BILL NUMBER: AB 913 CHAPTERED
BILL TEXT
CHAPTER 578
FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE OCTOBER 8, 2011
APPROVED BY GOVERNOR OCTOBER 8, 2011
PASSED THE SENATE SEPTEMBER 6, 2011
PASSED THE ASSEMBLY SEPTEMBER 8, 2011
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 13, 2011
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 31, 2011
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Feuer
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Bonilla, Huffman, and Williams)
FEBRUARY 17, 2011
An act to amend Section 25244.17.2 of the Health and Safety Code,
relating to hazardous waste.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 913, Feuer. Hazardous waste: source reduction: certified green
business program.
The existing Hazardous Waste Source Reduction and Management
Review Act of 1989 requires the Department of Toxic Substances
Control to establish a program for hazardous waste source reduction,
including requiring specified generators of hazardous waste to
maintain certain plans and reports with regard to hazardous waste
reduction practices. The department is required to provide source
reduction training and resources to various regional and local
government assistance programs to identify and apply source reduction
methods.
This bill would require the department, as part of implementing
this program, to develop a California Green Business Program that
provides support and assistance to local government programs that
provide for the voluntary certification of small businesses that
adopt environmentally preferable business practices, including, but
not limited to, increased energy efficiency, reduced greenhouse gas
emissions, promotion of water conservation, and reduced waste
generation. The department would be required to take specified
actions with regard to implementing the California Green Business
Program and would be authorized to provide support and assistance to
a local government program to enable the program to meet certain
requirements.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(a) The California Green Business Program is a statewide network
of local government programs that certify small- to medium-sized
businesses as having adopted environmentally preferable business
practices.
(b) These local government programs coordinate with other programs
in their jurisdictions to assist businesses with achieving and
moving beyond regulatory compliance.
(c) Businesses certified by this program implement multimedia
pollution prevention activities to achieve measurable waste
reduction, energy savings, water conservation, and sustainability, in
consultation with local governments, utility providers, and other
entities.
(d) The California Green Business Program promotes improved
community health outcomes, economic vitality, sustainability, and
green jobs.
(e) The California Green Business Program provides small
businesses with a level and quality of consultation on
environmentally preferable business practices to which small
businesses otherwise may have limited access.
(f) The California Green Business Program can save businesses
money through coordinating with funding opportunities for efficiency
upgrades and long-term savings associated with decreased utility
bills.
(g) The Department of Toxic Substances Control serves as a
statewide program contact, coordinator, and liaison with other state
agencies, consistent with subdivision (h) of Section 25244.13 of the
Health and Safety Code.
(h) In California, there are currently 14 county and two city
green business programs, which have together certified over 2,600
green businesses.
SEC. 2. Section 25244.17.2 of the Health and Safety Code is
amended to read:
25244.17.2. The department shall expand the department's source
reduction program to provide source reduction training and resources
to CUPAs, small business development corporations, business
environmental assistance centers, and other regional and local
government environmental programs so that they can provide technical
assistance to generators in identifying and applying methods of
source reduction.
(a) The program expanded pursuant to this section shall emphasize
activities necessary to implement Sections 25244.17 and 25244.17.1.
(b) As part of implementing the program required by this section,
the department shall develop a California Green Business Program that
provides support and assistance to programs operated by local
governments to meet the requirement of subdivision (c) and that would
voluntarily certify small businesses that adopt environmentally
preferable business practices, including, but not limited to,
increased energy efficiency, reduced greenhouse gas emissions,
promotion of water conservation, and reduced waste generation. The
department's California Green Business Program shall do all of the
following:
(1) Assist the network of statewide local government programs in
implementing guidelines and structures that establish and promote a
level of consistency among green business programs across the state.
(2) Support, through staffing and contracts, the development and
maintenance of a statewide database to register small businesses
granted green business certification, or its equivalent, pursuant to
a local government program, and track measurable pollution reductions
and cost savings.
(3) Solicit participation of additional local programs and
facilitate the startup of new local programs.
(4) Develop technical guidance on pollution prevention measures,
conduct industry studies and pilot projects, and provide policy
coordination for the participating local programs.
(5) Collaborate with relevant state agencies that operate small
business efficiency and economic development programs, including, but
not limited to, the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery,
the Public Utilities Commission, the State Energy Resources
Conservation and Development Commission, the State Air Resources
Board, and the Department of Water Resources.
(c) The department may provide support and assistance to a local
government program to enable the program to meet all of the following
requirements:
(1) The program will be operated by a local government or its
designee.
(2) The program will adopt industry-specific standards for green
business certification, or its equivalent, in consultation with the
other participants in the California Green Business Program.
(3) The program will grant a small business that voluntarily
applies to the program a green business certification or its
equivalent, only upon a determination by the program operator or
designee that the business is a small business, as determined by the
program, and complies with the industry-specific standards for green
business certification adopted pursuant to paragraph (2).
(4) The program will grant a green business certification, or its
equivalent, to small businesses, as determined by the program, in
accordance with all of the following requirements:
(A) Before the program grants green business certification or its
equivalent, the program conducts an evaluation to verify compliance
with the appropriate green business certification standards adopted
pursuant to paragraph (2).
(B) A green business certification or its equivalent is granted
only to an individual location of a small business.
(C) A green business certification or its equivalent is granted to
an individual small business only for a limited time period, and,
after the elapse of that time period, the small business is required
to reapply for that certification.
(D) Compliance with applicable federal, state, and local
environmental laws and regulations is required as a condition of
receiving a green business certification or its equivalent.
(d) The department shall determine, in consultation with the
advisory committee, the most effective methods to promote
implementation of source reduction education programs by CUPAs, small
business development corporations, business environmental assistance
centers, and other regional and local government environmental
programs. Program elements may include, but are not limited to, all
of the following:
(1) Sponsoring workshops, conferences, technology fairs, and other
training events.
(2) Sponsoring regional training groups, such as the regional
hazardous waste reduction committees.
(3) Developing and distributing educational materials, such as
short descriptions of successful source reduction projects and
materials explaining how source reduction has been used by businesses
to achieve compliance with environmental laws enforced by local
governments.
(4) Developing site review checklists, training manuals, and
technical resource manuals and using those resources to train CUPAs,
small business development corporations, business environmental
assistance centers, and other regional and local government
environmental programs.
(5) Preparing and distributing resource lists such as lists of
vendors, consultants, or providers of financial assistance for source
reduction projects.
(6) Serving as an information clearinghouse to support telephone
and onsite consultants with local governments.
(e) Each fiscal year, the department shall provide training and
information resources to at least 90 percent of CUPAs.