Water Accountability and Equity Act For the purpose of increasing the availability or affordability of basic water and wastewater service to low-income consumers and assuring a fair process for all consumers before the City exercises its authority to cut off water services, impose liens, or take similar action; establishing for these purposes a Water-for-All Discount Program, an Office of Water-Customer Advocacy and Appeals, and a Committee for Office Oversight; establishing the eligibility requirements for the Water-for-All Discount Program and its grant of an annual billing credit, and providing for the credit’s administration, computation, distribution, and recertification requirements and for the effect of midyear ineligibility, program arrears, and related matters; excepting recipients in the Water-for-All Discount Program from certain penalties imposed on certain delinquent service charges; providing for the operational independence of the Office of Water-Customer Advocacy and Appeals as a neutral intermediary authorized to conduct problem-solving investigations of water and wastewater billing and related disputes and authorized, subject to certain limitations and the right to seek administrative and judicial appeals, to implement solutions to those disputes; specifying the personnel of the Office of Water-Customer Advocacy and Appeals who are required to file financial disclosure statements under the City Ethics Code; providing for the Committee for Office Oversight’s composition, officers, meetings, and oversight duties; providing that the non-payment of water and wastewater charges subject to a pending request for Office investigation, review, or appeal, or for judicial or appellate review, may not serve as cause for a service cut-off, the imposition of a lien against property, or a property’s inclusion in certain tax sales; requiring certain notices before, and imposing certain restrictions and limitations on, service cut-offs for delinquency of payments; requiring that persons who have been issued a cut-off notice be offered the opportunity to enter into an installment payment agreement, subject to certain terms and conditions; reducing the interest rate applicable to redemptions from tax sale of properties designated by the State Department of Assessments and Taxation as the owner’s principal residence; defining various terms; clarifying and conforming related provisions; and providing for special effective dates.

Committee

City Council

Introduced

December 3, 2018

Passed

January 13, 2020

Enactment no.

20-336