BILL ANALYSIS Ó ------------------------------------------------------------ |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 408| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ------------------------------------------------------------ THIRD READING Bill No: AB 408 Author: Wieckowski (D), et al. Amended: 8/22/11 in Senate Vote: 27 - Urgency SENATE ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY COMMITTEE : 7-0, 7/6/11 AYES: Simitian, Strickland, Blakeslee, Hancock, Kehoe, Lowenthal, Pavley SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8 ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 78-0, 5/19/11 (Consent) - See last page for vote SUBJECT : Environment SOURCE : California Association of Environmental Health Administrators DIGEST : This bill makes changes to hazardous material reporting, emergency response, and hazardous waste manifest requirements. Senate Floor Amendments of 8/22/11 add provisions to streamline the management of waste latex and oil-based paint, provide an exemption to hazardous waste management business plans for certain types of equipment, and allow for greater quantities of propane to be used and stored at remote sites, as specified. CONTINUED AB 408 Page 2 ANALYSIS : Existing law: 1. Provides that those expenses of an emergency response necessary to protect the public from a real and imminent threat to health and safety by a public agency to confine, prevent, or mitigate the release, escape, or burning of hazardous substances, as defined, are a charge against any person whose negligence causes the incident, if either of the following occurs: A. Evacuation beyond the property where the incident originates is necessary to prevent loss of life or injury. B. The incident results in the spread of hazardous substances or fire posing a real and imminent threat to public health and safety beyond the property of origin. 2. Requires all generators, transporters and facility operators that handle hazardous wastes to obtain an identification number from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) or Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) depending on the amount and types of hazardous waste they handle, and pay an annual fee. 3. Requires generators, transporters and facility operators to complete a manifest that tracks the shipment of hazardous waste from generation to disposal. 4. Authorizes certain California hazardous wastes, as defined, to be transported using a consolidated manifest. 5. Requires businesses to have response plans for releases of specified hazardous materials and provide an annual inventory of hazardous materials handled to the Certified Unified Program Agencies (CUPAs). Requires any person who handles hazardous material to annually submit an inventory of hazardous materials to the CUPA. CONTINUED AB 408 Page 3 This bill: 1. Enables local government cost recovery for emergency response to hazardous substances spills under a wider range of circumstances. 2. Provides that those expenses of an emergency response necessary to protect the public from a real and imminent threat to health and safety by a public agency to confine, prevent, or mitigate the release, escape, or burning of hazardous substances, as defined, are a charge against any person whose negligence causes the incident, if either of the following occurs: A. Evacuation from the building, structure, property, or public right-of-way where the incident originates is necessary to prevent loss of life or injury; or B. The incident results in the spread of hazardous substances or fire posing a real and imminent threat to public health and safety beyond the building, structure, property, or public right-of-way where the incident originates. 3. Expands the definition of "hazardous substance" for purposes of local government cost recovery. 4. Allows for the consolidating manifesting procedures for haulers of hazardous waste to be used for the receipt, by a transporter, of one shipment of used oil from a generator whose identification number has been suspended, if certain requirements are met. Sunsets this authority on January 1, 2014. 5. Allows a 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. Recent amendments add provisions to streamline the management of waste latex and oil-based paint, provide an exemption to hazardous waste management business plans for certain types of equipment, and allow for greater quantities of propane to be used and stored at remote CONTINUED AB 408 Page 4 sites, as specified. Comments Purpose of the bill . According to the author, "AB 408 provides a wide-ranging series of regulatory reforms addressing the problems of business, local governments, and emergency personnel in complying with California hazardous material and hazardous waste laws. In many cases we find conflicting standards between State and federal agencies or the laws have failed to keep up with changing industrial practices. This bill brings together primarily technical elements of our statutes that need to be easier to understand, simpler for business and local governments to comply with but done in a way that increases the actual protection on the public health and the environment." FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: Yes SUPPORT : (Verified 8/23/11) California Association of Environmental Health Administrators (source) American Coatings Association California Fire Chiefs Association California Paint Council Independent Waste Oil Collectors and Transporters Association PaintCare Western Propane Gas Association ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The author's office contends that this bill (1) allows local governments to recover the cost of emergency response to toxic spills that originate in the public right of way, (2) enables hazardous waste transporters to remove potentially harmful loads of used oil even if the generator has failed to renew his/her identification number, and (3) resolves inconsistencies between state and federal hazardous waste laws to reflect changed business practices. ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 78-0, 5/19/11 (Consent) CONTINUED AB 408 Page 5 AYES: Achadjian, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Beall, Bill Berryhill, Block, Blumenfield, Bonilla, Bradford, Brownley, Buchanan, Butler, Charles Calderon, Campos, Carter, Cedillo, Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Davis, Dickinson, Donnelly, Eng, Feuer, Fletcher, Fong, Fuentes, Furutani, Beth Gaines, Galgiani, Garrick, Gatto, Gordon, Grove, Hagman, Halderman, Hall, Harkey, Hayashi, Roger Hernández, Hill, Huber, Hueso, Huffman, Jeffries, Jones, Knight, Lara, Logue, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mansoor, Mendoza, Miller, Mitchell, Monning, Morrell, Nestande, Nielsen, Norby, Olsen, Pan, Perea, V. Manuel Pérez, Portantino, Silva, Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Swanson, Torres, Valadao, Wagner, Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada, John A. Pérez NO VOTE RECORDED: Alejo, Gorell DLW:mw 8/24/11 Senate Floor Analyses SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE **** END **** CONTINUED