BILL NUMBER: AB 2312 CHAPTERED
BILL TEXT
CHAPTER 994
FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE SEPTEMBER 27, 2002
APPROVED BY GOVERNOR SEPTEMBER 27, 2002
PASSED THE ASSEMBLY AUGUST 29, 2002
PASSED THE SENATE AUGUST 27, 2002
AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 22, 2002
AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 7, 2002
AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 5, 2002
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 13, 2002
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 25, 2002
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Chu
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Cedillo, Firebaugh, Lowenthal,
Pavley, Vargas, and Wayne)
(Coauthor: Senator Alarcon)
FEBRUARY 21, 2002
An act to add Section 71116 to the Public Resources Code, relating
to environmental justice.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2312, Chu. Environmental justice: grant program.
Existing law requires the California Environmental Protection
Agency to develop policies, and implement and coordinate various
activities for boards, departments, and offices within the agency
relating to environmental justice.
This bill would establish the Environmental Justice Small Grant
Program under the jurisdiction of the agency. The bill would require
the agency to award grants on a competitive basis to nonprofit
entities, as defined, and federally recognized tribal governments,
for certain, listed purposes. The bill would require the agency to
adopt regulations to implement the grant program. The bill would
require the agency to review, evaluate, and select grant recipients,
and screen grant applications to ensure that they meet the
requirements of the bill. The bill would limit the maximum amount of
a grant to $20,000, and would prohibit an individual from receiving
a grant. These provisions would be implemented only during fiscal
years for which an appropriation is provided for these purposes in
the annual Budget Act or in another statute.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 71116 is added to the Public Resources Code, to
read:
71116. (a) The Environmental Justice Small Grant Program is
hereby established under the jurisdiction of the California
Environmental Protection Agency. The California Environmental
Protection Agency shall adopt regulations for the implementation of
this section. These regulations shall include, but need not be
limited to, all of the following:
(1) Specific criteria and procedures for the implementation of the
program.
(2) A requirement that each grant recipient submit a written
report to the agency documenting its expenditures of the grant funds
and the results of the funded project.
(3) Provisions promoting the equitable distribution of grant funds
in a variety of areas throughout the state, with the goal of making
grants available to organizations that will attempt to address
environmental justice issues.
(b) The purpose of the program is to provide grants to eligible
community groups, including, but not limited to, community-based,
grassroots nonprofit organizations that are located in areas
adversely affected by environmental pollution and hazards and that
are involved in work to address environmental justice issues.
(c) (1) Both of the following are eligible to receive moneys from
the fund.
(A) A nonprofit entity.
(B) A federally recognized tribal government.
(2) For the purposes of this section, "nonprofit entity" means any
corporation, trust, association, cooperative, or other organization
that meets all of the following criteria:
(A) Is operated primarily for scientific, educational, service,
charitable, or other similar purposes in the public interest.
(B) Is not organized primarily for profit.
(C) Uses its net proceeds to maintain, improve, or expand, or any
combination thereof, its operations.
(D) Is a tax-exempt organization under Section 501 (c)(3) of the
federal Internal Revenue Code, or is able to provide evidence to the
agency that the state recognizes the organization as a nonprofit
entity.
(3) For the purposes of this section, "nonprofit entity"
specifically excludes an organization that is a tax-exempt
organization under Section 501 (c)(4) of the federal Internal Revenue
Code.
(d) Individuals may not receive grant moneys from the fund.
(e) Grant recipients shall use the grant award to fund only the
project described in the recipient's application. Recipients shall
not use the grant funding to shift moneys from existing or proposed
projects to activities for which grant funding is prohibited under
subdivision (g).
(f) Grants shall be awarded on a competitive basis for projects
that are based in communities with the most significant exposure to
pollution. Grants shall be limited to any of the following purposes
and no other:
(1) Resolve environmental problems through distribution of
information.
(2) Identify improvements in communication and coordination among
agencies and stakeholders in order to address the most significant
exposure to pollution.
(3) Expand the understanding of a community about the
environmental issues that affect their community.
(4) Develop guidance on the relative significance of various
environmental risks.
(5) Promote community involvement in the decisionmaking process
that affects the environment of the community.
(6) Present environmental data for the purposes of enhancing
community understanding of environmental information systems and
environmental information.
(g) (1) The agency shall not award grants for, and grant funding
shall not be used for, any of the following:
(A) Other state grant programs.
(B) Lobbying or advocacy activities relating to any federal,
state, regional, or local legislative, quasi-legislative,
adjudicatory, or quasi-judicial proceeding involving development or
adoption of statutes, guidelines, rules, regulations, plans or any
other governmental proposal, or involving decisions concerning
siting, permitting, licensing, or any other governmental action.
(C) Litigation, administrative challenges, enforcement action, or
any type of adjudicatory proceeding.
(D) Funding of a lawsuit against any governmental entity.
(E) Funding of a lawsuit against a business or a project owned by
a business.
(F) Matching state or federal funding.
(G) Performance of any technical assessment for purposes of
opposing or contradicting a technical assessment prepared by a public
agency.
(2) An organization's use of funds from a grant awarded under this
section to educate a community regarding an environmental justice
issue or a governmental process does not preclude that organization
from subsequent lobbying or advocacy concerning that same issue or
governmental process, as long as the lobbying or advocacy is not
funded by a grant awarded under this section.
(h) The agency shall review, evaluate, and select grant
recipients, and screen grant applications to ensure that they meet
the requirements of this section.
(i) The maximum amount of a grant provided pursuant to this
section may not exceed twenty thousand dollars ($20,000).
(j) For the purposes of this section, "environmental justice" has
the same meaning as defined in Section 65040.12 of the Government
Code.
(k) This section shall be implemented only during fiscal years for
which an appropriation is provided for the purposes of this section
in the annual Budget Act or in another statute.