code.
(c) The regulations shall, at a minimum, do all of the following:
(1) Require the testing of the waters adjacent to all public
beaches for microbiological contaminants, including, but not limited
to, total coliform, fecal coliform, and enterococci bacteria. The
department may require the testing of waters adjacent to all public
beaches for microbiological indicators other than those set forth in
this paragraph, or a subset of those set forth in this paragraph, if
the department affirmatively establishes, based on the best available
scientific studies and the weight of the evidence, that the
alternative indicators are as protective of the public health.
(2) Establish protective minimum standards for total coliform,
fecal coliform, and enterococci bacteria, or for other
microbiological indicators that the department determines are
appropriate for testing pursuant to paragraph (1).
(3) Require that the waters adjacent to public beaches are tested
for total coliform, fecal coliform, and enterococci bacteria, or for
other microbiological indicators that the department determines are
appropriate for testing pursuant to paragraph (1). Except as set
forth in subdivision (e), testing shall be conducted on at least a
weekly basis from April 1 to October 31, inclusive, of each year
beginning in 2012, if both of the following apply:
(A) The beach is visited by more than 50,000 people annually.
(B) The beach is located on an area adjacent to a storm drain that
flows in the summer.
(d) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), if a local health officer
demonstrates or has demonstrated through side-by-side testing over a
beach season that the use of United States Environmental Protection
Agency method 1609 or 1611, or any equivalent or improved rapid
detection method published by the United States Environmental
Protection Agency for use in beach water quality assessment or
approved as an alternative test procedure pursuant to Part 136 of
Title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations, to determine the level
of enterococci bacteria as a single indicator provides a reliable
indication of overall microbiological contamination conditions at one
or more beach locations within that health officer's jurisdiction,
the department may authorize the use of that testing method at those
beach locations instead of other testing methods. In making that
determination, the department shall take into account whether an
alternative indicator or subset of indicators, with the associated
test method, can provide results more quickly, thereby reducing the
period of time the public is at risk while waiting for contamination
to be confirmed.
(e) The monitoring frequency and locations established pursuant to
this section and related regulations may be reduced or altered only
after the testing required pursuant to paragraph (3) of subdivision
(c) reveals levels of microbiological contaminants that do not
exceed, for a period of two years, the minimum protective standards
established pursuant to this section.
(f) The local health officer shall be responsible for testing the
waters adjacent to, and coordinating the testing of, all public
beaches within his or her jurisdiction.
(g) The local health officer may meet the testing requirements of
this section by utilizing test results from other parties conducting
microbiological contamination testing of the waters under his or her
jurisdiction.
(h) This section does not require a wastewater treatment agency or
other party conducting microbiological contamination testing of the
waters under his or her jurisdiction, who provides those test results
to a local health officer pursuant to this section, to use United
States Environmental Protection Agency method 1609 or 1611, or any
equivalent or improved rapid detection method published by the United
States Environmental Protection Agency for use in beach water
quality assessment or approved as an alternative test procedure
pursuant to Part 136 of Title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations,
for total maximum daily load implementation, waste discharge
requirements, or other monitoring programs required to be implemented
pursuant to Division 7 (commencing with Section 13000) of the Water
Code.
(i) Any city or county may adopt standards for the sanitation of
public beaches within its jurisdiction that are stricter than the
standards adopted by the department pursuant to this section.
