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SENATE BILL 1679 (RUSSELL – 1991)
CHAPTER 776, STATUTES OF 1991, SB 1679
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The San Gabriel Basin Water Quality Authority Act was enacted with the passage of Senate Bill 1679 of 2005. (See Exhibits #1a through #1j) Senator Newton Russell introduced this measure on February 20, 1992 on behalf of the San Gabriel Basin Water Quality Authority. (See Exhibits #1a and #13, document PE-2)
Senate Bill 1679 was assigned to the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Water Resources and the Assembly Committee on Local Government where policy issues raised by the bill were considered. (See Exhibits #3 and #6) The fiscal ramifications of the bill were considered by the Senate Committee on Appropriations and the Assembly Committee on Ways and Means. (See Exhibits #2 and #8) Eight amendments were made to Senate Bill 1679. (See Exhibits #1b through #1i and #2) Subsequent to legislative approval, Governor Pete Wilson signed Senate Bill 1679 on September 19, 1992 and it was recorded by the Secretary of State on September 21st as Chapter 776 of the Statutes of 1992. (See Exhibit #1j)
The Unfinished Business analysis by the Office of Senate Floor Analyses summarized Senate Bill 1679, as last amended on August 19, 1992, as follows:
This bill enacts the San Gabriel Basin Water Quality Assurance Act which creates the San Gabriel Basin Water Quality Authority for the purpose of regulating the groundwater clean-up in the San Gabriel Valley, as specified.
(See Exhibit #11, page 1)
Senator Russell, in a letter to Governor Wilson on September 4, 1992, described the impetus for Senate Bill 1679 and some of its features, stating:
As you may know, the groundwater basin underlying the main San Gabriel Basin is seriously contaminated. The Basin has been on the Environmental Protection Agency’s National Priorities List for Hazardous Waste Sites since 1984.
After years of debate, litigation and attempts by a joint power authority on how best to deal with the clean-up of the Basin, we have finally reached, in SB 1679, a consensus will all parties involved—water districts, industry, water purveyors and thirty-three cities in the basin area.
SB 1679 will authorize the new Authority to levy limited pumping assessments, issue bonds and other forms of indebtedness and receive funds from federal, state, local and private sources to finance cleanup projects.
…
In addition to coordinating and cooperating with all appropriate entities in the cleanup process, the Authority will develop a basin water quality plan which addresses the objectives outlined in the United State Environmental Protection Agency’s San Gabriel Basin-Wide Technical Plan, the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board’s Basin Plan and any subsequent applicable records of decision issued by the U.S. E.P.A.
(See Exhibit #13, documents PE-2 and PE-3)