Toxics Waste Legislation
SB 337 (Kelley-R) Illegal Drug Cleanup Account
Authorizes the State Department of Toxic Substances Control to use funds appropriated from the Illegal Drug Lab Cleanup Account to reimburse local agencies for any costs they incur in identifying chemicals found at the site of an illegal drug lab, determining their quantity, tagging them and setting them aside prior to their removal by the department clean-up contractor.
(Failed passage in Senate Environmental Quality Committee; reconsideration granted)
SB 387 (Knight-R) Low-level radioactive waste: surcharge
Establishes the Low-Level Radioactive Waste Facility Public Education and Municipal Support Fund in the State Treasury for a 30 year period. Imposes a disposal surcharge of $12 per cubic foot on low-level radioactive waste disposed of at the Ward Valley site, and requires the surcharge revenues to be deposited in the fund.
(Failed passage in Senate Environmental Quality Committee; reconsideration granted)
SB 442 (Brulte-R) Toxic chemicals: sensitive population subgroups
Requires the Director of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, by December 31, 1999, to develop guidelines for use by the boards, departments, and offices within the agency, for the evaluation of the effects of toxic chemicals upon sensitive subgroups that are identifiable as being at greater risk of adverse health effects than the general population.
Requires the director to convene the Risk Assessment Advisory Committee consisting of distinguished scientists not employed by the boards, departments, and offices within the agency, to conduct a comprehensive review of the guidelines.
(In Assembly Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials Committee)
SB 521 (Mountjoy-R) Gasoline: MTBE
Enacts the MTBE Public Health and Environmental Act of 1997. Specifically:
- Appropriates $500,000 from the Motor Vehicle Fuel Account in the Transportation Fund to the University of California for a study and assessment of MTBE to be submitted to the Governor by January 1999.
- Requires the Governor to take prescribed actions based on the information presented in the study and the assessment, including certifying whether there is a risk to human health or the environment from using MTBE in gasoline; and requires the discontinuance of the sale and use of MTBE in gasoline if the Governor certifies that there is such a risk.
- Provides that no water system, or its customer, is to be responsible for remediation or treatment costs of water contaminated by MTBE or a product containing MTBE.
Chapter 816, Statutes of 1997
SB 657 (Sher-D) Hazardous materials: businesses inventory
Allows annual hazardous materials inventory reporting requirements to be met by using the State Office of Emergency Services standardized reporting form or any other form designated by the local enforcement agency that is developed in consultation with other entities responsible for fire protection, emergency response and environmental health. Allows a hazardous material handler to file an annual statement with the local enforcement agency certifying that the inventory form already on file is up to date, instead of filing a new inventory form, if no changes in the inventory have taken place during the year and no new hazardous materials subject to the inventory requirements are being handled.
Chapter 664, Statutes of 1997
SB 659 (Sher-D) Hazardous waste and materials: certification
Permits cities or districts until April 1, 1998 to reapply for certification under the California Environmental Protection Agency's Certified Unified Program Agency, if certain conditions are met.
(On Assembly Inactive File)
SB 660 (Sher-D) Hazardous substance response: fees
- Restructures and simplifies the existing hazardous waste fee system;
- eliminates a number of fees and replaces some eliminated fees with service-specific fees;
- reduces fees levied on the hazardous waste industry and increases the broadbased environmental fee levied on all corporations; and
- separates the funding sources for hazardous waste regulatory activities and site clean-up and scientific activities.
Chapter 870, Statutes of 1997
SB 775* (Johannessen-R) Gasoline: MTBE: study
Requires the State Air Resources Board to conduct a prescribed study, in conjunction with private industry, on the health effects of methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE), as specified.
(In Senate Environmental Quality Committee)
SB 803 (Mountjoy-R) Hazardous waste: search warrants
Requires the State Department of Toxic Substances Control to file charges within 60 days of executing a search warrant on a business that has no record of previous violation. Precludes the department from filing charges based on evidence collected under that search warrant if charges are not filed within that 60 day period.
(In Senate Environmental Quality Committee)
SB 869 (Lee-D) Removal action workplans: public comment
Requires a public comment period of at least 2 weeks before the State Department of Toxic Substances Control may approve a Removal Action Workplan for a cleanup project if there is significant community interest in the project. Requires the supervisor of the person who will approve the Removal Action Workplan to evaluate the public comments within 5 working days of the close of the public comment period.
(In Assembly Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials Committee)
SB 906 (Lee-D) Hazardous waste management plans
Requires the county hazardous waste management plan to include specified information regarding the demographics of the community within a 10-mile radius of each hazardous waste stream and facility, and the consideration of specified environmental equity goals. Requires the State Department of Toxic Substances Control to adopt regulations defining the goals of environmental equity in the siting of hazardous waste facilities to provide for the equitable distribution of hazardous waste facilities throughout the county, region, and state. Requires the county hazardous waste management plan to serve as the household hazardous waste element of the integrated waste management plan prepared pursuant to the California Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989.
