Amended in Senate August 19, 2014

Amended in Senate May 19, 2014

Amended in Assembly April 16, 2013

California Legislature—2013–14 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 1043

Introduced by Assembly Member Chau

(Coauthor: Senator Hernandez)

February 22, 2013

An act to amend Section 75101 of the Public Resources Code, relating to groundwater.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 1043, as amended, Chau. Safe Drinking Water, Water Quality and Supply, Flood Control, River and Coastal Protection Bond Act of 2006: groundwater contamination.

The Safe Drinking Water, Water Quality and Supply, Flood Control, River and Coastal Protection Bond Act of 2006, an initiative statute approved by the voters as Proposition 84 at the November 7, 2006, statewide general election, makes approximately $5.4 billion in bond funds available for safe drinking water, water quality and supply, flood control, natural resource protection, and park improvements. The initiative bond act makes $60,000,000 available to the State begin delete Department of Public Health end delete begin insert Water Resources Control Board end insert for the purpose of loans and grants for projects to prevent or reduce contamination of groundwater that serves as a source of drinking water and requires the department to require repayment for costs that are subsequently recovered from parties responsible for the contamination. Existing law requires the begin delete department end delete begin insert State Department of Public Health end insert , in collaboration with the Department of Toxic Substances Control, begin delete or DTSC, end delete and the begin delete State Water Resources Control Board, end delete begin insert state board, end insert to develop and adopt regulations governing the repayment of costs that are subsequently recovered from parties responsible for the contamination of groundwater.

This bill would eliminate the requirement to develop and adopt regulations and instead would require that costs subsequently recovered from a party responsible for the contamination, as defined, be repaid to the begin delete State Department of Public Health end delete begin insert state board end insert and deposited, and separately accounted for, in the Groundwater Contamination Cleanup Project Fund, which this bill would create in the State Treasury. This bill would require moneys in the fund to be begin delete continuously appropriated, without regard to fiscal years, end delete begin insert available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, end insert to the begin delete Department of Toxic Substances Control end delete begin insert state board end insert for a grant to the grantee that received a grant to prevent or reduce contamination of groundwater pursuant to Proposition 84 and subsequently recovered costs from a responsible party and repaid those costs to the state. This bill would require the begin delete Department of Toxic Substances Control end delete begin insert state board end insert to disburse the funds upon begin delete receipt end delete begin insert the approval end insert of an expenditure plan begin delete from end delete begin insert submitted by end insert the begin delete grantee if the department reviews the plan and concurs that the proposed expenditures by the grantee are consistent with certain requirements. end delete begin insert grantee. end insert This bill would prohibit the total amount of a grant from the fund and a grant received to prevent or reduce contamination of groundwater pursuant to Proposition 84 from exceeding the grantee’s total costs to cleanup contaminated groundwater or prevent the contamination of groundwater. begin insert This bill would require moneys recovered from a responsible party in excess of the amount that may be awarded as a grant to be available from the fund to the state board, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for expenditure on orphan groundwater contamination cleanup projects and would require the board to consult with the Department of Toxic Substances Control when considering expenditures on orphan groundwater contamination cleanup projects. end insert

begin delete

Existing law, the Carpenter-Presley-Tanner Hazardous Substance Account Act, creates in the General Fund the Site Remediation Account, and authorizes the money in that account to be expended by DTSC, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for direct site remediation costs.

end delete begin delete

The bill would require moneys recovered from a responsible party in excess of the amount that may be awarded as a grant to be transferred to the Site Remediation Account, to be used for certain orphan groundwater contamination cleanup projects.

end delete

Vote:  begin delete ²⁄₃ end delete begin insert majority end insert . Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.  

Section 75101 of the Public Resources Code is
amended to read:

75101.  

(a) (1) Costs subsequently recovered from a party
responsible for the contamination pursuant to Section 75025 shall
be repaid to the begin delete State Department of Public Health end delete begin insert state board end insert and
deposited in the Groundwater Contamination Cleanup Project
Fund, which is hereby created in the State Treasury. Costs
recovered shall be separately accounted for within the Groundwater
Contamination Cleanup Project Fund.

