BILL ANALYSIS
------------------------------------------------------------
|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 220|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|1020 N Street, Suite 524 | |
|(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | |
|327-4478 | |
------------------------------------------------------------
THIRD READING
Bill No: SB 220
Author: Corbett (D)
Amended: 6/4/07
Vote: 21
SENATE HEALTH COMMITTEE : 6-4, 4/18/07
AYES: Kuehl, Alquist, Cedillo, Ridley-Thomas, Steinberg,
Yee
NOES: Aanestad, Cox, Maldonado, Wyland
NO VOTE RECORDED: Negrete McLeod
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 9-6, 5/31/07
AYES: Torlakson, Cedillo, Corbett, Florez, Kuehl, Oropeza,
Ridley-Thomas, Steinberg, Yee
NOES: Cox, Aanestad, Ashburn, Dutton, Runner, Wyland
NO VOTE RECORDED: Battin, Simitian
SUBJECT : Vended water
SOURCE : Clean Water Action
Consumer Federation of California
East Bay Municipal Utility District
Latino Issues Forum
DIGEST : This bill modifies the definition of a
water-vending machine and adds to current requirements for
the maintenance and inspection of water-vending machines.
This bill authorizes the Department of Public Health to
charge a fee to recover costs associated with any action
taken to ensure correction of violations and compliance
CONTINUED
SB 220
Page
2
with this bill, raises the annual license fees of
water-vending machines from $10.50 to $40. This bill
requires each bottled water plant, as a condition of
licensure, to annually prepare a consumer confidence report
in specified languages and requires specified information
to be included on each container of bottled water.
ANALYSIS :
Existing federal law:
1. Charges the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) with
regulating bottled water as a food. The Federal Food,
Drug, and Cosmetic Act provides the FDA with broad
regulatory authority over food.
2. Under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), sets the
framework for regulation of drinking water quality in
the United States by the Environmental Protection
Agency. Under the SDWA, a state is authorized to assume
responsibility for managing the safety of its drinking
water quality if the state is certified as having a
program at least as stringent as, or more stringent
than, the federal program. California has been given
that authority.
Existing state law:
1. Defines a "water-vending machine" as any self-service
device that, upon payment, dispenses a unit volume of
water to be used for drinking, culinary, or other
purposes involving a likelihood of the water being
ingested by humans.
2. Prescribes various quality and labeling standards for
both bottled and vended water, including mineral water,
and also limits the levels of certain contaminants that
may be contained in those water products.
3. Establishes a fee schedule for bottled and vended water
licenses, and sets the annual fee for water-vending
machines at $10.25. Effective July 1, 2007,
responsibility for the administration of the
above-mentioned provisions will be transferred to the
CONTINUED
SB 220
Page
3
Department of Public Health (DPH).
4. Requires weights and measures sealers to inspect and
test packaged commodities and all commercially used
devices and to inspect the validity of transactions
derived from the use of such devices.
5. Requires bottled water, water-vending machines, and
containers provided by retail water facilities to
contain specified information and to be clearly labeled
in an easily readable format.
6. Requires that water-vending machines, retail water
facilities, and private water sources that sell water at
retail sites display prescribed information.
7. Permits bottled water to be labeled "drinking water,"
notwithstanding the source or characteristics of the
water, only if it is processed pursuant to the FDA Good
Manufacturing Practices, and any other requirements
established by the Department of Health Services (DHS).
Any vended water and any water from a retail water
facility may be labeled "drinking water,"
notwithstanding the source or characteristics of the
water, only if it is processed pursuant to current state
law related to vending machines and any other
requirements established by DHS. Effective July 1,
2007, responsibility for the administration of the
above-mentioned provisions will be transferred to DPH.
This bill:
1. Deletes the current definition of a "water-vending
machine" and defines it instead as a water-connected
vending machine designed to dispense drinking water or
purified or other water products, and requires the
machine to be designed to reduce or remove turbidity,
off-tastes, and odors and to provide disinfection
treatment and processes for dissolved solids reduction
or removal.
2. Requires bottled water plants, as a condition of
licensure, to annually prepare a consumer confidence
report (CCR), in accordance with the most current
CONTINUED
SB 220
Page
4
version of DPH's guidelines for public water suppliers,
titled "Preparing Your CALIFORNIA Drinking Water CCR,"
and requires plants to make that report available to
each customer.
3. Requires that the report be prepared in English,
Spanish, and in languages for each non-English-speaking
group other than Spanish that exceeds 10 percent of the
state's population.
4. Permits relevant information from the CCR or water
quality report prepared for that year by a public water
system to be used when bottled water comes from a
municipal source.
5. Requires DPH to require that water-vending machines be
cleaned, serviced, and sanitized in accordance with the
manufacturer's specifications at least once every 31
days, and requires inspection records to be kept for
every visit made by either the operator or the
maintenance personnel.
6. Requires these records to show the date and time of the
visit, any tests performed, any maintenance performed,
and the signature or electronic signature of the
operator or maintenance personnel.
7. Requires the records to be kept by the owner of the
water-vending machine for a minimum of two years and to
be made available to DPH upon request.
8. Requires a record of consumer complaints to be kept on
file with the owner of the water-vending machine for a
minimum of two years, and to be made available to DPH
upon request.
9. Permits DPH, if it determines that there is a violation
of the above provisions, to either embargo the machine
or impose a fine.
10.Raises the annual license fees of water-vending machines
from $10.50 to $40 and clarifies that the duty to
display the decal indicating a license fee has been paid
is only after the decal has been received by the
CONTINUED
SB 220
Page
5
water-vending machine operator.
11.Adds the following to the information that water-vending
machines, retail water facilities, and private water
sources that sell water at retail locations must display
in a position clearly visible to customers:
A. A sign or label indicating the date on which the
water-vending machine was last sanitized and serviced
by the operator or maintenance personnel.
