BILL NUMBER: AB 935 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 13, 2009
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Members Feuer and Ruskin
FEBRUARY 26, 2009
An act relating to nanomaterials to amend
Section 25503.5 of the Health and Safety Code, relating to hazardous
materials .
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 935, as amended, Feuer. Nanomaterials.
Hazardous materials: business plans and inventories: nanomaterials.
(1) Existing law generally requires a business that handles a
hazardous material to establish and implement a business plan for
emergency response to a release or threatened release of a hazardous
material, with specified exceptions. Existing law specifies the
contents of the business plan, including an inventory, and requires
it to be submitted to the administering agency, as defined. A knowing
violation of those requirements, upon reasonable notice of the
violation, is a crime.
This bill would add to those businesses that are required to
establish and implement a business plan for emergency response to a
release or threatened release of a hazardous material a business that
handles a hazardous material or a mixture containing a hazardous
material that has any quantity of a substance that is a manufactured
nanomaterial, as defined. By adding to the businesses subject to the
business plan requirements, the bill would create a new crime,
thereby imposing a state-mandated local program.
(2) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse
local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this
act for a specified reason.
Existing law regulates the generation, use, and disposal of
certain hazardous materials.
This bill would state the Legislature's intent to enact
legislation to address emerging toxicity issues surrounding the
increasingly widespread utilization of engineered nanomaterials.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no
yes . State-mandated local program: no
yes .
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 25503.5 of the
Health and Safety Code is amended to read:
25503.5. (a) (1) A business, except as provided in subdivisions
(b), (c), and (d), shall establish and implement a business plan for
emergency response to a release or threatened release of a hazardous
material in accordance with the standards prescribed in the
regulations adopted pursuant to Section 25503, if the business
handles a hazardous material or a mixture containing a hazardous
material that has a quantity at any one time during the reporting
year that is any of the following:
(A) Equal to, or greater than, a total weight of 500 pounds or a
total volume of 55 gallons.
(B) Equal to, or greater than, 200 cubic feet at standard
temperature and pressure, if the substance is compressed gas.
(C) If the substance is a radioactive material, it is handled in
quantities for which an emergency plan is required to be adopted
pursuant to Part 30 (commencing with Section 30.1), Part 40
(commencing with Section 40.1), or Part 70 (commencing with Section
70.1), of Chapter 1 of Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations,
or pursuant to any regulations adopted by the state in accordance
with those regulations.
(D) (i) Any quantity of a substance that is a manufactured
nanomaterial.
(ii) For purposes of this subparagraph, the following definitions
apply:
(I) "Manufactured nanomaterial" means a nanomaterial that is
intentionally produced by a manufacturing process.
(II) "Nanomaterial" means a material that is either a nano-object
or is an aggregation or agglomeration of nano-objects.
(III) "Nano-object" means a material confined in one, two, or
three dimensions at the nanoscale.
(IV) "Nanoscale" means a size range between 1 nanometer and 300
nanometers.
(2) In meeting the requirements of this subdivision, a business
may, if it elects to do so, use the format adopted pursuant to
Section 25503.4.
(b) (1) Oxygen, nitrogen, and nitrous oxide, ordinarily maintained
by a physician, dentist, podiatrist, veterinarian, or pharmacist, at
his or her office or place of business, stored at each office or
place of business in quantities of not more than 1,000 cubic feet of
each material at any one time, are exempt from this section and from
Section 25505. The administering agency may require a one-time
inventory of these materials for a fee not to exceed fifty dollars
($50) to pay for the costs incurred by the agency in processing the
inventory forms.
(2) (A) Lubricating oil is exempt from this section and Sections
25505 and 25509, for a single business facility, if the total volume
of each type of lubricating oil handled at that facility does not
exceed 55 gallons and the total volume of all types of lubricating
oil handled at that facility does not exceed 275 gallons, at any one
time.
(B) For purposes of this paragraph, "lubricating oil" means any
oil intended for use in an internal combustion crankcase, or the
transmission, gearbox, differential, or hydraulic system of an
automobile, bus, truck, vessel, plane, heavy equipment, or other
machinery powered by an internal combustion or electric powered
engine. "Lubricating oil" does not include used oil, as defined in
subdivision (a) of Section 25250.1.
(c) (1) Hazardous material contained solely in a consumer product
for direct distribution to, and use by, the general public is exempt
from the business plan requirements of this chapter unless the
administering agency has found, and has provided notice to the
business handling the product, that the handling of certain
quantities of the product requires the submission of a business plan,
or any portion thereof, in response to public health, safety, or
environmental concerns.
(2) In addition to the authority specified in paragraph (4), the
administering agency may, in exceptional circumstances, following
notice and public hearing, exempt from the inventory provisions of
this chapter any a hazardous substance
specified in subdivision (p) of Section 25501 if the administering
agency finds that the hazardous substance would not pose a present or
potential danger to the environment or to human health and safety if
the hazardous substance was released into the environment. The
administering agency shall specify in writing the basis for granting
any an exemption under this paragraph.
