BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 408
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Date of Hearing: May 11, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 408 (Wieckowski) - As Amended: April 12, 2011
Policy Committee: Environmental
Safety and Toxic Materials Vote: 9-0
Urgency: Yes State Mandated Local Program:
Yes Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill is described by the policy committee as an omnibus
hazardous materials and waste bill. The bill makes changes to
several disparate statutes concerning (i) emergency response to
hazardous substances, (ii) hazardous waste transport, (iii)
hazardous materials reporting and (iv) mandatory minimum
penalties for publicly owned treatment works. Specifically,
this bill:
1)Expands the types of circumstances under which a local
government may recover costs for emergency response related to
hazardous substances.
2)Expands the definition of "hazardous substance" for purposes
of local cost recovery.
3)Allows, under limited circumstances, a transporter of
hazardous waste to use the consolidated manifest procedure for
the receipt of one shipment of used oil from a generator whose
identification number has been suspended.
4)Allows the local Certified Unified Program Agency (CUPA) to
exempt reporting for hazardous material quantities less than
the federal Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act
(EPCRA) threshold levels for low hazard materials.
5)Expands the compliance project "in lieu" provisions from the
mandatory minimum penalty violations provisions of the
Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act for publicly owned
treatment works (POTWs) serving a population of 20,000 or
fewer persons.
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FISCAL EFFECT
1)Potential increase in costs recovered by local governments,
possibly in the millions of dollars annually, for their
responses to hazardous waste emergencies.
2)Minor, absorbable costs to the Department of Toxic Substances
Control (DTSC) to receive and respond to additional notices of
suspended hazardous waste generator numbers.
3)Potential loss of penalty revenue, likely in the tens of
thousands of dollars annually. (Waste Discharge Permit Fund
and Cleanup and Abatement Fund)
COMMENTS
1)Rationale. The author contends this bill:
a) Allows locals governments to recover the cost of
emergency response to toxic spills that originate in the
public right of way.
b) Enables hazardous waste transporters to remove
potentially harmful loads of used oil even if the generator
has failed to renew his or her identification number.
c) Resolves inconsistencies between state and federal
hazardous waste laws to reflect changed business practices.
d) Implements a recommendation from the State Water
Resources Control Board (SWRCB) report to increase from
10,000 persons to 20,000 the population of a community that
qualifies as a "small community" for purposes of
establishing mandatory minimum penalties that allow remedy
of water quality violation in lieu of monetary fine.
2)Background .
a) Cost Recovery for Emergency Response to Hazardous
Substance Spills. According to the policy committee
analysis, in 2010, there were over 3,100 reported chemicals
spills in California. In some cases, these spills may
originate on private property. In other instances, the
spills originate in transit in a public right of way.
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Under existing law, local governments can recover the cost
of emergency response only if the incident results in
either an evacuation "beyond the property where the
incident originates" or the spread of hazardous substances
"beyond the property of origin." If the incident
originates on a public right-of-way, technically, it did
not spread beyond the property where the incident
originated. Similarly, an incident on a large property may
require evacuation in an area well beyond the property,
even though the hazardous substance may not spread beyond
the property of origin. In either case, the ability of
local government to recover the cost of emergency response
is questionable.
b) California IDs and Hazardous Waste Transport . DTSC
issues a California identification number (ID) to
businesses that generate, transport or dispose of
significant quantities of hazardous waste regulated by the
state of California. It is unlawful for any person to carry
on, or engage in, the transportation of these hazardous
wastes without a valid California ID, which must be renewed
annually. These California ID numbers, which must be
included on any manifest for transport of hazardous waste,
allow DTSC to track hazardous waste from its origin, during
its transportation, and at its final place of disposal.
DTSC deactivates California ID numbers that are not renewed
annually. A holder of a deactivated California ID number
can apply for reactivation of his or her identification
number. However, it takes DTSC three to five business days
to process such reactivation requests.
Statute authorizes certain California hazardous wastes to
be transported using a consolidated manifest-a type of
documentation that allows a hazardous waste transporter to
combine hazardous wastes shipments from multiple generators
on one consolidated manifest.
c) Hazardous Substance Reporting. Businesses that utilize
hazardous materials must have a response plans for releases
of specified hazardous materials and provide an annual
inventory of hazardous materials handled to certified local
enforcement agencies, known as CUPAs. Among other
purposes, these plans ensure emergency response personnel
have advance knowledge of hazards they may confront, such
as in response to a fire.
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d) Mandatory Minimum Penalties for Small Disadvantaged
Communities. Existing law authorizes SWRCB or a regional
water quality control board, in lieu of assessing all or a
portion of the mandatory minimum penalties for water
quality violations, to require a POTW serving a small
community of 10,000 or less to spend an amount up to the
equivalent of the penalty towards the completion of a
compliance project proposed by the POTW.
3)Support. This bill is supported by the California Association
of Environmental Health Administrators and the Independent
Waste Oil Collectors and Transporters Association.
4)Opposition . There is no registered opposition to this bill.
Analysis Prepared by : Jay Dickenson / APPR. / (916) 319-2081