The California Safe Drinking Water Act provides for the operation of public water systems and imposes on the State Water Resources Control Board various duties and responsibilities for the regulation and control of drinking water in the State of California. The act requires the state board to adopt primary drinking water standards for contaminants in drinking water based upon specified criteria, and requires a primary drinking water standard to be established for hexavalent chromium. Existing law authorizes the state board to grant a variance from primary drinking water standards to a public water system.
This bill would prohibit a public water system that meets the total chromium maximum containment level (MCL) enforceable standard for drinking water in California from being held liable in any civil action brought by an individual or entity that is not a governmental agency related to hexavalent chromium in drinking water while implementing and in compliance with a state board-approved hexavalent chromium MCL compliance plan, or during the period between when it has submitted a hexavalent chromium MCL compliance plan for approval to the state board and action on the proposed compliance plan by the state board is pending, except as specified.

Statutes affected:
SB 466: 137 HSC
02/19/25 - Introduced: 137 HSC
03/24/25 - Amended Senate: 137 HSC