Existing law, the California Safe Drinking Water Act, requires the State Water Resources Control Board to administer provisions relating to the regulation of drinking water to protect public health. Existing federal regulations require community water systems to contact all schools and childcare facilities, as defined, to provide information about the health risks from lead in drinking water and of eligibility to be sampled for lead by the water system. Existing federal regulations require a community water system to report to the state annually on the notification of eligibility and sampling for lead, and information regarding the number and names of schools and childcare facilities served by the water system, those sampled in the previous year, the facilities that declined sampling, facilities that did not respond to outreach attempts for sampling, and information pertaining to those outreach attempts for sampling.
Existing law makes it a crime to knowingly make any false statement or representation in any application, record, report, or other document submitted, maintained, or used for purposes of compliance with this act.
This bill would require, on or before June 1, 2026, the state board to adopt regulations consistent with the above-described regulations. The bill would authorize the state board to adopt regulations to implement the provision as emergency regulations. The bill would also require, on or before June 30, 2028, the state board to make the information submitted by community water systems, pursuant to the above-described regulations, publicly available on its internet website, including, among other things, the number and names of schools and childcare facilities served by the water system and the number and names of schools and childcare facilities sampled in the previous year. The bill would also require community water systems to provide elementary schools and childcare facilities that decline lead testing with the opportunity to indicate if they are declining for one or more reasons specified by the state board and to report information collected regarding that decline to the state board. Because knowingly making a false statement or representation in that report would be a crime under the California Safe Drinking Water Act, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program by expanding the scope of a crime.
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.

Statutes affected:
AB 1096: 116755 HSC
02/20/25 - Introduced: 116755 HSC
04/07/25 - Amended Assembly: 116755 HSC