Water and sewer system corporations: consolidation of service.

The Public Utilities Act prohibits, with certain exemptions, any public utility from selling, leasing, assigning, mortgaging, or otherwise disposing of or encumbering specified property necessary or useful in the performance of the public utility's duties to the public without first, for qualified transactions valued above $5,000,000, securing an order from the Public Utilities Commission authorizing it to do so or, for qualified transactions valued at $5,000,000 or less, filing an advice letter and obtaining approval from the commission. Existing law, the California Safe Drinking Water Act, provides for the operation of public water systems, which include small community water systems, and imposes on the State Water Resources Control Board related regulatory responsibilities and duties. Existing law authorizes the state board to order consolidation of public water systems where a public water system or state small water system serving a disadvantaged community consistently fails to provide an adequate supply of safe drinking water, as provided. This bill, the Consolidation for Safe Drinking Water Act of 2021, would authorize a water or sewer system corporation to file an application and obtain approval from the commission through an order authorizing the water or sewer system corporation to consolidate with a small community water system or state small water system identified as failing or at risk of failing by the state board. The bill would require the commission to approve or deny the application within 12 months, except as provided. The bill would establish the Consolidation For Safe Drinking Water Fund, with all moneys available, upon appropriation, to the commission in order to process the applications and cover any associated regulatory costs. The bill would require a water or sewer system corporation to pay a fee of $10,000 when filing an application pursuant to the above provision and would require the fee to be deposited into the fund. For a consolidation valued at $5,000,000 or less, the bill would authorize a water or sewer system corporation to instead file an advice letter and obtain approval from the commission through a resolution authorizing the water or sewer system corporation to consolidate with a small community water system or state small water system identified as failing or at risk of failing by the state board. The bill would authorize the executive director of the commission or the director of the division of the commission having regulatory jurisdiction over the water or sewer system corporation to approve an uncontested advice letter, and would require the commission to approve or deny an advice letter within 180 days, except as provided.