BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                  AB 738
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   May 20, 2009

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                Kevin De Leon, Chair

           AB 738 (Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials) - As  
          Introduced:  February 26, 2009 

          Policy Committee:                              ES&TMVote:7-0

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program:  
          No     Reimbursable:              No

           SUMMARY  

          This bill allows the Department of Toxic Substances Control  
          (DTSC) to administer a loan and grant program initially funded  
          by federal funds received under the Small Business Liability  
          Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act of 2001, should DTSC  
          receive such funds.

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          1)Minor costs, less than $150,000 annually starting in 20010-10,  
            to DTSC to administer the loan and/or grant program for small  
            business brownfields projects.  (Federal Funds.)

          2)Moderate costs, in the range of $1 million annually for three  
            years starting in 2010-11, to provide loans and/or grants to  
            eligible small businesses.  The program would initially be  
            funded from federal grants received under the federal act.

           COMMENTS  

           1)Rationale  .  This bill authorizes DTSC to administer a program  
            of loans and grants funded from federal money provided under  
            the 2001 federal act.  The program can be implemented only  
            upon receipt of a federal grant authorizing DTSC to administer  
            the program.  In 2006, DTSC obtained $3 million from the U.S.  
            EPA to fund a revolving loan program for brownfield sites.

           2)Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization  
            Act  .  The President signed H.R. 2869 (Gillmor) into law on  
            January 11, 2002.  The federal act provides both liability  
            relief and grants to small businesses for brownfields  








                                                                  AB 738
                                                                  Page  2

            (underutilized properties resulting from contamination)  
            cleanup and reuse.  Grants are provided to states with  
            Brownfields programs to implement response actions for  
            hazardous waste releases. 

           3)Legislative History  .  

              a)   AB 3077 (ES&TM Committee, 2008)  was identical to this  
               bill. AB 3077 won passage in the Assembly 78-0 but was not  
               heard in the Senate

              b)   SB 667 (Sher)  - Chapter 912, Statutes of 2000  
               established a loan/grant program, the Cleanup Loans and  
               Environmental Assistance to Neighborhoods (CLEAN) Program,  
               at DTSC to finance actions at brownfield sites, modified  
               the hazardous waste site listing process, allocated the  
               $500,000 of General Fund money that was appropriated in the  
               2000 Budget Act to initiate the loan program, and increased  
               the overall GF appropriation to $2 million.  Subsequent  
               actions reverted virtually all these funds back to the  
               General Fund for budget balancing purposes.
           
          Analysis Prepared by  :    Jay Dickenson / APPR. / (916) 319-2081