Toxics and Hazardous Waste Issues


MTBE
Other Toxics Legislation



Index MTBE

SB 201* (Mountjoy-R) Gasoline: MTBE

Provides that if a company produces methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE)-free gasoline on or before October 31, 2000, and makes that gasoline available to an entire city, county, or region, the State Department of Health Services shall provide public service announcements regarding the availability of MTBE-free gasoline in that area.

Also appropriates an unspecified amount from the Unallocated Account in the Cigarette and Tobacco Products Surtax Fund to the department for purposes of the bill.

(In Senate Environmental Quality Committee)

SB 272* (Leslie-R) Pollution: Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether (MTBE)

Makes it a misdemeanor for any person to sell gasoline containing methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE).

(In Senate Environmental Quality Committee)

SB 989 (Sher-D) Pollution: groundwater: MTBE

Requires development of a timetable for eliminating the use of methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) in motor vehicle fuel at the earliest possible date, and seeks to protect groundwater supplies by specifying increased monitoring and containment requirements for certain tanks. Also boosts financial assistance for upgrading underground tanks, and requires multimedia evaluation of new specifications for motor vehicle fuel.

Chapter 812, Statutes of 1999

SB 1001 (Burton-D) Motor vehicle fuel: MTBE

Requires the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission, beginning April 1, 2000, to submit quarterly reports to the Legislature summarizing the amount of methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) used in gasoline in this State by each refinery during the preceding quarter and comparing that amount to the amount of MTBE used in gasoline by each refinery during the previous quarter.

Chapter 814, Statutes of 1999

Similar legislation is SB 192 (Perata-D) which was refused passage on the Assembly Floor; and AB 1496 (Granlund-R) which is at the Senate Desk.

SR 20 (Mountjoy-R) MTBE

Urges the California Attorney General to seek revenue sufficient to remediate methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) contamination caused by continued use of MTBE, if the complaint filed by Methanex under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) causes MTBE to remain in use in California beyond December 31, 2002. And, urges Congress to take appropriate action to protect California's natural resources by prohibiting foreign intervention in domestic environmental decisions under NAFTA or under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.

Adopted by the Senate

AB 129* (Oller-R) Gasoline: MTBE

Makes it a misdemeanor to add methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) to gasoline during the manufacturing or refining process or to sell or offer for sale gasoline that contains MTBE.

(In Assembly Transportation Committee)

HR 8 (Robert Pacheco-R) International trade agreements

Advocates the federal defense of California's decision to phase-out the use of methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) in a claim brought against the United States under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) by a Canadian producer of MTBE. Also calls for state monitoring of NAFTA and World Trade Organization issues of interest to California.

Adopted by the Assembly

TopIndex Other Toxics Legislation

SB 25 (Escutia-D) Environmental health protection: children

Requires the State Air Resources Board to carry out an ongoing review of ambient air quality and toxic air contaminants.

Also creates a Children's Environmental Health Center within the California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA) to, among other things, serve as the chief advisor to the Secretary of CalEPA on matters within the agency relating to environmental health and environmental protection as it relates to children.

Chapter 731, Statutes of 1999

SB 47* (Sher-D) Hazardous substance account: extension

Repeals the residual portions of the state Superfund law that were not sunsetted on January 1, 1999 and reenacts the law as it existed prior to that date. Proposes other fiscal and policy changes to the law.

Chapter 23, Statutes of 1999

SB 120 (Ortiz-D) Hazardous substances

Prohibits the State Department of Toxic Substances Control from making any determination that a response action at the Union Pacific Railroad yard site in Sacramento is complete, until after the City of Sacramento has completed its land use planning process and all response actions necessary to conform to the approved land use plan are complete.

Chapter 395, Statutes of 1999

SB 162 (Escutia-D) School facilities: contamination

Prohibits the governing board of a school district from approving the acquisition or construction of school sites unless specified environmental assessments are conducted.

Chapter 1002, Statutes of 1999

SB 221* (Alpert-D) Oil spill prevention

Authorizes the administrator for oil spill response to establish a lower standard of financial responsibility for nontank barges, as defined in the bill, that is not less than the expected costs from a reasonable worst-case oil spill into marine waters.

(At Assembly Desk)

SB 274* (Johannessen-R) Hazardous materials

Appropriates $140,000 from the Toxic Substances Control Account to the State Department of Toxic Substances Control for allocation to Shasta County for the purchase of emergency response equipment for the Shasta Cascade Hazardous Materials Response Team. Prohibits the County of Shasta from expending more than 1% of the appropriation for administrative expenses.

