On  September 16, Governor Brown signed into law Assembly Bill (AB) 1043, authored by Assemblymember Ed Chau (D-Monterey Park), which would authorize a Proposition 84 grantee that recovers funds from a polluter to use those funds for ongoing treatment and remediation of groundwater within the grantee’s jurisdiction.

“Presently, cost recovery from potentially responsible parties is a slow and expensive process that is rarely pursued, because local agencies are not guaranteed to receive any reimbursement or benefit directly from their effort,” said Assemblymember Chau. “I commend Governor Brown for signing AB 1043 into law, which is essential in helping the San Gabriel Valley, and other areas that received Proposition 84 grants, to fund actual groundwater cleanup activities that are necessary to expand our State’s water supply.”

Ken Manning, Executive Director of the San Gabriel Basin Water Quality Authority, noted that, “This bill ensures that consumers are not stuck paying for groundwater cleanup caused by others.  Especially during this multiyear drought, it is imperative that we have the use of groundwater that is right below our feet.”

On November 7, 2006, voters passed Proposition 84, which includes $60 million for groundwater contamination projects. This was the first time a bond included funding for groundwater cleanup, but the funds were limited to only a project’s capital costs, and not for the actual treatment of groundwater. Furthermore, under the bond language the Department of Public Health (DPH) must require funds to be repaid to them when a grantee subsequently recovers funds from polluters. Should those funds go to DPH, the department will incur costs to administer a new grant award cycle and will likely assess administrative costs to re-award the funds, meaning less money goes to actually cleaning up groundwater contamination.

AB 1043 will provide grantees with the resources to pursue cost recovery efforts from responsible parties and continue groundwater cleanup activities by allowing them to keep recovered funds locally while saving significant state administrative costs.

Assemblymember Ed Chau represents the 49th Assembly District, comprised of the communities of Alhambra, Arcadia, El Monte, Monterey Park, Rosemead, San Gabriel, San Marino, Temple City and portions of Montebello, and South El Monte.