(In Senate Environmental Quality Committee)
SB 913 (Calderon-D) Hazardous substances: site remediation
Authorizes the lead agency to determine all response action requirements for a hazardous substance release site. Requires a city or county to make a determination regarding the appropriate planned use of a site, upon the request of a lead agency. Requires the State Department of Toxic Substances Control to adopt a policy for enchanced public participation by January 1, 1999. Requires a remedial action plan to be prepared by the responsible party for each site, and allows a plan to utilize land use controls to limit or restrict land use.
(In Assembly Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials Committee)
SB 1034 (Maddy-R) Health facilities: trauma scene waste
Enacts the Trauma Scene Waste Management Act to regulate businesses that clean-up locations contaminated by blood or other specified bodily fluids. Requires these commercial concerns to register with the State Department of Health Services and regulates their waste management activities.
Chapter 732, Statutes of 1997
SB 1081 (Calderon-D) Hazardous materials: mediation-arbitration
Enacts a mechanism enabling a party responsible for toxic contamination at a site to commit to conduct the clean-up of a property in exchange for a relinquishment by the property owner of the right to litigate and obtain certain damages.
Chapter 873, Statutes of 1997
SB 1090 (Costa-D) Hazardous waste and substances: local fees and taxes
Eliminates certain fees paid by offsite hazardous waste disposal facilities. Provides that certain revenues from accounts receivable, if collected, be used to offset the cost of the bill.
(In Assembly Appropriations Committee)
SB 1135 (O'Connell-D) Hazardous waste treatment: biotechnology elementary neutral
Exempts the elementary neutralization of wastewater produced in biotechnology manufacturing and biotechnology research and development from regulation under tiered permitting and from the requirement to double contain piping systems and ancillary equipment.
Chapter 706, Statutes of 1997
AB 11* (Escutia-D) Water pollution
Seeks to tighten the laws for enforcement of water pollution violations by disallowing an affirmative defense in a criminal action for water pollution where (1) the violation was willful, or (2) where the defendant has, on 2 prior occasions within the past 5 years, been convicted of violating this section of the Fish and Game Code.
Chapter 766, Statutes of 1997
AB 182 (Battin-R) Hazardous materials: local agencies
Requires a city or county that will hold a public hearing to consider an ordinance relating to acutely hazardous materials to provide notice of the hearing to the Trade and Commerce Agency. Requires the agency to post the notice on the Internet.
(In Senate Environmental Quality Committee)
AB 256 (Cunneen-R) Hazardous waste code system
Requires the State Department of Toxic Substances Control to revise the current state hazardous waste code system so that it will be consistent with the federal waste code system adopted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Chapter 361, Statutes of 1997
AB 335 (Wayne-D) Hazardous waste and substances: administrative penalties
Authorizes the State Department of Toxic Substances Control to apply to the appropriate court for a judgment to collect an administrative penalty, if an administrative order or an administrative hearing decision has become final.
Provides that a certified copy of the final administrative order or decision is sufficient for the court clerk to enter judgment immediately. Provides that such a judgment can be enforced in the same manner as any other judgment in a civil action.
Chapter 363, Statutes of 1997
AB 361 (Cunneen-R) Hazardous materials: business plans
Exempts unstaffed remote facilities located in isolated, sparsely populated areas from business plan and inventory requirements of the emergency response planning law, if specified conditions are met.
Chapter 365, Statutes of 1997
AB 592 (Kuehl-D) Drinking water: oxygenates: MTBE
Requires the State Fire Marshal (SFM) to develop a data base of pipeline information that can be used for emergency response and program operation purposes. Requires the State Department of Health Services (DHS) and the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) to provide Geographical Information System-based information to the SFM for the purposes of determining the identity of each pipeline that transports petroleum product when that pipeline is located within 1,000 feet of a public water well.
Requires the SFM to adopt regulations for wellhead protection plans that provide guidelines to be used to protect public drinking water wells from contamination.
Authorizes the SWRCB to annually expend up to $5 million to pay a public drinking water agency for the cost of treatment of the water supply, or for the provision of alternative drinking water supplies, where a public water agency demonstrates that a water well has been contaminated by an oxygenate and that it is probable that the release occurred from an underground storage tank.
Requires the DHS to adopt a primary drinking water standard for methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) and, by July 1, 1998, to also adopt a secondary drinking water standard.
Requires the California Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act Scientific Advisory Panel to make a recommendation, by January, 1999, to the SWRCB on whether MTBE should be listed as a carcinogenic or reproductive toxin.
Chapter 814, Statutes of 1997
AB 681 (Machado-D) Environmental remediation: closure
Prohibits the issuance of a closure letter or a determination to require no further action by the state or local agency, with respect to a site where there has been a release of hazardous substances from underground storage tanks, without the prior notification of all current owners of fee title to the site. Requires the responsible parties to remove all or substantially all of the hazardous substances, unless the state or local agency makes certain findings.
(In Assembly Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials Committee)
AB 708 (Ackerman-R) Hazardous waste management: fees
Clarifies that waste generated by a voluntary, in addition to a required, clean-up of a hazardous substance released and disposed of at a hazardous waste disposal facility is subject to a state fee of $7.50 per ton, instead of higher fee rates.
