1. Assembly Bill No. 237–Assemblymen Dini, de Braga and Hettrick

  1. Joint Sponsors: Senators Amodei, McGinness and Jacobsen

CHAPTER........

AN ACT relating to water; authorizing grants for certain costs associated with connections to

municipal water systems and for certain improvements to conserve water; increasing

the amount of general obligation bonds that the state board of finance may issue to

provide the grants; and providing other matters properly relating thereto.

 

 

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEVADA, REPRESENTED IN

SENATE AND ASSEMBLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

Section 1. NRS 349.980 is hereby amended to read as follows:

  1. 349.980 As used in NRS 349.980 to 349.987, inclusive, unless the
  1. context otherwise requires:
  1. 1. "Board" means the board for financing water projects created
  1. pursuant to NRS 349.957.
  1. 2. "Community water system" means a public water system which:
  1. (a) Has 15 or more service connections; or
  1. (b) Serves 25 or more persons,
  1. at places which are intended for year-round occupancy.
  1. 3. "Costs of capital improvements to community water systems and
  1. nontransient water systems" means the costs traditionally associated with
  1. capital improvements to such systems and includes costs associated with
  1. the:
  1. (a) Consolidation of existing systems; and
  1. (b) Transfer and connection of a public water system to a system owned
  1. by a purveyor of water or a public utility.
  1. 4. "Fund" means the fund for grants [to certain purveyors of water.] for
  1. water conservation and capital improvements to certain water systems.
  1. 5. "Nontransient water system" means a public water system that
  1. regularly serves 25 or more of the same persons for more than 6 months per
  1. year, but which is not a community water system.
  1. 6. "Public water system" has the meaning ascribed to it in NRS
  1. 445A.840.
  1. 7. "Purveyor of water" means a political subdivision of this state
  1. engaged in the business of furnishing water, for compensation, to persons
  1. within the political subdivision.

Sec. 2. NRS 349.981 is hereby amended to read as follows:

  1. 349.981 1. There is hereby established a program to provide grants
  1. of money to [purveyors] :

(a) A purveyor of water to pay for costs of capital improvements to

publicly owned community water systems and publicly owned nontransient

water systems required or made necessary by the state board of health

pursuant to NRS 445A.800 to 445A.955, inclusive, or made necessary by

the Safe Drinking Water Act , [(] 42 U.S.C. §§ 300f et seq. , [)] and the

regulations adopted pursuant thereto.

(b) An eligible recipient to pay for the cost of improvements to

conserve water, including, without limitation:

(1) Piping or lining of an irrigation canal;

(2) Recovery or recycling of wastewater or tailwater;

(3) Scheduling of irrigation;

(4) Measurement or metering of the use of water;

(5) Improving the efficiency of irrigation operations; and

(6) Improving the efficiency of the operation of a facility for the

storage of water, including, without limitation, efficiency in diverting

water to such a facility.

(c) An eligible recipient, to pay the following costs associated with

connecting a domestic well or well with a temporary permit to
a municipal water system, if the well was in existence on or before

October 1, 1999, and the well is located in an area designated by the state

engineer pursuant to NRS 534.120 as an area where the ground water

basin is being depleted:

(1) Any local or regional fee for connection to the municipal water

system.

(2) The cost of any capital improvement that is required to comply

with a decision or regulation of the state engineer.

2. Except as otherwise provided in NRS 349.983, the determination

of who is to receive a grant is solely within the discretion of the board.

3. As used in this section, "eligible recipient" means a political

subdivision of this state, including, without limitation, a city, county,

unincorporated town, water authority, conservation district, irrigation

district, water district or water conservancy district.

Sec. 3. NRS 349.982 is hereby amended to read as follows:

  1. 349.982 1. The board shall administer the program and shall adopt
  1. regulations necessary for that purpose.
  1. 2. The regulations must provide such requirements for participation in
  1. the program as the board deems necessary.
  1. 3. The money in the fund may be used to defray, in whole or in part,
  1. the costs of administering the fund and the expenses of the board in
  1. administering the program.
  1. 4. The board may, by regulation, impose an administrative fee which
  1. must be collected from each recipient of a grant from the fund. If such a fee
  1. is imposed, all revenue derived from the fee must be used to defray , in
  1. whole or in part, the costs of administering the fund and the expenses of
  1. the board in administering the program.

Sec. 4. NRS 349.983 is hereby amended to read as follows:

  1. 349.983 1. Grants may be made [to purveyors of water under the
  1. program] pursuant to paragraph (a) of subsection 1 of NRS 349.981 only
  1. for those community and nontransient water systems that:
  1. (a) Were in existence on January 1, 1995; an
  1. d
  2. (b) Are currently publicly owned.
  1. 2. In making its determination of which purveyors of water are to
  1. receive grants [,] pursuant to paragraph (a) of subsection 1 of NRS
  1. 349.981, the board shall give preference to those purveyors of water whose
  1. public water systems regularly serve fewer than 6,000 persons.
  1. 3. Each recipient of a grant pursuant to paragraph (a) of subsection 1
  1. of NRS 349.981 shall provide an amount of money for the same purpose.
  1. The board shall develop a scale to be used to determine that amount, but
  1. the recipient must not be required to provide an amount less than 15
  1. percent or more than 75 percent of the amount of the grant. The scale must
  1. be based upon the average household income of the customers of the
  1. recipient, and provide adjustments for the demonstrated economic hardship
  1. of those customers, the existence of an imminent risk to public health and
  1. any other factor that the board determines to be relevant.
  1. [4. Except as otherwise provided in subsections 1 and 2, the
  1. determination of which purveyors of water are to receive grants is solely
  1. within the discretion of the board.]

Sec. 5. NRS 349.984 is hereby amended to read as follows:

  1. 349.984 1. The fund for grants [to certain purveyors of water] for
  1. water conservation and capital improvements to certain water systems is
  1. hereby created.
  1. 2. Except as otherwise provided by [subsection] subsections 3 and 4 of
  1. NRS 349.982, the money in the fund must be used only to make grants in
  1. furtherance of the program.
  1. 3. All claims against the fund must be paid as other claims against the
  1. state are paid.

Sec. 6. NRS 349.986 is hereby amended to read as follows:

  1. 349.986 The state board of finance shall issue general obligation
  1. bonds of the State of Nevada in the face amount of not more than
  1. [$40,000,000] $50,000,000 to support the purposes of the program. The net
  1. proceeds from the sale of the bonds must be deposited in the fund. The
  1. bonds must be redeemed through the consolidated bond interest and
  1. redemption fund.
  1. ~