(2)  begin delete Notwithstanding Section 13340 of the Government Code,
moneys end delete begin insert Moneys end insert in the Groundwater Contamination Cleanup
Project Fund are begin delete continuously appropriated, without regard to
fiscal years, end delete begin insert available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, end insert to
the begin delete Department of Toxic Substances Control end delete begin insert state board end insert for the
purpose of a grant to the grantee that received funds and
subsequently recovered costs from a responsible party and repaid
those costs to the state in the following priority order:

(A) Projects and activities to clean up areas of groundwater
contamination within the grantee’s jurisdiction where the initial
grant awarded pursuant to Section 75025 is insufficient to pay for
the full costs of the cleanup.

(B) Projects and activities to clean up additional areas of
groundwater contamination within the grantee’s jurisdiction.

(3) (A) The total amount of the grant awarded pursuant to
Section 75025 and the amount awarded pursuant to this subdivision
shall not exceed the grantee’s total costs to clean up contaminated
groundwater or prevent the contamination of groundwater.

(B) If costs recovered by the grantee and deposited in the
Groundwater Contamination Cleanup Project Fund exceed the
amount that may be awarded as a grant pursuant to the limit in
subparagraph (A), the excess moneys shall be begin delete transferred to the
Site Remediation Account, established pursuant to Section 25337
of the Health and Safety Code. Recovered funds deposited into
the account shall be used by the Department of Toxic Substances
Control for orphan groundwater contamination cleanup projects
at sites that are on the list maintained by the Department of Toxic
Substances Control pursuant to Section 25356 of the Health and
Safety Code or on the National Priorities List pursuant to the
Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and
Liability Act of 1980 (42 U.S.C. Sec. 9601 et seq.), as amended. end delete
begin insert available to the state board, upon appropriation by the Legislature,
for expenditure on orphan groundwater contamination cleanup
projects. The state board shall consult with the Department of
Toxic Substances Control when considering expenditures on
orphan groundwater contamination cleanup projects. end insert

(4) The grantee shall use an amount awarded pursuant to this
subdivision for groundwater contamination cleanup activities for
groundwater that is a primary source of drinking water, including,
but not limited to, ongoing treatment and remediation activities in
accordance with the purposes of Section 75025.

begin delete

(5) The Department of Toxic Substances Control shall disburse
the funds upon receipt of an expenditure plan from the grantee if
the Department of Toxic Substances Control reviews the plan and
concurs that the proposed expenditures by the grantee are consistent
with paragraphs (2) to (4), inclusive.

end delete begin insert

(5) When seeking grant funds pursuant to paragraph (2), a
grantee shall submit an expenditure plan to the state board for
projects consistent with this subdivision. The state board shall
review the submitted expenditure plan and consult with the
Department of Toxic Substances Control for projects where the
Department of Toxic Substances Control is the lead state agency.
The state board shall notify the grantee if the expenditure plan is
approved, and if approved, the state board shall disburse the funds.

end insert

(6) Grants awarded pursuant to this subdivision may be used
for capital costs and treatment and remediation activities.

(7) Commencing no later than July 1, 2015, and annually
thereafter until the grantee’s funds are expended, a grantee of funds
awarded pursuant to this subdivision shall provide public notice,
by posting a list on the grantee’s Internet Web site, of projects and
activities that receive grant funds pursuant to this subdivision and
the amount of those funds.

(8) As used in this subdivision, “costs subsequently recovered
from a party responsible for the contamination” means the amount
of any judgment or settlement received by a grantee of funds
received pursuant to Section 75025 from a responsible party that
is attributable to costs funded by the grant received pursuant to
Section 75025, less all reasonable and necessary fees and expenses
incurred by the grantee of funds received pursuant to Section 75025
to recover these funds.

(b) For the purposes of implementing subdivision (a) of Section
75050, the Department of Fish and begin delete Game, end delete begin insert Wildlife, end insert when funding
a natural community conservation plan, shall fund only the
development of a natural community conservation plan that is
consistent with the Natural Community Conservation Planning
Act (Chapter 10 (commencing with Section 2800) of Division 3
of the Fish and Game Code).

(c) The San Francisco Bay Area Conservancy may use the funds
made available pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 75060 to
restore the salt ponds in the south San Francisco Bay and to create
trails and visitor facilities for public use in that area.