Chapter 601, Statutes of 1999

SB 324 (Escutia-D) Contaminated property: restoration

Requires the State Department of Toxic Substances Control to report to the Legislature, by January 1, 2001, identifying financial barriers to the restoration and reuse of contaminated property.

(In Assembly Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials Committee)

SB 407 (Alpert-D) Medical waste: disposal

Authorizes chemical disinfection as a treatment method for liquid and semi-liquid medical wastes generated by laboratories, if certain requirements are met.

Chapter 139, Statutes of 1999

SB 482 (Baca-D) Petroleum underground storage tanks: loans

Extends the sunset date for the underground storage tank loan program by two years, from December 22, 1999, to January 1, 2002.

Chapter 516, Statutes of 1999

SB 529 (Bowen-D) Motor vehicle fuel

Requires the California Air Resources Board to subject any proposed regulation for motor vehicle fuel to a multimedia evaluation conducted by the California Environmental Policy Council.

Chapter 813, Statutes of 1999

SB 606 (O'Connell-D) Hazardous waste: transportation: recycling

Amends hazardous waste recycling laws to: Encourage recycling of more types of hazardous waste; require greater justification for not recycling listed substances, streamline "milkrun" manifests; and, add certain legal recourse for recipients of PCB contaminated oil.

Chapter 745, Statutes of 1999

SB 636 (Sher-D) Hazardous waste: management: incineration

Repeals an obsolete authorization to operate a state-run hazardous waste incinerator. Also requires that public notice be given when the State Department of Toxic Substances Control "reclassifies" a hazardous waste and shifts the regulation of the waste to the solid waste and water quality regulatory systems.

Chapter 420, Statutes of 1999

SB 665 (Sher-D) Underground storage tanks

Makes various changes to the Underground Storage Cleanup Trust Fund Act of 1989, including provisions regarding litigation aimed at the Underground Storage Cleanup Trust Fund and prohibitions regarding reimbursement of specified costs.

Chapter 328, Statutes of 1999

SB 667 (Sher-D) Hazardous substances: response actions: orphan sites

  1. Establishes the office of administrator of the Orphan Share Reimbursement Trust Fund.
  2. Repeals the provisions that make the creation of the administrator, appointed by the Governor, of the Orphan Share Reimbursement Trust Fund as contingent on either the appropriation of funds or the establishment of a revenue source.
  3. Suspends the administrator for any year in which the funding requirements are not met.
(In Assembly Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials Committee)

SB 806 (Monteith-R) Diesel fuel: warning

Exempts, from the warning requirements of the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986, an exposure for which a federal law preempts the state's authority to require a warning in the manner otherwise required by the act. Makes a legislative finding and declaration that the bill would further the purposes of the act.

(In Senate Environmental Quality Committee)

SB 957 (McPherson-R) Toxic chemical exposure: warning

Allows a warning required under the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act 1985 to be provided by an oral presentation, before exposure to the individual of a chemical known to cause cancer or reproductive toxicity if the presentation of the warning is memorialized, in writing, within a reasonable period of time after the exposure. Makes a legislative finding and declaration that the bill would further the purposes of the act.

(In Senate Environmental Quality Committee)

SB 993 (Hayden-D) Education: school facilities: contamination

  1. Requires development of standards for the assessment and mitigation of schoolsites with toxic exposure and requires the State Department of Education to incorporate the standards into a schoolsite selection process.
  2. Requires school districts to follow certain requirements as a condition of receiving state facilities funds.
  3. Requires the State Department of Toxic Substance Control to prescribe remedial action and be monitored by an advisory committee, to the extent the community wishes to form one.
  4. Requires the State Architect to revise current standards for the design of school buildings to best protect children.
Vetoed by the Governor

SB 1020 (Figueroa-D) Toxic air contaminants: identification

Specifies that the demographic data that is required to be considered by the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment and the State Air Resources Board when evaluating the health effects and preparing recommendations regarding substances that may be or are emitted into the ambient air and that may be determined to be toxic air contaminants include the threat of exposure to persons in schools, licensed day care facilities, and residential housing facilities.

(In Senate Environmental Quality Committee)

SB 1119* (Alarcon-D) Pollution control: financing

Authorizes California Pollution Control Financing Authority (CPCFA) to issue revenue bonds to assist responsible parties in paying their liability toward the clean-up of federal Superfund sites. Also makes other changes to improve small businesses' access to capital under CPCFA's program.

