Public capital facilities: water quality.

Existing law, the Marks-Roos Local Bond Pooling Act of 1985, authorizes joint powers authorities, among other powers, to issue bonds and loan the proceeds to local agencies to finance specified types of projects and programs. This bill would authorize specified joint powers authorities, upon the application of a local agency that owns and operates a publicly owned utility, as defined, to issue rate reduction bonds to finance a utility project, as defined, under specified circumstances. The bill would terminate the authority to issue rate reduction bonds pursuant to these provisions after December 31, 2020. The bill would provide that the rate reduction bonds are secured by utility project property, as defined. The bill would authorize the authority to impose on, and collect from, customers of the publicly owned utility a utility project charge, as a separate nonbypassable charge, to finance the rate reduction bond. The bill would require the California Pollution Control Financing Authority to review each issue of rate reduction bonds for financing costs of a utility project and to determine whether the issue is qualified for issuance, as prescribed. The bill would require the California Pollution Control Financing Authority to establish procedures for the expeditious review of a proposed issuance, including, but not limited to, the establishment of reasonable application fees to reimburse the California Pollution Control Financing Authority for costs incurred, as specified. The bill would require the California Pollution Control Financing Authority to submit a prescribed report of its activities for the preceding calendar year to the Legislature no later than March 31 of each year.