BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                       



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          |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE            |                  AB 2379|
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                                 THIRD READING


          Bill No:  AB 2379
          Author:   Feuer (D)
          Amended:  4/7/10 in Assembly
          Vote:     21

           
           SENATE ENV. QUALITY COMMITTEE  :  6-0, 6/14/10
          AYES:  Simitian, Runner, Corbett, Hancock, Lowenthal,  
            Strickland
          NO VOTE RECORDED:  Pavley
           
          SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE  :  Senate Rule 28.8

           ASSEMBLY FLOOR  :  74-0, 4/29/10 (Consent) - See last page  
            for vote


           SUBJECT :    Environmental protection: hazardous waste  
          source reduction

           SOURCE  :     Author


           DIGEST  :    This bill expands the number of priority  
          categories of hazardous waste generators that the  
          Department of Toxic Substances Control must select for  
          participation in the departments cooperative source  
          reduction technical assistance and outreach program. 

           ANALYSIS  :    Existing law, under the Hazardous Waste Source  
          Reduction and Management Review Act of 1989, requires  
          specified generators of hazardous waste to maintain certain  
          plans, reports, and summaries with regard to hazardous  
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          waste reduction practices.  The act also requires the  
          Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) to establish  
          a technical assistance and outreach program to promote  
          implementation of model source reduction measures in  
          priority industry categories.  The Act requires DTSC to  
          select at least two priority categories of generators for  
          participation in DTSC's cooperative source reduction  
          technical assistance and outreach program every two years.

          This bill expands the number of priority categories of  
          hazardous waste generators that DTSC must select for  
          participation in DTSC's cooperative source reduction  
          technical assistance and outreach program to:

          1. Expand, from two to four, the number of priority  
             categories of hazardous waste generators DTSC must  
             select for participation in DTSC's cooperative source  
             reduction technical assistance and outreach program.

          2. Require that at least one selected category of  
             generators primarily consist of businesses affected by  
             action taken by DTSC pursuant to the Green Chemistry  
             program. 
           
          Background
           
           Pollution Prevention  .  DTSC developed its pollution  
          prevention program (P2), pursuant to SB 1916 (Sher),  
          Chapter 881, Statutes of 1998, to provide technical  
          assistance and outreach to businesses and industries to  
          reduce their generation of hazardous waste.  However, the  
          paradigm of focusing chemical management on the end of a  
          production pipeline is currently shifting toward a more  
          lifecycle-focused principle consistent with implementation  
          of the Green Chemistry Initiative.
          
          Green Chemistry  .  AB 1879 (Feuer), Chapter 559, Statutes of  
          2008, and 
          SB 509 (Simitian), Chapter 560, Statutes of 2008, implement  
          together two key pieces of a green chemistry initiative for  
          California (1) requiring DTSC to adopt regulations for the  
          identification, prioritization, and evaluation of chemicals  
          or chemical ingredients in products that may be considered  
          a "chemical of concern" and their potential alternatives,  







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          and (2) requiring  DTSC and the Office of Environmental  
          Health Hazard Assessment to establish a Toxics Information  
          Clearinghouse for the collection, maintenance, and  
          distribution of specific chemical hazard traits and  
          environmental and toxicological end-point data, and to  
          evaluate and specify the hazard traits and environmental  
          and toxicological end-points and any other relevant data  
          that are to be included in the Clearinghouse.

          DTSC recently released an outline of the regulations that  
          DTSC is currently working to develop.

          According to DTSC, the projected release date of the  
          proposed regulations is late spring/early summer of 2010  
          and DTSC projects completing and adopting the final  
          regulations by the end of 2010.

           FISCAL EFFECT :    Appropriation:  No   Fiscal Com.:  Yes    
          Local:  No

           SUPPORT  :   (Verified  6/28/10)

          Breast Cancer Fund


           ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT  :    According to the author's office,  
          this bill expands and enhances the scope of DTSC's  
          pollution prevention program in order to provide assistance  
          to businesses as they transition to safer consumer  
          products.  Under California's Green Chemistry framework,  
          users and manufacturers of consumer products containing  
          chemicals of concern will begin to move towards less toxic  
          alternatives under a regulatory process established by AB  
          1879 (Feuer) Chapter 559, Statutes of 2008, and SB 509  
          (Simitian) Chapter 560, Statutes of 2008.  AB 2379 will  
          allow DTSC to help businesses most affected by these  
          changes with technical and other assistance.


           ASSEMBLY FLOOR  : 
          AYES:  Adams, Ammiano, Anderson, Arambula, Beall, Bill  
            Berryhill, Tom Berryhill, Blakeslee, Block, Blumenfield,  
            Bradford, Brownley, Buchanan, Charles Calderon, Carter,  
            Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Coto, Davis, De La Torre, De Leon,  







                                                               AB 2379
                                                                Page  
          4

            DeVore, Emmerson, Eng, Evans, Feuer, Fletcher, Fong,  
            Fuentes, Fuller, Furutani, Gaines, Galgiani, Garrick,  
            Gilmore, Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Hayashi, Hernandez, Hill,  
            Huber, Huffman, Jeffries, Knight, Lieu, Logue, Ma,  
            Mendoza, Miller, Monning, Nava, Nestande, Niello,  
            Nielsen, Norby, V. Manuel Perez, Portantino, Ruskin,  
            Salas, Saldana, Silva, Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Audra  
            Strickland, Swanson, Torlakson, Torres, Tran, Villines,  
            Yamada, John A. Perez
          NO VOTE RECORDED:  Bass, Caballero, Jones, Bonnie  
            Lowenthal, Torrico, Vacancy


          TSM:mw  6/28/10   Senate Floor Analyses 

                         SUPPORT/OPPOSITION:  SEE ABOVE

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