republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20192020/ab-508.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Drinking water: consolidation and extension of service: domestic wells."
description: "(1) Existing law, the California Safe Drinking Water Act, provides for the operation of public water systems and imposes on the State Water Resources Control Board various responsibilities and duties. The act authorizes the state board to order consolidation with, or extension of service from, a receiving water system, as defined, if a public water system or state small water system serving a disadvantaged community consistently fails to provide an adequate supply of safe drinking water or if a disadvantaged community is reliant on a domestic well that consistently fails to provide an adequate supply of safe drinking water. The act requires the state board, before ordering consolidation or extension of service, to, among other things, obtain written consent from any domestic well owner for consolidation or extension of service. The act makes any domestic well owner within the consolidation or extended service area that does not provide written consent ineligible, until consent is provided, for water-related grant funding, as specified. The act also requires the state board, before ordering consolidation or extension of service, to make a finding that consolidation of the receiving water system and subsumed water system or extension of service to the subsumed water system is appropriate and technically and economically feasible. The act defines \"subsumed water system\" for these purposes as the public water system, state small water system, or affected residences consolidated into or receiving service from the receiving water system."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20192020"
identifier: "AB 508"
citation: "California AB 508 (20192020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Drinking water: consolidation and extension of service: domestic wells."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Chu"]
version_count: 11
action_count: 36
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2019-02-13"
last_action: "2019-09-27"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/eb781f01-180f-441a-ae2e-ed43c877f1a4"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB508"
source_hash: "3589df3fab04b105227b89a881b1b8bf454adc9da0a1e0ce0135eb2d84a5bc98"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ca"]
---

# California AB 508 (20192020) — Drinking water: consolidation and extension of service: domestic wells.

(1) Existing law, the California Safe Drinking Water Act, provides for the operation of public water systems and imposes on the State Water Resources Control Board various responsibilities and duties. The act authorizes the state board to order consolidation with, or extension of service from, a receiving water system, as defined, if a public water system or state small water system serving a disadvantaged community consistently fails to provide an adequate supply of safe drinking water or if a disadvantaged community is reliant on a domestic well that consistently fails to provide an adequate supply of safe drinking water. The act requires the state board, before ordering consolidation or extension of service, to, among other things, obtain written consent from any domestic well owner for consolidation or extension of service. The act makes any domestic well owner within the consolidation or extended service area that does not provide written consent ineligible, until consent is provided, for water-related grant funding, as specified. The act also requires the state board, before ordering consolidation or extension of service, to make a finding that consolidation of the receiving water system and subsumed water system or extension of service to the subsumed water system is appropriate and technically and economically feasible. The act defines "subsumed water system" for these purposes as the public water system, state small water system, or affected residences consolidated into or receiving service from the receiving water system.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **02/13/19 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB508&version=20190AB50899INT)
2. **03/25/19 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB508&version=20190AB50898AMD)
3. **04/11/19 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB508&version=20190AB50897AMD)
4. **04/29/19 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB508&version=20190AB50896AMD)
5. **05/06/19 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB508&version=20190AB50895AMD)
6. **06/06/19 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB508&version=20190AB50894AMD)
7. **07/05/19 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB508&version=20190AB50893AMD)
8. **08/12/19 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB508&version=20190AB50892AMD)
9. **09/27/19 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB508&version=20190AB50890CHP)
10. **AB508** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB508)
11. **09/06/19 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB508&version=20190AB50891ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass as amended and be re-referred to the Committee on [Local Government] — **6–3** (pass) · lower
- AB 508 Chu Assembly Third Reading — **58–18** (pass) · lower
- AB 508 Chu Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **60–15** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **7–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended, but first amend, and re-refer to the Committee on [Governance and Finance] — **5–1** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. — **13–4** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **5–0** (pass) · upper
- 3rd Reading AB508 Chu By Hertzberg — **27–9** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Chu — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2019-02-13** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2019-02-14** From printer. May be heard in committee March 16.
- **2019-03-25** Referred to Coms. on E.S. & T.M. and L. GOV. `referral-committee`
- **2019-03-25** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on E.S. & T.M. Read second time and amended. `reading-1, reading-2, amendment-passage, amendment-introduction`
- **2019-03-26** Re-referred to Com. on E.S. & T.M. `referral-committee`
- **2019-04-10** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on L. GOV. (Ayes 6. Noes 3.) (April 9). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, amendment-introduction`
- **2019-04-11** Read second time and amended. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2019-04-22** Re-referred to Com. on L. GOV. `referral-committee`
- **2019-04-25** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (April 24). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, amendment-introduction`
- **2019-04-29** Read second time and amended. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2019-04-30** Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee`
- **2019-05-06** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on APPR. Read second time and amended. `reading-1, reading-2, amendment-passage, amendment-introduction`
- **2019-05-07** Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee`
- **2019-05-13** Joint Rule 62(a), file notice suspended. (Page 1609.)
- **2019-05-15** In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2019-05-16** Joint Rule 62(a), file notice suspended. (Page 1760.)
- **2019-05-16** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 13. Noes 4.) (May 16). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2019-05-20** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2019-05-23** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 58. Noes 18. Page 1868.) `passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2019-05-24** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2019-06-06** Referred to Coms. on EQ. and GOV. & F. `referral-committee`
- **2019-06-06** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on EQ. `reading-1, reading-2, amendment-passage, referral-committee, amendment-introduction`
- **2019-06-12** In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.
- **2019-07-03** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on GOV. & F. (Ayes 5. Noes 1.) (July 3). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, amendment-introduction`
- **2019-07-05** Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on GOV. & F. `reading-1, reading-2, amendment-passage, referral-committee`
- **2019-07-10** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 5. Noes 0.) (July 10). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2019-07-31** In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.
- **2019-08-12** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on APPR. `reading-1, reading-2, amendment-passage, referral-committee, amendment-introduction`
- **2019-08-19** From committee: Be ordered to second reading pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8. `committee-passage, reading-2`
- **2019-08-20** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2019-09-03** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 27. Noes 9. Page 2446.). `passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2019-09-03** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after September 5 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2019-09-05** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 60. Noes 15. Page 3016.). `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-09-11** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3:30 p.m.
- **2019-09-27** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2019-09-27** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 352, Statutes of 2019.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/eb781f01-180f-441a-ae2e-ed43c877f1a4`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).