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SB 623: Safe and Affordable Drinking Water Fund - Ensuring Water Access for All

SB 623 aims to provide ongoing funding for ensuring access to safe and affordable drinking water in California. The bill addresses the lack of access for over 1 million people, focusing on water quality impacted by contaminants like nitrates and arsenic. The proposed solution involves revenue from increased fees on agriculture and public water systems, with measures to protect agricultural operations from enforcement actions. This approach seeks to establish sustainable funding for the operation and maintenance of drinking water systems, aiming to address ongoing needs beyond infrastructure costs. The initiative is supported by KernTax, emphasizing the importance of fair, understandable, cost-effective, and economically beneficial taxation principles.

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SB 623: Safe and Affordable Drinking Water Fund - Ensuring Water Access for All

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  1. SB 623: Safe and Affordable Drinking Water Fund (2017-2018) From a taxpayer’s perspective Presented by the Water Association of Kern County

  2. SB 623: Safe and Affordable Drinking Water • KernTax is a member-supported, 501(c) 4 non-profit corporation, with the mission to bring about more accountable, effective, efficient, reliable  government.  Basing its actions on common sense, innovation, and the long-term view, KernTax crafts positions based on adopted values.  Founded in 1939, KernTax is the guard dog protecting the interests of  Kern County taxpayers.

  3. SB 623: Safe and Affordable Drinking Water • KernTax views any government collection of funds through any financial conduit to be taxation, be it a clearly identified as a tax, a fee for government service or a regulated rate structure.  If it is excessive or not appropriate, KernTax must, by charter, act to educate and facilitate resolution and ensure fair representation and treatment.  We do not seek subsidies; we simply seek fair return to our local citizens from all regulatory bodies and their agent for levied taxes, or fees.

  4. SB 623: Safe and Affordable Drinking Water KernTax’s Principles: • All Taxes & Fees • Must be fair. • Must be understandable. • Must be cost effective. • Must be good for the economy. • All Expenditures • Must be fiscally responsible • Must be economically sustainable • Must be societally equitable.

  5. SB 623: Safe and Affordable Drinking Water • Existing law declares it to be the established policy of the state that every human being has the right to safe, clean, affordable, and accessible water adequate for human consumption, cooking, and sanitary purposes.

  6. SB 623: Safe and Affordable Drinking Water The Problem: • Over 1M people lack access to safe, reliable, affordable drinking water in CA, the majority of those are in the Central Valley • Drinking water impacted by nitrates, arsenic, chromium-6, and others • Current ag operations have received threatening letters from SWRCB Office of Enforcement because of nitrate contaminated ground water

  7. SB 623: Safe and Affordable Drinking Water Solution: • SB 623 will provide an ongoing source of funding to ensure all Californians have access to safe and affordable drinking water

  8. SB 623: Safe and Affordable Drinking Water • Revenue will come from increased fees on fertilizer and public water system drinking water fee • Ag Fees: $30M annually paid by new fees on agriculture, dairy and livestock through increased fertilizer tax (will be reduced to $10M annually after 15 years) 

  9. SB 623: Safe and Affordable Drinking Water • Public Water System Drinking Water Fee: The fee will be assessed at the retail level and show up on the end users water bill at a rate of $0.95/month for single family up to $10/month for industrial water users (not charged to low income water users), will raise between $90-110 million a year

  10. SB 623: Safe and Affordable Drinking Water • Fees shall not exceed the amounts outlined above without changing the law.   • The cap on fees to administer the fund is 5%

  11. SB 623: Safe and Affordable Drinking Water • In exchange, agricultural operations will receive certainty and protection from enforcement actions for nitrates, which threaten many operations throughout the State • State Water Board has said they will issue more letters if a state-wide solution is not reached

  12. SB 623: Safe and Affordable Drinking Water Why this Approach • Need consistent revenue source to address ongoing O&M for these drinking water systems • General Fund not politically viable option • Water bonds and grant money helps with infrastructure costs but does not cover ongoing O&M

  13. SB 623: Safe and Affordable Drinking Water • Recent polling suggest that people are willing to pay small fee to fund clean drinking water programs • As become the norm, Agriculture is in a corner.

  14. SB 623: Safe and Affordable Drinking Water Michael Turnipseed Kern County Taxpayers Association 1401 19th Street, Suite 200 Bakersfield, CA 93301-4400 661-322-2973 kerntax@kerntaxpayers.org

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