BILL ANALYSIS Ó
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de León, Chair
AB 304 (Williams) - Pesticides: toxic air contaminant: control
measures.
Amended: July 2, 2013 Policy Vote: EQ 9-0
Urgency: No Mandate: No
Hearing Date: August 30, 2013 Consultant:
Marie Liu
SUSPENSE FILE.
Bill Summary: AB 304 would set a two-year deadline for the
director of the Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) to
adopt control measures for pesticides listed as a "toxic air
contaminant" (TAC).
Fiscal Impact:
No additional costs to DPR for the determination of control
measures for TACs.
Annual cost pressures up to $120,000 through 2016 from the
Department of Pesticide Regulation Fund (special) for the
Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment's (OEHHA)
consulting responsibilities to DPR regarding TACs.
Annual cost pressures up to $174,000 through 2016 from the
Department of Pesticide Regulation Fund for the Air
Resources Board's (ARB) consulting responsibilities to DPR
regarding TACs.
Minor and absorbable costs to the Department of Food and
Agriculture for its consulting responsibilities to DPR
regarding TACs.
Background: The Toxic Air Contaminant Act (AB 1807 (Tanner)
Chapter 1047/1983) created the statutory framework for the
evaluation and control of TACs, which are defined as air
pollutants that may cause or contribute to increases in serious
illness or death, or that may pose a present or potential hazard
to human health. Included in the definition are substances
listed as hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) under United States
Code. DPR is responsible for the evaluation of pesticides as
TACs.
The TAC program consists of two phases: risk assessment and risk
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management.
The program's first phase involves the evaluation of the
candidate pesticide to assess potential adverse health effects
and to estimate levels of exposure associated with its use. DPR
must prepare a report on this assessment, which is subject to
review by OEHHA, the ARB, a scientific review panel, and the
public. At the end of this phase, the director of DPR determines
whether the pesticide is a TAC and if so, adds it to the TAC
list. A pesticide may also be designated a TAC if it is listed
as a hazardous air pollutant (HAPTACs) by federal regulation.
Once a candidate pesticide has been listed as a TAC, phase two
is to determine mitigation measures to minimize the risk posed
by the TAC. DPR, in consultation with OEHHA, the ARB and local
air pollution control districts, investigates the need for, and
appropriate degree of, control for the TAC. If reductions in
exposure are needed, DPR must develop control measures to reduce
emissions to levels that adequately protect public health. In
developing control measures, DPR consults with agricultural
commissioners, air pollution control districts, and air quality
management districts. Control measures may include product
labeling changes; applicator training; limits on application
methods, crops, or locations; reclassifying the pesticide as a
restricted material; and banning the product.
DPR is not required to develop control measures for HAPTACs.
The 2013-14 Budget Act, as approved by the Legislature augmented
DPR's budget with five positions and $633,000 to increase
enforcement of state pesticide regulations. Governor Brown
reduced this augmentation by two positions and issued the
following signing message: "However, I am sustaining $383,000
and 3 positions to develop mitigation measures for toxic air
contaminants. I will be working with the Legislature over the
next few months to enact legislation that requires the
development of control measures on pesticides."
Proposed Law: This bill would require the director of DPR to
adopt control measures to protect human health from TACs within
two years of the director's determination that control measures
are necessary. For any TAC which was determined to need control
measures before January 1, 2014, the two-year period begins
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January 1, 2014.
This bill would require that HAPTACs be subject to the same risk
management assessment as a TAC to determine if control measures
are needed, and if so, what those measures should be. The
adoption of control measures for HAPTACs must also occur within
two years of the determination that such measures are needed.
If the director is unable to adopt control measures within two
years, the director would be required to submit a report to the
Legislature explain the reasons for the delay. The director must
also report on any pesticide that s/he determines no longer
needs control measures because the pesticide has been banned or
there has been a dramatic decline in use.
This bill would also make the director's written determination
and any other written comments made by the consulting agencies
available to the public.
Staff Comments: Currently there are eight listed TACs and 10
HAPTACs, of which two (one TAC and one HAPTAC) have been
determined to need control measures but no measures have yet
been approved. DPR is in the process of determining control
measures for both at this time. This bill would require that
this process be completed within two years beginning January 1,
2014. Staff notes that DPR has taken up to eight years to
develop control measures once it was determined that control
measures were needed. Despite the fact that that this bill
imposes a time limitation that is substantially shorter than
DPR's past actions, staff believes that a two-year limit is
sufficiently long to make it unlikely that this provision will
result in increased costs to DPR or its consulting agencies.
There are five HAPTACs that DPR will be required to conduct risk
management assessments for as a result of this bill's
requirement that HAPTACs be subject to the same risk management
assessment as TACs. By increasing the number of pesticides that
are subject to risk management assessments, this provision
results in likely costs. As DPR received three additional
positions in this year's budget for the purpose of developing
mitigation measures per the Governor's signing message, DPR does
not anticipate any additional costs. However, ARB and OEHHA have
indicated that to the extent that this bill increases the number
of TACs and HAPTACs reviewed, they will have increased costs.
ARB indicates that their costs could be approximately $175,000
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annually ongoing for one position. OEHHA indicates that it may
need approximately $130,000. Staff notes that ARB and OEHHA are
only consulted with in the determination if control measures are
needed, but not in the development of those control measures.
Air districts are involved in both steps. Staff believes that
the ARB and OEHHA cost estimates are likely maximums. The
Department of Food and Agriculture does not anticipate any
additional costs as a result of this bill for the agricultural
commissioners to consult with DPR on the development of control
measures.
The TAC program is likely to see additional activity, such as an
increase in the number of risk assessments performed on
candidate TACs, which may result in additional risk management
assessments, as a result of this year's budget augmentation.
Such an increase in activity may result in costs to the
consulting agencies including OEHHA and ARB regardless of the
passage of this bill. Thus, such increased costs would be a
consequence of the budget augmentation and should not be
attributed to this bill.
DPR's activities regarding TACs are paid for by the Department
of Pesticide Regulation Fund. Consulting agencies are likely to
seek reimbursement from the fund for their activities.