BILL NUMBER: AB 21 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 2, 2009
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 18, 2009
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY FEBRUARY 18, 2009
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Bonnie Lowenthal
DECEMBER 1, 2008
An act to add Section 14083 to the Food and Agricultural Code,
relating to pesticides.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 21, as amended, Bonnie Lowenthal. Pesticides: methyl bromide:
study and report.
Existing law requires the Director of Pesticide Regulation to
adopt regulations that govern the use of methyl bromide and
chloropicrin as field fumigants, and authorizes the director to
prescribe the time when, and the conditions under which, methyl
bromide and chloropicrin may be used in different areas of the state.
This bill would require the Department of Pesticide Regulation to
conduct a review of existing and emerging emission control
technologies available for reducing industrial methyl bromide
emissions and to prepare and submit to the Legislature a report
detailing available emission control devices or techniques for
reducing industrial methyl bromide emissions, including specified
information for each system in the study the
assessment undertaken pursuant to the 8th meeting of the
Conference of the Parties to the Vienna Convention for the Protection
of the Ozone Layer and the 20th meeting of the Parties to the
Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer by the
Technology and Economic Assessment Panel regarding methyl bromide,
and comment on the findings of the panel .
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(a) The economic benefits of ports to state, national, and global
economies are as follows:
(1) About 13.3 million Americans were employed in jobs created by
commercial port activities in 2007, and average wages for these jobs
were forty-nine thousand dollars ($49,000) a year, twelve thousand
dollars ($12,000) more than the average United States wage.
(2) Exporter/importer businesses and support industries that rely
on seaports contributed $3.15 trillion to the United States economy
in 2007 and paid nearly $212.5 billion in taxes that same year.
(3) Seaport activities in 2007 accounted for $31.21 billion in
federal, state, and local tax revenues.
(4) Customs revenue through seaports was $23.2 billion in 2007.
(5) Deep-draft ports, which accommodate oceangoing vessels,
account for 99 percent of United States overseas trade by weight and
64 percent by value, international trade represents 29.7 percent of
the United States Gross Domestic Product, and the United States is
the largest trading nation in the world, accounting for 19 percent of
world goods trade.
(b) (1) Trade activity through California's seaports is crucial to
the overall health of the state's economy.
(2) California's ports handle one-fifth of all United States
international trade, and Los Angeles and Long Beach rank first and
second in dollar value of goods processed.
(c) There are cases in which meeting the requirements of our
trading partners requires the use of methyl bromide in cleaning or
fumigating the containers used for shipments at the ports.
(d) Methyl bromide is an odorless and colorless gas that has been
used as a soil fumigant and structural fumigant and to control pests
across a wide range of agricultural sectors. Methyl bromide depletes
the stratospheric ozone layer and has been largely phased out with
some exceptions for critical use where no substitute is available and
for quarantine and preshipment fumigation functions.
(e) Because methyl bromide poses a threat to humans, animals, and
the environment, it is in the interest of the state that its use be
conducted under careful and appropriate regulation.
(f) Workers who perform necessary fumigation with methyl bromide
are engaged in a dangerous activity and would benefit from the most
stringent health safeguards possible.
(g) The report of the eighth meeting of the Conference of the
Parties to the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone
Layer and the twentieth meeting of the Parties to the Montreal
Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer called for the
Technology and Economic Assessment Panel referred to in that report
to review all relevant, currently available information on the use of
methyl bromide for specified applications and related emissions, to
assess trends in the major uses, available alternatives, and other
mitigation options and barriers to the adoption of alternatives, or
determine what additional information or action may be required to
meet those objectives. This assessment is required to contain, among
other things, both of the following:
(1) The technological and economic availability of alternative
substances and technologies for methyl bromide uses by volume and of
technologies for methyl bromide technologies for methyl bromide
recovery, containment, and recycling.
(2) Projects demonstrating technical and economic feasible
alternatives, including technologies for recapture and destruction of
methyl bromide for quarantine and pre-shipment applications.
SEC. 2. Section 14083 is added to the Food and Agricultural Code,
to read:
14083. The department shall conduct a review of existing
and emerging emission control technologies available for reducing
industrial methyl bromide emissions. The department, by July 1, 2011,
shall prepare and submit to the Legislature a report detailing
available emission control devices or techniques for reducing
industrial methyl bromide emissions, including, but not limited to,
for each system in the study all of the following:
(a) Process of operation, including installation, operation,
scientific process, and waste disposal.
(b) Locations where the system is in use in California, including
the length of time in use.
(c) Theoretical emission reduction or emission reduction achieved
in practice, if applicable.
(d) Type, quantity, and toxicity of waste produced.
(e) Manufacturer of system.
(f) Cost of system.
the assessment undertaken pursuant to the eighth
meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Vienna Convention for
the Protection of the Ozone Layer and the twentieth
meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that
Deplete the Ozone Layer by the Technology and Economic Assessment
Panel regarding methyl bromide, and comment on the findings of the
panel, focusing on those issues that are relevant to California,
including, but not limited to, alternatives to methyl bromide, the
options or possibilities for recapture, containment, and recycling of
methyl bromide, and technologies that could reduce or prevent
emissions. The department shall submit the review and comments to the
Legislature in a timely manner after the publishing of the
assessment by the Technology and Economic Assessment Panel.