BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 681
Author: Wieckowski (D)
Amended: 9/2/11 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY COMMITTEE : 7-0, 06/27/11
AYES: Simitian, Strickland, Blakeslee, Hancock, Kehoe,
Lowenthal, Pavley
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 9-0, 08/25/11
AYES: Kehoe, Walters, Alquist, Emmerson, Lieu, Pavley,
Price, Runner, Steinberg
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : Not relevant
SUBJECT : Aboveground storage tanks: enforcement
SOURCE : California Association of Environmental Health
Administrators
DIGEST : This bill extends the Environmental Protection
Trust Fund (EPTF) expenditures until June 1, 2013, and
provides that unexpended funds be deposited in the Unified
Program Account for further support for Certified Unified
Program Agencies (CUPAs) aboveground storage tank (AST)
activities.
Senate Floor Amendments of 9/2/11remove all the content of
the bill except for one provision that extends the
California Environmental Protection Agency's authority to
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expend funds from the EPTF January 2012 until January 2014.
ANALYSIS : Existing law makes the EPTF and the training
account in that fund inoperative as of July 1, 2011, and
repeals the fund and account as of January 1, 2012. Until
July 1, 2011, existing law authorizes the expenditure of a
portion of the moneys in the EPTF, upon appropriation by
the Legislature, to a training account established and
maintained by the Secretary for Environmental Protection
and allocates all remaining funds to the unified program
agencies for expenditure to implement the Aboveground
Petroleum Storage Act.
This bill extends the EPTF expenditures until June 1, 2013,
and provides that unexpended funds be deposited in the
Unified Program Account for further support for CUPAs AST
activities.
Related Legislation
AB 1130 (Laird) Chapter 626, Statutes of 2007, transferred
the responsibility for the implementation, enforcement, and
administration of the Act from the State Water Resources
Control Board to the CUPAs. AB 1130 authorized the
expenditure of a portion of the moneys in the EPTF, upon
appropriation by the Legislature, in an amount determined
by the Secretary for Environmental Protection in
consultation with the CUPAs, to a training account
established and maintained by the Secretary to be used for
purposes of training CUPA personnel in the requirements of
the Act. AB 1130 also allocates all remaining funds to the
CUPAs for expenditure to implement the Act, but limits to
80 percent or less the allocation to a CUPA in advance of
actual expenditure by the CUPA. It made conforming changes
to ensure consistency with the federal Spill Prevention
Control and Countermeasure rule provided in the U.S. Code
of Federal Regulations (40 C.F.R. part 112).
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
The bill extends the authority of the California
Environmental Protection Agency to expend funds from the
EPTF for grants to California Unified Program Agencies for
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training. The remaining balance in that fund is about $1
million.
SUPPORT : (unable to reverify at time of writing)
California Association of Environmental Health
Administrators (source)
California Fire Chiefs Association
California Professional Firefighters
Clean Water Action
Department of Defense, Regional Environmental Coordinator,
Region 9
Environmental Working Group
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the sponsor, this
bill extends the date that CUPAs can receive grant
allocations from the EPTF which was established to fund
initial implementation of the Act by CUPAs. This is
necessary for the California Environmental Protection
Agency to be authorized to disperse the balance of the
funds to the CUPAs.
DLW:nl 9/6/11 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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