BP BHEAD INT S [atlas:bill]

AN ACT Relating to revision of public water systems fees; amending RCW 70.119A.110; and creating a new section.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. The legislature finds and declares that:

(1) The provision of safe and reliable water supplies to the people of the state of Washington is fundamental to ensuring public health and continuing economic vitality of this state.

(2) The existing water system fee structure contains inequities and multiple fees that must be revised to provide predictability and fairness to the industry, stability for program operations, and incentives for voluntary compliance.

(3) The department of health, pursuant to legislative directive in 1995, has provided a report that incorporates the findings and recommendations of the water supply advisory committee as to progress in meeting the objectives of the public health improvement plan, changes warranted by the recent congressional action reauthorizing the federal safe drinking water act, new approaches to providing services under the general principles of regulatory reform, and the adequacy and necessity of current and prospective funding. Revision of the operating permit fee is a recommendation of the committee.

Sec. 2. RCW 70.119A.110 and 1991 c 304 s 5 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) No person may operate a group A public water system unless the person first submits an application to the department and receives an operating permit as provided in this section. A new application must be submitted upon any change in ownership of the system. Any person operating a public water system on July 28, 1991, may continue to operate the system until the department takes final action, including any time necessary for a hearing under subsection (3) of this section, on a permit application submitted by the person operating the system under the rules adopted by the department to implement this section.

(2) The department may require that each application include the information that is reasonable and necessary to determine that the system complies with applicable standards and requirements of the federal safe drinking water act, state law, and rules adopted by the department or by the state board of health.

(3) Following its review of the application, its supporting material, and any information received by the department in its investigation of the application, the department shall issue or deny the operating permit. The department shall act on initial permit applications as expeditiously as possible, and shall in all cases either grant or deny the application within one hundred twenty days of receipt of the application or of any supplemental information required to complete the application. The applicant for a permit shall be entitled to file an appeal in accordance with chapter 34.05 RCW if the department denies the initial or subsequent applications or imposes conditions or requirements upon the operator. Any operator of a public water system that requests a hearing may continue to operate the system until a decision is issued after the hearing.

(4) At the time of initial permit application or at the time of permit renewal the department may impose such permit conditions, requirements for system improvements, and compliance schedules as it determines are reasonable and necessary to ensure that the system will provide a safe and reliable water supply to its users.

(5) Operating permits shall be issued for a term of one year or more, and shall be renewed ((~~annually~~)) periodically, unless the operator fails to apply for a new permit or the department finds good cause to deny the application for renewal.

(6) Each application shall be accompanied by ((~~an annual~~)) a fee. The fee must be paid by the system before or at the time an operating permit is issued and shall be calculated on an annual basis as follows:

(a) ((~~The annual fee for public water supply systems serving fifteen to forty-nine service connections shall be twenty-five dollars.~~

(b) The annual fee for public water supply systems serving fifty to three thousand three hundred thirty-three service connections shall be based on a uniform per service connection fee of one dollar and fifty cents per service connection.

(c) The annual fee for public water supply systems serving three thousand three hundred thirty-four to fifty-three thousand three hundred thirty-three service connections shall be based on a uniform per service connection fee of one dollar and fifty cents per service connection plus ten cents for each service connection in excess of three thousand three hundred thirty-three service connections.

~~(d) The annual fee for public water supply systems serving fifty-three thousand three hundred thirty-four or more service connections shall be ten thousand dollars~~)) For community and noncommunity systems, effective July 1, 1999, the fee shall be based on the number of service connections or equivalent service connections and calculated as follows:

(i) All nontransient noncommunity systems with fewer than one hundred equivalent service connections shall pay a program capacity fee and an additional service fee for the purposes described in (b) of this subsection. The program capacity portion of the fee is one hundred fifty dollars per system and the service portion of the fee is seventy-five cents per equivalent service connection;

(ii) All nontransient noncommunity systems with one hundred or more equivalent service connections shall pay a program capacity fee and an additional service fee for the purposes described in (b) of this subsection. The program capacity portion of the fee is two hundred fifty dollars per system and the service portion of the fee is seventy-five cents per equivalent service connection;