The administering agency shall send a notice to the office within
five days from the effective date of any an
exemption granted pursuant to this paragraph.
(3) The administering agency, upon application by a handler, may
exempt the handler, under conditions that the administering agency
determines to be proper, from any a
portion of the business plan, upon a written finding that the
exemption would not pose a significant present or potential hazard to
human health or safety or to the environment or affect the ability
of the administering agency and emergency rescue personnel to
effectively respond to the release of a hazardous material, and that
there are unusual circumstances justifying the exemption. The
administering agency shall specify in writing the basis for
any an exemption under this paragraph.
(4) The administering agency, upon application by a handler, may
exempt a hazardous material from the inventory provisions of this
chapter upon proof that the material does not pose a significant
present or potential hazard to human health and safety or to the
environment if released into the workplace or environment. The
administering agency shall specify in writing the basis for
any an exemption under this paragraph.
(5) An administering agency shall exempt a business operating a
farm for purposes of cultivating the soil or raising or harvesting
any an agricultural or horticultural
commodity from filing the information in the business plan required
by subdivisions (b) and (c) of Section 25504 if all of the following
requirements are met:
(A) The handler annually provides the inventory of information
required by Section 25509 to the county agricultural commissioner
before January 1 of each year.
(B) Each building in which hazardous materials subject to this
chapter are stored is posted with signs, in accordance with
regulations that the office shall adopt, that provide notice of the
storage of any of the following:
(i) Pesticides.
(ii) Petroleum fuels and oil.
(iii) Types of fertilizers.
(C) Each county agricultural commissioner forwards the inventory
to the administering agency within 30 days from the date of receipt
of the inventory.
(6) The administering agency shall exempt a business operating an
unstaffed remote facility located in an isolated sparsely populated
area from the hazardous materials business plan and inventory
requirements of this article if the facility is not otherwise subject
to the requirements of applicable federal law, and all of the
following requirements are met:
(A) The types and quantities of materials onsite are limited to
one or more of the following:
(i) Five hundred standard cubic feet of compressed inert gases
(asphyxiation and pressure hazards only).
(ii) Five hundred gallons of combustible liquid used as a fuel
source.
(iii) Two hundred gallons of corrosive liquids used as
electrolytes in closed containers.
(iv) Five hundred gallons of lubricating and hydraulic fluids.
(v) Twelve hundred gallons of flammable gas used as a fuel source.
(B) The facility is secured and not accessible to the public.
(C) Warning signs are posted and maintained for hazardous
materials pursuant to the California Fire Code.
(D) A one-time notification and inventory is provided to the
administering agency along with a processing fee in lieu of the
existing fee. The fee shall not exceed the actual cost of processing
the notification and inventory, including a verification inspection
if necessary.
(E) If the information contained in the initial notification or
inventory changes and the time period of the change is longer than 30
days, the notification or inventory shall be resubmitted within 30
days to the administering agency to reflect the change, along with a
processing fee, in lieu of the existing fee, that does not exceed the
actual cost of processing the amended notification or inventory,
including a verification inspection, if necessary.
(F) The administering agency shall forward a copy of the
notification and inventory to those agencies that share
responsibility for emergency response.
(G) The administering agency may require an unstaffed remote
facility to submit a hazardous materials business plan and inventory
in accordance with this article if the agency finds that special
circumstances exist such that development and maintenance of the
business plan and inventory is necessary to protect public health and
safety and the environment.
(d) Onpremise use, storage, or both, of propane in an amount not
to exceed 300 gallons that is for the sole purpose of heating the
employee working areas with within that
business is exempt from this section, unless the administering
agency finds, and provides notice to the business handling the
propane, that the handling of the onpremise propane requires the
submission of a business plan, or any a
portion thereof, in response to public health, safety, or
environmental concerns.
(e) The administering agency shall provide all information
obtained from completed inventory forms, upon request, to emergency
rescue personnel on a 24-hour basis.
(f) The administering agency shall adopt procedures to provide for
public input when approving any applications
an application submitted pursuant to paragraph (3) or (4) of
subdivision (c).
SEC. 2. No reimbursement is required by this act
pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
Constitution because the only costs that may be incurred by a local
agency or school district will be incurred because this act creates a
new crime or infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or
changes the penalty for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of
Section 17556 of the Government Code, or changes the definition of a
crime within the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the
California Constitution.
SECTION 1. The Legislature intends to enact
legislation to address emerging toxicity issues surrounding the
increasingly widespread utilization of engineered nanomaterials.
Specifically, the Legislature intends to enact legislation to ensure
all of the following:
(a) Users of engineered nanomaterials utilize best practices to
avoid exposure to workers, the general public, end users, and the
environment.
(b) Consumers of products containing engineered nanomaterials are
made aware of the presence of those materials prior to purchase.
(c) Appropriate testing methods are provided by manufacturers or
producers of engineered nanomaterials to determine the presence and
potential for toxicity of those materials.