Maddox sewage bill passes

Paul Clinton

State lawmakers finally passed Assemblyman Ken Maddox’s

sewage-treatment bill last month with less than one hour in the

legislative session. The measure, known as Assembly Bill 1969,

traveled a long and winding road and went through several rewrites

before it landed on Gov. Gray Davis’ desk.

The legislation, introduced by Maddox on Feb. 14, passed the state

Legislature near midnight on Aug. 31, the last day of the session.

The bill passed 79-0 in the Assembly and 38-0 in the Senate.

Under the terms of the bill, the Orange County Sanitation District

would be exempt from a string of onerous fines as long as the agency

continues to implement full treatment of its sewage. The bill

requires the district to have full treatment in place by 2013.

Maddox, who would represent Costa Mesa if re-elected in November,

dropped the bill in July after the agency voted 13-12 to move to full

treatment and drop a controversial federal waiver exempting them from

the standards of the Clean Water Act. The district could face fines

of up to $2,500 per day without the waiver.

After Maddox dropped the bill, Assemblyman Bill Campbell

(R-Orange) picked it up and wrote in a provision protecting the

district from the penalties as long as a good-faith effort was made

to improve treatment, Maddox Chief of Staff Mark Reeder said.

Maddox signed on again as a co-author, shortly before the bill

sailed through, Reeder said.