It is long past due for California to invest resources back into our communities most harmed by water quality pollution – communities predominately of color. According to the state, Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) are “overrepresented in the neighborhoods that are the most environmentally degraded” and are still experiencing “severe racial wealth gaps caused by redlining and other land-use practices designed to oppress them”. California has found that “many of these communities lack access to parks, open spaces, greenways, and green infrastructure to provide, for example, natural flood protection, water treatment, and groundwater recharge and replenishment.” That is why CCKA created and sponsored Assembly Bill 753 (Papan), which would invest enforcement fines back to the communities originally harmed by a clean water violation, and to prioritize projects that would build greenspace in environmental justice communities. AB 753 passed the Legislature with overwhelming bi-partisan support with a 79-0 vote in the Assembly and a 32-6 vote in the Senate. And yet, the bill faces its toughest challenge of being enacted by Governor Newsom, for which he has until October 14th to sign AB 753 into law.
AB 753 was conceived after interviews with the California Regional Water Boards disclosed a serious need to bring enforcement fines back to the region harmed by water quality violations. In a traditional torts case (ex: car accident), the responsible party is required to make the victim ‘whole again’ by not only fixing the victim’s car, but also paying for medical bills, compensating for mental anguish, etc. But when a Water Board enforces a clean water violation and assesses a penalty, the defendant can either write a check or they can fund a community project. Unfortunately, the defendant always chooses to write a check, resulting in the majority of enforcement fines going to the State Water Board instead of being re-invested in the community harmed. AB 753 intends to make communities whole again from clean water violations by returning enforcement fines back to the community harmed by the original violation.
The Author of the bill, Assemblymember Papan, listened to the state’s concerns over the bill and worked tirelessly to make the bill easier to implement and to address the State Water Board’s concerns. First, the Author amended the bill to only address enforcement actions where 100% of the penalty was paid as a fine rather than a community project. Second, the Author reduced the total allocation back to the region from half of all enforcement fines down to 40%, allowing the State Water Board to continue its discretion over 60% of its enforcement funds for emergency projects. To make the bill easier to implement, the Author significantly reduced the “buckets” of possible funding from nine options to one, with the remaining one providing the maximum discretion to the Regional Boards to choose what restoration projects make most sense in their region. And lastly, the Author made amendments to be explicit that the funds must go to a third-party to implement the project in order to prevent any Due Process concerns raised by the State Water Board. Despite addressing all of the state’s concerns, the State Water Board still opposes the bill because they want full oversight over their enforcement “slush fund” instead of deferring to the regions to know what projects are best for impacted communities.
California needs to do more than just speak about the importance of racial equality – it is time the state takes action and prioritizes funding to communities of color. AB 753 addresses the overrepresentation of environmental degradation in BIPOC communities, and the lack of green infrastructure identified by the state by requiring enforcement fines to go back to environmental justice communities with a prioritization for projects that create green infrastructure and stormwater capture. To ensure that the state continues to invest in BIPOC communities that are disproportionately harmed by water quality violations, we urge Governor Newsom to sign AB 753 into law.
Executive Director Sean Bothwell leads CCKA’s initiatives to fight for swimmable, fishable, and drinkable waters for all Californians.