Chapter 756, Statutes of 1999

SB 1269 (Alpert-D) Toxic chemicals: private enforcement actions

Requires the Attorney General to collect, maintain and make accessible information concerning specific legal action resulting from the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act.

Chapter 599, Statutes of 1999

SB 1300 (Sher-D) Air Toxics

Revises certain requirements of the Air Toxics "Hot Spots" Information and Assessment Act of 1987 and eliminates state fees for implementation of the act.

(In Assembly Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials Committee)

SJR 20 (Alarcon-D) Atlas mill radioactive tailings site

Urges the President and Congress to take the necessary action to remove the radioactive mill tailings from the Atlas mill tailings site to an environmentally preferred location and to transfer jurisdiction of the site to the State Department of Energy.

Resolution Chapter 145, Statutes of 1999

AB 137 (Firebaugh-D) Schoolsites: hazardous materials

Requires the California Research Bureau in the office of the State Librarian to research and tabulate a census of schoolsites and to submit a report on its findings to the Legislature by June 30, 2000. Also requires the State Allocation Board, by January 1, 2001, to adopt regulations to implement a pilot program to evaluate whether schoolsites are clean and free of all hazardous material, as defined.

Requires the board, by March 1, 2002, to submit to the Legislature a final report on the pilot project, including recommendations for criteria for determining which additional schoolsites, if any, should be subject to an environmental assessment.

Vetoed by the Governor

AB 184 (Davis-D) Employment: hazardous materials safety data filing

Requires the State Department of Industrial Relations to implement by January 1, 2002 a system enabling electronic Material Safety Data Sheet filings through January 1, 2003.

Chapter 366, Statutes of 1999

AB 241 (Cunneen-R) Hazardous waste codes

Establishes a revised time frame for revising the current hazardous waste identification code system and, once a new system has been developed, a time frame for implementing it.

Chapter 401, Statutes of 1999

AB 387 (Wildman-D) School facilities: site contamination

Provides funding as specified for the cost of the evaluation of hazardous materials at a site to be acquired by a school district as well as the response cost of removal of hazardous waste or other remedial action.

Chapter 992, Statutes of 1999

AB 450 (Ashburn-R) Hazardous materials: commitment statement

Declares that nothing in a commitment statement is binding upon any third party, including owner's successors or assigns and their lenders, who acquired their interest in the property in good faith and without actual knowledge of the commitment statement.

(In Assembly Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials Committee)

AB 680 (Lempert-D) Oil spill prevention: nonmarine waters

Provides that the fines and penalties provisions of the Lempert-Keene-Seastrand Oil Spill Prevention and Response Act be extended, in modified form, to cover all "waters of the state", instead of just "marine waters".

(On Senate Inactive File)

AB 970 (Ducheny-D) Hazardous waste treatment

Provides that elementary neutralization now regulated by the conditionally authorized tier will instead be regulated by the lower, conditionally exempt tier if certain conditions are met. Also exempts elementary neutralization of hazardous waste produced by a "process upset or other abnormal conditions" from regulation by the hazardous waste program if certain conditions are met.

(In Senate Environmental Quality Committee)

AB 982 (Ducheny-D) Water quality: total maximum daily loads

Provides a framework for the implementation of the state's impaired water bodies program required pursuant to the federal Clean Water Act.

Chapter 495, Statutes of 1999

AB 998 (Wayne-D) Used oil: fee: exemption

Provides the California Integrated Waste Management Board with the authority to maintain a fee exemption currently granted to oil manufacturers handling less than 500 gallons of lubricating oil per quarter. Under existing law, these manufacturers are exempt from paying quarterly fees to the board, but this exemption will expire on January 1, 2000, to be replaced by an exemption for manufacturers handling five gallons of lubricating oil or less.

(On Senate Inactive File)

AB 1103* (Lempert-D) Government

The Budget trailer bill to implement Budget Act 1999 provisions relating to resources and environmental protection. Among others, creates a separate account in the State Treasury to account for funds received and disbursed in relation to the Stringfellow Superfund Site in Riverside County.

Chapter 66, Statutes of 1999

AB 1332 (Lowenthal-D) Hazardous waste: determination

Requires the State Department of Toxic Substances Control to develop and implement a comprehensive training, education and enforcement program to increase awareness of the requirements governing the determination on whether a waste is hazardous and to enforce those requirements.

Chapter 629, Statutes of 1999

AB 1620 (Torlakson-D) Hazardous materials release: subpoena

Allows the authority to investigate the cause of an accidental hazardous materials release to be delegated to the local health officer or the local agency lender under specified conditions.