(iii) All transient noncommunity systems with fewer than one hundred equivalent service connections shall pay a fee of one hundred twenty-five dollars per system;

(iv) All nontransient noncommunity systems with one hundred or more equivalent service connections shall pay a fee of two hundred fifty dollars per system;

(v) All community systems shall pay a program capacity fee and an additional service fee for the purposes described in (b) of this subsection. The program capacity portion of the fee and the service portion of the fee are as follows:

(A) For systems with under one hundred connections, the program capacity portion of the fee is one hundred fifty dollars and the service portion of the fee is one dollar per connection;

(B) For systems with one hundred to one thousand connections, the program capacity portion of the fee is two hundred fifty dollars and the service portion of the fee is one dollar and eighty-five cents per connection;

(C) For systems with one thousand one to ten thousand connections, the program capacity portion of the fee is two hundred fifty dollars and the service portion of the fee is one dollar and forty cents per connection;

(D) For systems with ten thousand one to fifty thousand connections, the program capacity portion of the fee is two hundred fifty dollars and the service portion of the fee is seventy-five cents per connection; and

(E) For systems with over fifty thousand connections, the program capacity portion of the fee is two hundred fifty dollars and the service portion of the fee is twenty-five cents per connection;

(vi) The annual fee, excluding the noncompliance fees described in (g) of this subsection, is capped at fifty thousand dollars per year until July 1, 2001.

(b) The program capacity portion of the fee must pay for basic administration of the operating permit program, including related data management, compliance, and local health jurisdiction support.

(i) The service portion of the fee must fund additional services to water systems. The service fee covers the following types of services: Routine water system plan reviews, water system operator certification costs, monitoring waiver determinations, and routine sanitary surveys. The departmental services that a water system will receive for payment of its operating permit fee will depend on the size and classification of the system, as follows:

(A) All nontransient noncommunity systems with fewer than one hundred equivalent service connections shall receive monitoring waiver determinations and water system operator certification services;

(B) All nontransient noncommunity systems with one hundred or more equivalent service connections shall receive monitoring waiver determinations, water system operator certification services, and routine sanitary surveys;

(C) All transient noncommunity systems with fewer than one hundred equivalent service connections shall receive no extra services;

(D) All nontransient noncommunity systems with one hundred or more equivalent service connections shall receive water system operator certification services;

(E) All community systems with fewer than one hundred connections shall receive monitoring waiver determinations and water system operator certification services;

(F) All community systems with one hundred to one thousand connections shall receive monitoring waiver determinations, water system operator certification services, and routine sanitary surveys; and

(G) All community systems with more than one thousand connections shall receive routine monitoring waiver determinations, water system operator certification services, routine sanitary surveys, and water system plan reviews.

(ii) The department may not charge separate fees for services for which water systems pay through the service portion of the fees described in (a) and (b) of this subsection.

(iii) The department may charge separate fees for services it performs for water systems that are not included in the service portion of the fees described in (a) and (b) of this subsection, such as reviews of project reports and construction documents, special purpose investigations, and multiple reviews of planning documents.

(A) If the department charges separate fees for services that it performs on a periodic basis, it may prorate the charges over the period of time that includes the years between which and in which the department provides the services.

(B) The department may include separate charges, either prorated or not prorated, on the operating permit billings.

(iv) The department may reduce a system's operating permit fee if one or more of the services described in (b) of this subsection is not required to be provided by the department to the system.

(c) Each system may allocate its fee between customer groups and may separately identify the fee on customer bills as the amount collected by the system for maintenance of the state drinking water program and for the provision of the services identified in (b) of this subsection.

((~~(e)~~)) (d) In addition to the fees under (a) through ((~~(d)~~)) (c) of this subsection, the department may charge an additional one-time fee of five dollars for each service connection in a new water system.

(e) For systems in any jurisdiction that has adopted an operating permit program for group A public water systems, as authorized under RCW 70.119A.130, the department shall either not collect a fee or shall reduce its fee, as appropriate, unless the department collects the fee on behalf of the local jurisdiction.

