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<ns0:Id>20250AB__218099INT</ns0:Id>
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<ns0:ActionText>INTRODUCED</ns0:ActionText>
<ns0:ActionDate>2026-02-19</ns0:ActionDate>
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<ns0:SessionYear>2025</ns0:SessionYear>
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<ns0:MeasureType>AB</ns0:MeasureType>
<ns0:MeasureNum>2180</ns0:MeasureNum>
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<ns0:AuthorText authorType="LEAD_AUTHOR">Introduced by Assembly Member Ward</ns0:AuthorText>
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<ns0:Contribution>LEAD_AUTHOR</ns0:Contribution>
<ns0:House>ASSEMBLY</ns0:House>
<ns0:Name>Ward</ns0:Name>
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<ns0:Title> An act to add Section 53751.5 to the Government Code, relating to local government finance. </ns0:Title>
<ns0:RelatingClause>local government finance</ns0:RelatingClause>
<ns0:GeneralSubject>
<ns0:Subject>Local government: Proposition 218 Omnibus Implementation Act: proportional cost of service.</ns0:Subject>
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<html:p>The California Constitution specifies various requirements with respect to the levying of assessments and property-related fees and charges by a local agency. As part of those requirements, the California Constitution mandates that such fees or charges that are extended, imposed, or increased satisfy certain requirements, including, but not limited to, that the amount of the fee or charge imposed upon any parcel or person as an incident of property ownership not exceed the proportional cost of the service attributable to the parcel.</html:p>
<html:p>Existing law, known as the Proposition 218 Omnibus Implementation Act (act), prescribes specific procedures and parameters for local jurisdictions to comply with these requirements and, among other things, authorizes an agency providing water, wastewater, sewer, or refuse collection services to adopt a schedule of fees
or charges authorizing automatic adjustments that pass through increases in wholesale charges for water, sewage treatment, or wastewater treatment or adjustments for inflation under certain circumstances.</html:p>
<html:p>This bill would authorize a local government to demonstrate the proportional cost of the service attributable to the parcel by any method that reasonably allocates the ascertainable cost of providing service to all parcels, if substantiated as provided. The bill would, however, provide that for water or sewer service fee or charge impositions, a local government is not required to provide an exact measure of the cost of the service at each parcel and may instead impose uniform or tiered fees or charges to parcel or customer classes that are defined based on common characteristics indicative of likely water or sewer use. The bill would provide that the proportional cost of service within each tier of water service may be substantiated by using any reasonable basis
for allocating costs attributed to the tier, as described.</html:p>
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<ns0:VoteRequired>MAJORITY</ns0:VoteRequired>
<ns0:Appropriation>NO</ns0:Appropriation>
<ns0:FiscalCommittee>NO</ns0:FiscalCommittee>
<ns0:LocalProgram>NO</ns0:LocalProgram>
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<ns0:ImmediateEffect>NO</ns0:ImmediateEffect>
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<ns0:Urgency>NO</ns0:Urgency>
<ns0:TaxLevy>NO</ns0:TaxLevy>
<ns0:Election>NO</ns0:Election>
<ns0:UsualCurrentExpenses>NO</ns0:UsualCurrentExpenses>
<ns0:BudgetBill>NO</ns0:BudgetBill>
<ns0:Prop25TrailerBill>NO</ns0:Prop25TrailerBill>
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<ns0:Preamble>The people of the State of California do enact as follows:</ns0:Preamble>
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<ns0:Num>SECTION 1.</ns0:Num>
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Section 53751.5 is added to the
<ns0:DocName>Government Code</ns0:DocName>
, to read:
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<ns0:Num>53751.5.</ns0:Num>
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(a)
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For any fee or charge adopted under Section 6 of Article XIII D of the California Constitution, “the proportional cost of the service attributable to the parcel” may be demonstrated by any method that reasonably allocates the ascertainable cost of providing service to all parcels. That allocation shall be substantiated by existing or reasonably estimated or projected data that reasonably captures the cost of the service to be provided.
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(b)
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Notwithstanding subdivision (a), when imposing a fee or charge for water or sewer service, an agency is not required to provide an exact measure of the cost of the service at each parcel and an agency may impose uniform or tiered fees or charges to parcel or customer classes that are defined based on
common characteristics indicative of likely water or sewer use, including, but not limited to, the nature and size of improvements to a parcel, land use, the nature or number of plumbing fixtures, or peak use characteristics.
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(c)
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(1)
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When imposing a fee or charge for water service, an agency may substantiate the proportional cost of the service within each tier by using any reasonable basis for allocating costs attributed to the tier, including, but not limited to, the following:
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(A)
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The cost of water from various sources.
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(B)
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Facilities operation, maintenance, or construction costs.
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(C)
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Contribution to systemwide peak demand projections.
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(2)
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An agency has discretion
to determine the service costs allocated to each tier. That allocation is consistent with subdivision (b) of Section 6 of Article XIII D of the California Constitution if the rate assigned to each tier reasonably reflects the cost of providing service for that tier.
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