BILL NUMBER: AB 1975INTRODUCED BILL TEXT INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Fong FEBRUARY 17, 2010 An act to add Chapter 8.5 (commencing with Section 537) to Division 1 of the Water Code, relating to water. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 1975, as introduced, Fong. Water charges and meters: multiunit residential structures. The Water Measurement Law requires every water purveyor to require, as a condition of new water service on and after January 1, 1992, the installation of a water meter to measure water service. That law also requires urban water suppliers to install water meters on specified service connections, and to charge water users based on the actual volume of deliveries as measured by those water meters in accordance with a certain timetable. This bill, with a certain exception, would require every water purveyor that provides water service to a person residing in a multiunit residential structure for which a construction permit has been issued on or after January 1, 2011, to require the installation of meters or submeters on each individual rental unit as a condition of new water service to that property. The bill would authorize the owner or operator to charge tenants based on the actual volume of water delivered as measured by the water meter or submeter. Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. Chapter 8.5 (commencing with Section 537) is added to Division 1 of the Water Code, to read: CHAPTER 8.5. MULTIUNIT RESIDENTIAL STRUCTURES 537. (a) Each water purveyor that sells, leases, rents, furnishes, or delivers water service to a person residing in a multiunit residential structure for which a construction permit has been issued on or after January 1, 2011, shall require the installation of meters or submeters on each individual rental unit as a condition of new water service to that property, except if plumbing configurations with multiple points of entry in high rise structures make the installation of submeters infeasible. (b) The owner or operator of the multiunit residential structure described in subdivision (a) may charge tenants for water service based on the actual volume of water delivered to the unit as measured by the meter or submeter installed pursuant to subdivision (a).