Chapter 177, Statutes of 1997
AB 763 (Aroner-D) Hazardous materials: accidental releases
Requires owners or operators of facilities which handle substances regulated under the state and federal accidental chemical release prevention program to use structures, methods or equipment that will contain the escape of those substances from pressure relief valves whenever a local air district makes specified determinations.
Revises the definition of "school" to require that risk management plans give consideration to the proximity of any school which is used to educate more than 6 children in grades 1 through 12.
(In Assembly Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials Committee)
AB 770 (Margett-R) Surface impoundments: exemption
Allows a public utility that has obtained an exemption from the prohibition against operating a hazardous waste surface impoundment within 1/2 mile of a drinking water source to transfer the exemption to a subsequent owner, if certain conditions are met.
Chapter 330, Statutes of 1997
AB 834 (Bowen-D) Vehicles: leaking fluid inspection program
Requires the State Bureau of Automotive Repair to establish an advisory committee for the purpose of establishing a voluntary leaking automotive fluids inspection program for Los Angeles County.
(On Senate Inactive File)
AB 847 (Wayne-D) Discarded major appliances: hazardous waste
Sets procedures for managing hazardous wastes that are removed from discarded appliances, and clarifies certain terms in the Metallic Discards Law.
Chapter 884, Statutes of 1997
AB 851 (Wayne-D) Hazardous substance account
Extends the sunset date for the state Superfund program an additional 6 months, until January 1, 1999. Requires that funds in the Hazardous Substance Account be appropriated annually for repayment of toxic waste cleanup bonds, rather than being continuously appropriated. Provides that funds for emergency response activities be annually appropriated, rather than continually appropriated.
(On Senate Inactive File)
AB 871 (Wayne-D) Redevelopment: hazardous substances cleanup
Extends immunity from release liability to a redevelopment agency where the agency approves an owner-participation agreement requiring that action by the owner-participant. Adds to factors or determinations upon which a remedial action plan would be based in cases where a local agency adopts a resolution of intention to establish a community services district, the alternative of conditioning the financing of the activity upon the approval of the remedial action plan.
(In Assembly Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials Committee)
AB 882 (Wayne-D) Hazardous waste: definition
Provides that coolants, lubricants or cutting fluids are not discarded materials and, therefore, not hazardous wastes during the time they are used in manufacturing equipment and are being processed by some physical means in the same or in connected equipment.
Chapter 470, Statutes of 1997
AB 966 (Wayne-D) Hazardous waste manifest tracking system: feasibility study
Requires the State Department of Toxic Substances Control, by January 31, 1998, to conduct and issue a feasibility study related to the development and design of a new hazardous waste manifest tracking system. Requires the department, on or before June 1, 1998, to release a request for proposals for competitive bids to implement the findings of the feasibility study.
(In Senate Environmental Quality Committee)
AB 983 (Wayne-D) Hazardous materials: business concerns
Requires business concerns, rather than corporations, that use, generate, store, or conduct activities in this state related to hazardous materials to pay an annual charge based on the number of employees employed in the state during the previous calendar year.
(In Assembly Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials Committee)
AB 1089 (Miller-R) Hazardous waste: source reduction
Eliminates and revises some of the reporting requirements imposed on specified hazardous waste generators; and makes other clarifying changes to the Hazardous Waste Source Reduction and Management Review Act, including deleting the requirement that the State Department of Toxic Substances Control prepare a biennial report regarding implementation of the Act.
Chapter 520, Statutes of 1997
AB 1146 (Brewer-R) Hazardous substances: occupational safety & health violation
Repeals the requirement that a copy of a material safety data sheet be provided to the State Department of Industrial Relations. Authorizes the Division of Occupational Safety and Health to respond to a complaint of a nonserious violation by mailing a correction notice to the employer.
(In Assembly Labor and Employment Committee)
AB 1157 (Wayne-D) Hazardous waste: variance
Requires the State Department of Toxic Substances Control to publish a notice in the California Regulatory Notice Register 30 days before it issues an individual variance. Provides for certain exceptions.
Vetoed by the Governor
AB 1190 (Torlakson-D) Hazardous materials release
Specifies that the authority to investigate the root cause of an accidental materials release may be delegated to the local health officer or the local agency if certain conditions are met.
Vetoed by the Governor
AB 1195 (Torlakson-D) Hazardous substance: liability
Requires the agency with the lead role in the clean-up of a contaminated toxic waste site, when preliminarily allocating responsibility among the parties responsible for the contamination, to provide a statement of reasons for and an analysis of the agency's allocation.
(In Senate Judiciary Committee)
AB 1357 (Baldwin-R) Hazardous materials: unified program agencies
Provides for (1) the State Department of Toxic Substances Control to retain regulatory responsibility for transportable treatment units, and (2) certain hazardous waste generators and household hazardous waste collection facilities to submit required notifications to Certified Unified Program Agencies, rather than to the department.
Chapter 778, Statutes of 1997
AB 1491 (Cunneen-R) Hazardous substances: petroleum underground storage tanks
Prohibits, beginning January 1, 1999, the delivery of petroleum to tanks that do not meet "new tank" or upgrade standards. Establishes a method for enforcing the deadline.
