BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1566
Page 1
CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB 1566 (Wieckowski)
As Amended August 21, 2012
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |77-0 |(May 30, 2012) |SENATE: |36-0 |(August 22, |
| | | | | |2012) |
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Original Committee Reference: E.S. & T.M.
SUMMARY : Authorizes the Office of the State Fire Marshal (State
Fire Marshal) to regulate the Aboveground Petroleum Storage Act
(APSA) and makes conforming changes to the APSA.
The Senate amendments:
1)Define "tank in an underground area" to mean a tank to which
all of the following apply:
a) The tank is located in a structure that is at least 10%
below the ground surface, including, but not limited to, a
basement, cellar, shaft, pit, or vault.
b) The structure in which the tank is located, at a
minimum, provides for secondary containment of the contents
of the tank, piping, and ancillary equipment, until cleanup
occurs.
c) The tank meets specified conditions, including
requirements for the placement and inspectability of the
tank and piping, and requirements that the tank contain
petroleum to be used or previously used as a lubricant or
coolant, or motor fuel, as defined.
2)Make other technical and conforming changes.
3)Add double-jointing language to avoid chaptering out issues
with AB 1701 (Wieckowski).
AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY , this bill was substantially similar
to the current version.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations
AB 1566
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Committee, enactment of this bill could have the following
fiscal impact: $225,000 to $300,000 annually to the Unified
Program Account for the State Fire Marshall to oversee local
implementation of the aboveground storage tank (AST) program,
provide outreach, establish and administer an advisory
committee, and adopt regulations, if necessary.
1)Costs to the State Fire Marshall are offset an existing annual
surcharge paid by regulated parties.
2)Minor, if any, penalty revenue split between the local
certified unified program agency (CUPA) and the district
attorney.
COMMENTS :
Statewide oversight : As established in 1988, the APSA required
Regional Water Quality Control Boards to oversee inspections of
AST facilities to ensure that a federally mandated spill
prevention, control and countermeasure (SPCC) plan was in place,
that tanks were not leaking, and that a monitoring program was
undertaken, if necessary. It also required CUPAs to enforce the
requirements of the APSA regarding the SPCCs.
In fiscal year 2002-03, the funding authority and positions for
the AST inspection program were eliminated from the state and
regional water boards' budgets, thus discontinuing the AST
inspection program. AB 1130 (Laird), Chapter 626, Statutes of
2007, attempted to repair the AST program by transferring the
responsibility for the implementation, enforcement, and
administration of the APSA from the state and local boards to
local environmental health and fire departments sanctioned under
law as CUPAs.
According to the sponsor, the California Association of
Environmental Health Administrators, the APSA is the only local
environmental health program lacking state oversight. Because
there are 83 CUPAs, they can differ in their interpretation of
the APSA. This bill provides statewide consistency and one
point of contact for the AST program by assigning regulatory
authority of the program to the State Fire Marshal.
Penalty provisions : Current AST law provides for civil
penalties, but does not explicitly authorize administrative or
criminal penalties. In contrast, underground storage tank law,
AB 1566
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in addition to providing for civil penalties, provides for
criminal penalties for specified violations. Also, CUPAs are
authorized to impose an administrative penalty for specified
violations of underground storage tank (UST) law. This bill
makes AST penalty provisions consistent with the other laws
consolidated in the Unified Program, including UST law, by
authorizing CUPAs to levy criminal penalties and administrative
penalties.
Conformance with federal law : According to the sponsor, there
are more than 1,000 facilities statewide with lubricating oil
and used oil tanks in underground areas that can be visually
inspected that currently fall under the definition of an UST.
Because UST requirements are designed for monitoring buried
tanks, applying UST rules to tanks in underground areas is
typically an expensive engineering challenge combined with the
difficulty of meeting varying and inconsistent CUPA
requirements. Further, because authority for the federal SPCC
program is not delegated to the CUPAs, enforcement is confused.
This bill redefines aboveground storage tanks in California law
in order to align state statute with the Code of Federal
Regulations and to better streamline oversight and enforcement
of the AST program.
Analysis Prepared by : Shannon McKinney / E.S. & T.M. / (916)
319-3965
FN: 0005304