BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                      



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          |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE            |                   AB 408|
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                                 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.

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           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.


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          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 

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          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)

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          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

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