Water utility workers: identification card program.

Existing law creates the Office of Emergency Services within the office of the Governor and sets forth its powers and duties, including establishing by rule and regulation various classes of disaster service workers, the scope and duty of each class, and the way disaster service workers of each class are to be registered. Existing law authorizes officers of the Department of the California Highway Patrol, police departments, marshal's office or sheriff's office, and officers or employees of the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection or the Department of Fish and Wildlife designated as peace officers to close to all unauthorized persons an area where a menace to the public health or safety created by a calamity exists for the duration of the menace and the immediate area surrounding any emergency field command post or any other command post activated for the purpose of abating a calamity, riot, or other civil disturbance, as specified. This bill would require the Office of Emergency Services to develop a water utility worker identification program to issue identification cards to employees of a city, county, city and county, special district, water corporation, or mutual water company that provides water utility services to authorize access to an area during or following a flood, storm, fire, earthquake, or other disaster, for the purpose of protection of public health and safety, preservation of life and property, and repair and restoration of water service. This bill would require the application for a water utility worker identification card to be signed by a duly authorized representative of a water utility and include a certification by the water utility. Because this certification would be under penalty of perjury, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program by expanding the definition of a crime. This bill would authorize the office to impose and collect a fee from a water utility for an identification card that does not exceed the reasonable costs of the identification card program. This bill would specify that the authorization for particular officers to close an area, as described above, shall not prevent an individual who holds a valid water utility worker identification card from entering an area so closed unless a peace officer finds that the disaster is of such a nature that it would be unsafe for the cardholder to enter or that the presence of the cardholder would interfere with disaster response. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.