B. A notice to consumers listing the industry's
recommendations for the type and condition of
container suitable for use with the water-vending
machine.
C. A valid decal or seal received from DPH indicating
that a license fee has been paid and a license issued
for the water-vending machine.
D. A toll-free telephone number or a local telephone
number within the area code in which the machine is
located.
12.Requires the information displayed to be in English,
Spanish, and upon request.
13.Provides that bottled water may be labeled "drinking
water" under specified circumstances and requires each
container of bottled water sold at retail or wholesale
in this state in a plastic beverage container to include
on its label all the following:
A. The name and contact information for the bottler
or brand owner.
B. The source of the bottled water.
C. A California Water Quality Notice that contains
the following: "For more information and to
obtain additional consumer information relating to
water quality, including a consumer confidence
report, contact (name of bottled water company) at
(telephone number or toll-free telephone number) and
CONTINUED
SB 220
Page
6
(at least one of the following: mailing address,
e-mail address, and bottled water company Internet
Web site address)."
14.Requires bottlers that distribute bottled or vended
water directly to consumers to provide a statement on
each billing statement that includes (a) a telephone
number and mailing address of the bottler or brand
owner, and (b) the means by which a consumer may obtain
consumer information relating to water quality,
including a CCR.
Existing law requires the department to require that each
water-vending machine, retail water treatment plant, water
hauler vehicle and facility, and private water source be
maintained in a clean and sanitary condition at all times.
This bill, effective January 1, 2009, requires
water-vending machines to be cleaned and serviced at least
once every 31 days. This bill also requires, as of January
1, 2009, that maintenance and complaint records be kept by
the owner for a minimum of two years and be made available
to the department upon request. It requires, commencing
January 1, 2009, the department to conduct annual
inspections of not less than 20 percent of the licensed
water-vending machines in the state, as provided,
authorizes the department to embargo the machine or impose
a fine, or both, if a violation is found, authorizes the
department to conduct re-inspections of licensed
water-vending machines as necessary to prevent repeated or
continuing violations, and requires the department to
assess a fee to cover the costs of performing a
re-inspection conducted within 12 months of the initial
inspection.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 Fund
CONTINUED
SB 220
Page
7
Vendor inspections (DPH) $0 $142
$142General
SUPPORT : (Verified 6/5/07)
Clean Water Action (co-source)
Consumer Federation of California (co-source)
East Bay Municipal Utility District (co-source)
Latino Issues Forum (co-source)
Association of California Water Agencies
California League of Conservation Voters
California Trout
California Watershed Network
Culligan
Environment California
Environmental Justice Coalition for Water
Environmental Working Group
Food & Water Watch
Irvine Ranch Water District
Learning Disabilities Association of California
Metropolitan Water District of Southern California
National Resources Defense Council
Planning and Conservation League
San Francisco Public Utilities Commission
San Jerardo Cooperative, Inc.
Santa Clara Water District
Santa Rosa Water District
Sierra Club California
Sonoma County Water Agency
OPPOSITION : (Verified 6/5/07)
California Bottled Water Association
California Chamber of Commerce
California Grocers Association
International Bottled Water Association
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The East Bay Municipal Utility
District (EBMUD), the co-sponsor of this bill, writes that
bottled water quality information is not consistently made
available to consumers and that many vended water
facilities are not clearly labeled or regularly inspected.
EBMUD contends that this bill will provide improved
consumer protection so that consumers can make informed
CONTINUED
SB 220
Page
8
choices about the drinking water they consume. The
Learning Disabilities Association of California writes that
this bill will ensure that purchasers of bottled and vended
water are getting a safer, toxic-free product and that
consumers have readable product information and phone
numbers to call if questions or problems arise. The
Environmental Working Group (EWG) contends that consumers
pay 100 times more for vended water than for tap water and
even higher prices for bottled water, and they have a right
to know what is in this water. EWG also writes that the
findings of their studies show that current laws governing
vended and bottled water are not properly enforced and that
this bill addresses this problem by setting up an
inspection program. The Sierra Club of California and the
Natural Resources Defense Council write that the state
agency currently tasked with enforcing bottled and vended
water regulations exercise limited oversight. They state
that, in the case of vended water, inspections are
conducted only when complaints are received and this puts
low-income communities, who rely on vended water as their
primary drinking water, at a disadvantage.
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : The California Chamber of
Commerce writes that bottled water is regulated as a food
product under the FDA, which subjects the industry to
specific packaging, sanitation, and food processing laws
and that testing requirements, inspections and monitoring
rules are already in place. The Chamber contends that
since their members market products nationally and
worldwide, it is more efficient to have national standards
rather than state-only requirements, which add costs to
products and complexities to distribution systems. The
California Grocers Association (CGA) is concerned that the
requirements of this bill are unnecessary in light of
existing laws and regulations. CGA states that federal law
already establishes maximum chemical contaminant levels and
state law already specifies labeling requirements. CGA
further states that bottled water is considered a food
product under federal law and is subject to comprehensive
statutory and regulatory framework. CGA contends that
given this food product status, it seems impractical to
change the state regulation, as bottled water will still be
subject to federal packaging, sanitation, and food
processing requirements. The California Nevada Soft Drink
CONTINUED
SB 220
Page
9
Association opposes this bill because existing state and
federal law(s) already provides for the licensure and
regulation of entities that produce bottled water, federal
law establishes requirements for maximum chemical
containment levels, and they fail to see the need for
distributing the kinds of information contained in the CCR.
The California Bottled Water Association writes that this
bill imposes added costs and regulations to the industry
but provides no greater consumer protections.
CTW:mw 6/5/07 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
**** END ****
CONTINUED