Chapter 925, Statutes of 1999

AB 1680 (Assembly Environmental Safety And Toxic Materials Committee) Environmental Health Policy Institute

Establishes the Environmental Health Policy Institute, under the Division of Environmental Health and Occupational Disease Control in the State Department of Health Services. Requires the director of the department to appoint a director of the institute and requires the institute to carry out various duties relating to environmental health.

(In Senate Appropriations Committee)

AB 1681 (Bock-G) Medical waste incineration

Requires owners and operators of medical waste incinerators to handle bottom ash, fly ash, and scrubber residuals in a manner that prevents their release to air, soil or water proximate to the facility. Requires any violation or malfunction by an incinerator to be reported to the district air pollution control officer, the county health officer or the local district attorney.

(On Assembly Inactive File)

AB 1685 (Assembly Information Technology Committee) Local hazardous materials ordinances

Establishes a process for placing proposed changes to local regulated substance notices on the Internet.

Chapter 1014, Statutes of 1999

ACR 48 (Battin-R) Reformulated gasoline prices

Urges the State Air Resources Board, in conjunction with the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission, to report to the Legislature, by January 1, 2000, the costs and benefits of continuing to require Californians to use California-only fuel. Also requests the report to include the consequences of that policy for long-term supply, price and air quality, and the effect of allowing the use of non-California reformulated gasoline for various periods and in specified percentages, and the effects when other types of reformulated gasoline are used. Asks the University of California to report to the Legislature, by January 1, 2000, the economic impact on gasoline prices resulting from the required use of California-only reformulated fuel.

(In Senate Rules Committee)

 


 

Top Index (in Bill Order)

BillAuthor and Bill TitleReference Links

SB 25

Escutia-D
Environmental health protection: children


SB 47*

Sher-D
Hazardous substance account: extension


SB 120

Ortiz-D
Hazardous substances


SB 162

Escutia-D
School facilities: contamination


SB 201*

Mountjoy-R
Gasoline: MTBE


SB 221*

Alpert-D
Oil spill prevention


SB 272*

Leslie-R
Pollution: Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether (MTBE)


SB 274*

Johannessen-R
Hazardous materials


SB 324

Escutia-D
Contaminated property: restoration


SB 407

Alpert-D
Medical waste: disposal


SB 482

Baca-D
Petroleum underground storage tanks: loans


SB 529

Bowen-D
Motor vehicle fuel


SB 606

O'Connell-D
Hazardous waste: transportation: recycling


SB 636

Sher-D
Hazardous waste: management: incineration


SB 665

Sher-D
Underground storage tanks


SB 667

Sher-D
Hazardous substances: response actions: orphan sites


SB 806

Monteith-R
Diesel fuel: warning


SB 957

McPherson-R
Toxic chemical exposure: warning


SB 989

Sher-D
Pollution: groundwater: MTBE


SB 993

Hayden-D
Education: school facilities: contamination


SB 1001

Burton-D
Motor vehicle fuel: MTBE


SB 1020

Figueroa-D
Toxic air contaminants: identification


SB 1119*

Alarcon-D
Pollution control: financing


SB 1269

Alpert-D
Toxic chemicals: private enforcement actions


SB 1300

Sher-D
Air Toxics


SJR 20

Alarcon-D
Atlas mill radioactive tailings site


SR 20

Mountjoy-R
MTBE


AB 129*

Oller-R
Gasoline: MTBE


AB 137

Firebaugh-D
Schoolsites: hazardous materials


AB 184

Davis-D
Employment: hazardous materials safety data filing


AB 241

Cunneen-R
Hazardous waste codes


AB 387

Wildman-D
School facilities: site contamination


AB 450

Ashburn-R
Hazardous materials: commitment statement


AB 680

Lempert-D
Oil spill prevention: nonmarine waters


AB 970

Ducheny-D
Hazardous waste treatment


AB 982

Ducheny-D
Water quality: total maximum daily loads


AB 998

Wayne-D
Used oil: fee: exemption


AB 1103*

Lempert-D
Government


AB 1332

Lowenthal-D
Hazardous waste: determination


AB 1620

Torlakson-D
Hazardous materials release: subpoena


AB 1680

Assembly Environmental Safety And Toxic Materials Committee
Environmental Health Policy Institute


AB 1681

Bock-G
Medical waste incineration


AB 1685

Assembly Information Technology Committee
Local hazardous materials ordinances


ACR 48

Battin-R
Reformulated gasoline prices


HR 8

Robert Pacheco-R
International trade agreements