(f) If on July 1, 1999, a system's operating permit fee, under this section, increases by fifty percent or more over its fee for the preceding year, its fee for that year shall be the old operating permit fee plus fifty percent of the difference between the old and the new operating permit fees. Beginning July 1, 2000, systems shall pay the entire fee amount required under this section.

(g) As of July 1, 2000, systems that are determined by the department to be inadequate, based upon substantial noncompliance with health-related criteria prescribed by the department by rule, shall pay noncompliance fees in addition to their normal operating permit fees as set forth in this subsection (6)(g). Beginning July 1, 2000, the first year a system that is determined by the department to be inadequate, based upon substantial noncompliance with health-related criteria prescribed by the department by rule, it shall pay an additional noncompliance fee of one hundred percent of the rate described in (a) of this subsection or subsection (8) of this section. Every successive year the system remains out of compliance and its customers continue to face significant health risks, the noncompliance fee shall increase an additional one hundred percent of the rate described in (a) of this subsection or subsection (8) of this section. The department may not impose the additional fee upon a system that is complying with a department-approved schedule for achieving compliance. The department shall use the revenue from the noncompliance fees to provide technical assistance activities to assist water systems to understand and comply with the department's rules. At least one year before July 1, 2000, the department shall notify all systems of the provisions of this subsection (6)(g).

(7) ((The department may phase-in the implementation for any group of systems provided the schedule for implementation is established by rule. Prior to implementing the operating permit requirement on water systems having less than five hundred service connections, the department shall form a committee composed of persons operating these systems. The committee shall be composed of the department of health, two operators of water systems having under one hundred connections, two operators of water systems having between one hundred and two hundred service connections, two operators of water systems having between two hundred and three hundred service connections, two operators of water systems having between three hundred and four hundred service connections, two operators of water systems having between four hundred and five hundred service connections, and two county public health officials. The members shall be chosen from different geographic regions of the state. This committee shall develop draft rules to implement this section. The draft rules will then be subject to the rule-making procedures in accordance with chapter 34.05 RCW)) The fees and cap established in subsection (6) of this section may be modified by the department by rule, but only if: (a) The water supply advisory committee reviews the changes; and (b) the effective date of the new fee levels is no earlier than July 1, 2001.

(8) ((The department shall notify existing public water systems of the requirements of RCW 70.119A.030, 70.119A.060, and this section at least one hundred twenty days prior to the date that an application for a permit is required pursuant to RCW 70.119A.030, 70.119A.060, and this section.

~~(9)~~)) The department shall issue one operating permit to any approved satellite system management agency. The service portion of the operating permit fees for approved satellite system management agencies shall be ((~~one dollar~~)) sixty-five cents per connection per year for the total number of connections under the ownership and management of the approved satellite agency, so long as the satellite agency is offering service to all new customers within its designated service area consistent with its approved satellite management agency plan. The department shall define by rule the meaning of the term "satellite system management agency." ((~~If a statutory definition of this term exists, then the department shall adopt by rule a definition consistent with the statutory definition.~~

~~(10) For purposes of this section,~~)) (9) The definitions in this subsection apply throughout this section, unless the context clearly requires otherwise.

(a) "Group A public water system" and "system" mean those water systems with fifteen or more service connections, regardless of the number of people; or a system serving an average of twenty-five or more people per day for sixty or more days within a calendar year, regardless of the number of service connections.

(b) "Community system" means a system serving primarily a residential population, and "noncommunity system" means a system serving primarily a nonresidential population as defined by the department by rule.

(c) For nontransient noncommunity systems, "equivalent service connections" means the equivalent number of service connections calculated by dividing the average population served each day by two and one-half. For transient noncommunity systems, "equivalent service connections" means the equivalent number of service connections calculated by dividing the average population served each day by twenty-five.

(d) "Routine sanitary survey" includes the annual watershed and treatment evaluations required for systems under the federal surface water treatment rule.