BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                AB 358
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        CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
        AB 358 (Smyth)
        As Amended  September 1, 2011
        2/3 vote.  Urgency
         
         
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        |ASSEMBLY: |77-0 |(June 2, 2011)  |SENATE: |38-1 |(September 6, 2011)  |
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        |COMMITTEE VOTE:  |7-0  |(September 7, 2011) |RECOMMENDATION: |concur    |
        |                 |     |                    |                |          |
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        Original Committee Reference:    E.S. & T.M.  

         SUMMARY  :  Provides for the reporting and review of underground 
        storage tank (UST) cleanup.

         The Senate amendments  delete the Assembly version of the bill and 
        instead:

        1)Require Regional Water Quality Control Boards (RWQCBs) and local 
          agencies to submit information to the State Water Resources 
          Control Board (SWRCB) related to the oversight and management of 
          USTs in a manner consistent with existing electronic reporting 
          requirements.  Provide SWRCB with emergency regulation authority 
          to establish the reporting system. 

        2)Establish authority of an owner or operator of an UST, overseen 
          by local implementing agencies (LIAs) that have implemented a 
          corrective action plan to petition SWRCB to close the site.

        3)Establish authority for the SWRCB to close sites overseen by LIAs 
          under its existing five year review process.  Before closing or 
          requiring closure of an underground storage tank case, the 
          amendments require the SWRCB to provide an opportunity for 
          RWQCBs, local agency, water replenishment district, municipal 
          water district, or county water district to petition to prevent 
          the closure of the case.

        4)Expedite UST claims submittal, processing and payment.  With 








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          limited exceptions, establish a one-year deadline for filing 
          remaining claims on sites subject to a uniform closure letter 
          issued by the lead agency.  Require the notification to the 
          responsible party of the one year filing deadline.

        5)Limit the annual claims reimbursement for sites recommended for 
          closure pursuant to the five-year review process at $10,000 
          unless the SWRCB determines additional work is necessary for 
          closure, or to protect public health and safety.

        6)Provide that this is an urgency measure requiring a two-thirds 
          vote, and allowing the bill to take effect immediately upon 
          enactment.

        7)Provides that the enactment of this bill is contingent on the 
          approval of AB 291 (Wieckowski), which extends the sunset of a 
          portion of the tax paid by underground petroleum storage tank 
          operators, to January 1, 2014.
         



        EXISTING LAW  :  
         
        1)Regulates, generally, the storage of hazardous substances in USTs 
          and requires USTs that are used to store hazardous substances to 
          meet certain requirements, including that the primary containment 
          be product tight and that the tank's secondary containment meet 
          specified standards.

        2)Requires, under the existing Barry Keene Underground Storage Tank 
          Cleanup Trust Fund Act of 1989 (Act), owners and operators of 
          petroleum USTs to take corrective action on an unauthorized 
          release of petroleum, including requirements for the preparation 
          of a work plan.  The Act provides for the issuance of a specified 
          closure letter relative to the completion of an investigation and 
          corrective action for a petroleum UST.
         
        AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY  , this bill required the adoption of 
        emergency regulations by the SWRCB to establish standards for high 
        risk leaking USTs.  

         FISCAL EFFECT  :  According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, 
        pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8, negligible costs.









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         COMMENTS  :  This bill was substantially amended in the Senate and 
        the Assembly approved provisions were deleted.  

        According to the author, the goal of this bill is to ensure that 
        all local agencies that perform UST project oversight and 
        remediation have the same lines of responsibility and review in 
        following state policies on closure of UST sites. This stems from 
        the fact that there are two variations of local agency oversight 
        obligation which is a remnant of the Legislature creating Certified 
        Unified Permitting Agencies (CUPAs) in the late 1990s. The author 
        contends that the LIAs have substandard closure rates and this bill 
        will significantly improve those rates.

        The SWRCB is working with stakeholders to make improvements in 
        administration of the fund.  The 2010 Budget contained Supplemental 
        Report language that directed SWRCB to provided updates on its 
        progress in implementation of findings from a February 2010 audit 
        of the Fund.  That audit contained many findings, including that 
        there is a lack of incentive to get cases cleaned up quickly and 
        efficiently.  The lack of closure incentive applied to all three 
        major parties:  the responsible party or claimant, whose site 
        cleanup bills are paid by the Fund; the consultant, who can 
        continue to bill hours as long as the case is active; and the 
        regulator, who generally prefers to close only cases that have 
        minimal or no risk associated with the site closure.  Due, in part, 
        to these disincentives, over 43% of the active claims have been 
        open for ten years or more.  The SWRCB directed staff to undertake 
        specific steps to get cases to closure more quickly and 
        efficiently.

        As part of the solution, SWRCB established two stakeholder task 
        forces to review both the regulatory side and the payment side of 
        the UST Program, and make suggestions for improvements or changes.  
        They are also working on a "low risk" closure policy that is likely 
        to expedite the closure process as well.  The changes in this bill 
        are consistent with the audit recommendations and do not appear to 
        conflict with the proposed low-risk closure policy currently under 
        review. 
         

        Analysis Prepared by  :    Bob Fredenburg / E.S. & T.M. / (916) 
        319-3965 

                                                                 FN: 0002809









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