Building standards: water charges and meters: multiunit structures.

(1) The Water Measurement Law requires every water purveyor to require, as a condition of new water service on and after January 1, 1992, the installation of a water meter to measure water service. That law also requires urban water suppliers to install water meters on specified service connections, and to charge water users based on the actual volume of deliveries as measured by those water meters in accordance with a certain timetable. This bill would require a water purveyor that provides water service to a multiunit residential structure or mixed-use residential and commercial structure that is subject to specified building standards, to either adopt a general policy to require the installation of either a water meter, as defined, or a submeter, as defined, to measure water supplied to each individual dwelling unit, or to inform, on an individual basis, an applicant for new water service as to whether a water meter or submeter is required to be installed for each individual dwelling unit. The bill would require the owner of the structure to ensure that a water submeter installed for these purposes complies with laws and regulations governing installation, certification, maintenance, reading, billing, and testing of water submeters. The bill would prohibit a water purveyor from imposing specified fees related to the installation of submeters, and would prohibit the owner of a rental structure, as specified, from assessing or collecting charges or fees related to water usage based on a submeter reading, from the occupants of the structure. (2) The California Building Standards Law provides for the adoption of building standards by state agencies by requiring all state agencies that adopt or propose adoption of any building standard to submit the building standard to the California Building Standards Commission for approval and adoption. This bill would require the Department of Housing and Community Development to develop and submit to the commission building standards that require the installation of water meters or submeters in individual dwelling units within a newly constructed multiunit residential structure or mixed-use residential and commercial structure, as specified. The bill would also authorize the department to include criteria for exemptions for certain types of residential structures and where installation is deemed infeasible. The bill would require the commission, prior to adopting these proposed building standards, to determine that a sufficient number of water meters and submeters are available in the market. The bill would also require the department, commencing on January 1, 2011, to convene a task force to develop recommendations for legislation to establish standards and procedures governing the practice of assessing and charging occupants of rental dwelling units in multiunit structures for water usage. The bill would require the department to report the final recommendations of the task force to the Legislature no later than December 31, 2011.