BILL NUMBER: SB 579 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 8, 2010
AMENDED IN SENATE SEPTEMBER 1, 2009
AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 24, 2009
INTRODUCED BY Senator Lowenthal
FEBRUARY 27, 2009
An act to add and repeal Section 40440.13 of the Health
and Safety Code, relating to the South Coast Air Quality Management
District, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect
immediately. An act to amend Section 48632 of the
Public Resources Code, relating to oil, and making an appropriation
therefor.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 579, as amended, Lowenthal. South Coast Air Quality
Management District: CEQA: permits. Used oil.
The California Oil Recycling Enhancement Act, administered by the
Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, among other things,
authorizes the department to issue grants to, or contract with, local
governments, nonprofit entities, and private entities for specified
purposes including, among other things, the purpose of protecting
advancements and developments in lubricating oil. Existing law
establishes the Used Oil Recycling Fund and continuously appropriates
money from the fund to the department to provide, among other
things, grants and contracts to local governments, nonprofit
entities, and private entities.
This bill would instead authorize the department to issue grants
to, or contract with, local governments, nonprofit entities, and
private entities for the purpose of product advancements and
developments in lubricating oil. By changing the purposes for which
money in the fund may be used, the bill would thereby make an
appropriation.
(1) The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires a
lead agency, as defined, to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and
certify the completion of, an environmental impact report (EIR) on a
project that it proposes to carry out or approve that may have a
significant effect on the environment or to adopt a negative
declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect.
CEQA also requires a lead agency to prepare a mitigated negative
declaration for a project that may have a significant effect on the
environment if revisions in the project would avoid or mitigate that
effect and there is no substantial evidence that the project, as
revised, would have a significant effect on the environment. CEQA
exempts certain specified projects from its requirements.
Under existing law, every air pollution control district or air
quality management district in a federal nonattainment area for any
national ambient air quality standard is required to establish by
regulation, a system by which all reductions in emissions of air
contaminants that are to be used to offset certain future increases
in the emission of air contaminants are banked prior to use. The
South Coast Air Quality Management District (district) promulgated
various rules establishing offset exemptions, providing Priority
Reserve offset credits, and creating or tracking credits used for
offset exemption or Priority Reserve projects. In Natural Resources
Defense Council v. South Coast Air Quality Management District
(Super. Ct. Los Angeles County, 2007, No. BS 110792), the superior
court found the promulgation of certain of these district rules to be
in violation of CEQA.
This bill would authorize the district to issue permits under
specified circumstances, notwithstanding this court decision. The
provisions of the bill would be repealed on May 1, 2012.
(2) This bill would state the findings and declarations of the
Legislature concerning the need for special legislation.
(3) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately
as an urgency statute.
Vote: 2/3 majority . Appropriation:
no yes . Fiscal committee: no
yes . State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 48632 of the Public
Resources Code is amended to read:
48632. The board Department of Resources
Recycling and Recovery may, pursuant to subdivision (b) of
Section 48631, issue grants to or contract with local governments,
nonprofit entities, and private entities, for any of the following
purposes:
(a) Providing and maintaining collection and recycling
opportunities for used lubricating oil and filters that are in
addition to those included in the local used oil collection programs
adopted pursuant to Article 10 (commencing with Section 48690).
(b) Research, testing, and demonstration projects for in-service
uses, collection technologies, and end-of-life used oil management.
(c) Developing uses and markets for low environmental impact
products resulting from the recycling of used oil, including, but not
limited to, promoting the manufacture of rerefined lubricating oil.
(d) Protecting Product advancements
and developments in lubricating oil resulting from, but not limited
to, new requirements or technologies in fuel efficiency and
performance, synthetic or biobased lubricants, alternative fuels, and
methods to extend lubricating oil life.
(e) Education and mitigation projects relating to stormwater
pollution from used oil and its impacts on receiving waters, soils,
and oceans.
(f) A local government shall not receive a grant or contract
pursuant to this section for any purpose identified in subdivision
(e) unless the local government certifies that it has a stormwater
management program that is approved by the appropriate California
regional water quality control board and that the project approved
for funding under subdivision (e) is consistent with that approved
stormwater management program.
(g) An information and education program pursuant to subdivision
(c) of Section 48631.
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares
all of the following:
(a) As a result of the superior court decision in Natural
Resources Defense Council v. South Coast Air Quality Management
District (Super. Ct. Los Angeles County, 2007, No. BS 110792) holding
that the South Coast Air Quality Management District (district)
violated the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act
(CEQA) (Division 13 (commencing with Section 21000) of the Public
Resources Code) in the promulgation of certain district rules, the
district is unable to issue over a thousand pending permits that rely
on the district's internal offset bank to offset emissions.
(b) The district may also have to set aside several thousand
permits that were previously issued in reliance on the district's
internal offset bank.
(c) Prompt legislative action is necessary as an interim measure;
otherwise projects will be stopped from going forward or frozen in
place, representing significant losses to the economy and the loss of
numerous well-paying jobs.
(d) Nothing in the case described in subdivision (a) requires the
setting aside of any permit issued by the South Coast Air Quality
Management District to any essential public service, that relied on
Rule 1309.1, nor any permit that relied on Rule 1304, between
September 8, 2006, and November 3, 2008.
SEC. 2. Section 40440.13 is added to the Health
and Safety Code, to read:
40440.13. (a) Notwithstanding the decision of the court in
Natural Resources Defense Council v. South Coast Air Quality
Management District (Super. Ct. Los Angeles County, 2007, No. BS
110792), the south coast district
may issue permits in reliance on, and in compliance with, south
coast district Rule 1304, as amended on June 14, 1996, except for an
electrical generation facility, and Rule 1309.1, as amended May 3,
2002, for essential public services, as defined in subdivision (m) of
Rule 1302, as amended December 6, 2002.
(b) Nothing in this section affects the decision in the case
described in subdivision (a) concerning the adoption, readoption, or
amendment, or environmental review, of south coast district Rule
1315.
(c) In implementing subdivision (a), the south coast district
shall rely on the emission reduction credit tracking system used
prior to the adoption of Rule 1315, until a new tracking system is
approved by the United States Environmental Protection Agency and is
in effect, at which point that new system shall be used by the south
coast district in implementing subdivision (a). The south coast
district shall make information concerning the credits, and the
tracking of these credits, available to the public.
(d) This section shall remain in effect only until May 1, 2012,
and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted statute, that
is enacted before May 1, 2012, deletes or extends that date.
SEC. 3. The Legislature finds and declares that
a special law is necessary and that a general law cannot be made
applicable within the meaning of Section 16 of Article IV of the
California Constitution because of unique circumstances concerning
the South Coast Air Quality Management District.
SEC. 4. This act is an urgency statute
necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health,
or safety within the meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and
shall go into immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity
are:
Due to the court decision in Natural Resources Defense Council v.
South Coast Air Quality Management District (Super. Ct. Los Angeles
County, 2007, No. BS 110792), the South Coast Air Quality Management
District is unable to issue over a thousand pending permits that are
either exempt from offset requirements or qualified to use offset
credits from the district's Priority Reserve and is required to set
aside thousands of permits already issued. Therefore, in order to
allow the district to issue permits in an expeditious manner as an
urgent interim measure, it is necessary that this act take effect
immediately.