Amended in Senate August 22, 2014

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 BillNo. 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 Water Resources Control Board 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 requiresbegin delete the department to requireend delete repayment for costs that are subsequently recovered from parties responsible for the contamination. Existing law requires the State Department of Public Health, in collaboration with the Department of Toxic Substances Control, and the state board, 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 state board 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 available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to the state board 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 state board to disburse the funds upon the approval of an expenditure plan submitted by the grantee. 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. 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 thebegin insert stateend insert board to consult with the Department of Toxic Substances Control when considering expenditures on orphan groundwater contamination cleanup projects.begin insert The bill would authorize the state board, upon appropriation, to use moneys in the fund for its administrative costs and for directly recovering moneys from a party responsible for contamination of groundwater addressed by a grant or loan under Proposition 84, and would require that if moneys from the fund are used for legal costs in directly recovering moneys, the moneys recovered by the judgment in favor of the state board be deposited into the fund.end insert

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.

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

P3    1

SECTION 1.  

Section 75101 of the Public Resources Code is
2amended to read:

3

75101.  

(a) (1) Costs subsequently recovered from a party
4responsible for the contamination pursuant to Section 75025 shall
5be repaid to the state board and deposited in the Groundwater
6Contamination Cleanup Project Fund, which is hereby created in
7the State Treasury. Costs recovered shall be separately accounted
8for within the Groundwater Contamination Cleanup Project Fund.

9(2) Moneys in the Groundwater Contamination Cleanup Project
10Fund are available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to the
11state board for the purpose of a grant to the grantee that received
12funds and subsequently recovered costs from a responsible party
13and repaid those costs to the state in the following priority order:

14(A) Projects and activities to clean up areas of groundwater
15contamination within the grantee’s jurisdiction where the initial
16grant awarded pursuant to Section 75025 is insufficient to pay for
17the full costs of the cleanup.

18(B) Projects and activities to clean up additional areas of
19groundwater contamination within the grantee’s jurisdiction.

20(3) (A) The total amount of the grant awarded pursuant to
21Section 75025 and the amount awarded pursuant to this subdivision
22shall not exceed the grantee’s total costs to clean up contaminated
23groundwater or prevent the contamination of groundwater.

24(B) If costs recovered by the grantee and deposited in the
25Groundwater Contamination Cleanup Project Fund exceed the
26amount that may be awarded as a grant pursuant to the limit in
27subparagraph (A), the excess moneys shall be available to the state
28board, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for expenditure on
29orphan groundwater contamination cleanup projects. The state
30board shall consult with the Department of Toxic Substances
31Control when considering expenditures on orphan groundwater
32contamination cleanup projects.

33(4) The grantee shall use an amount awarded pursuant to this
34subdivision for groundwater contamination cleanup activities for
35groundwater that is a primary source of drinking water, including,
36but not limited to, ongoing treatment and remediation activities in
37accordance with the purposes of Section 75025.

P4    1(5) When seeking grant funds pursuant to paragraph (2), a
2grantee shall submit an expenditure plan to the state board for
3projects consistent with this subdivision. The state board shall
4review the submitted expenditure plan and consult with the
5Department of Toxic Substances Control forbegin delete projectsend deletebegin insert sitesend insert where
6the Department of Toxic Substances Control is the lead state
7agency. The state board shall notify the grantee if the expenditure
8plan is approved, and if approved, the state board shall disburse
9the funds.

10(6) Grants awarded pursuant to this subdivision may be used
11for capital costs and treatment and remediation activities.

12(7) Commencing no later than July 1, 2015, and annually
13thereafter until the grantee’s funds are expended, a grantee of funds
14awarded pursuant to this subdivision shall provide public notice,
15by posting a list on the grantee’s Internet Web site, of projects and
16activities that receive grant funds pursuant to this subdivision and
17the amount of those funds.

18(8) As used in this subdivision, “costs subsequently recovered
19from a party responsible for the contamination” means the amount
20of any judgment or settlement received by a grantee of funds
21received pursuant to Section 75025 from a responsible party that
22is attributable to costs funded by the grant received pursuant to
23Section 75025, less all reasonable and necessarybegin delete fees and expensesend delete
24begin insert costs of responseend insert incurred by the grantee of funds received pursuant
25to Section 75025 to recover these funds.begin insert Attorney’s fees may be
26considered reasonable and necessary costs of response if the
27attorney’s efforts are for identifying potentially responsible parties,
28but not if incurred in pursuit of litigation, consistent with the
29Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and
30Liability Act of 1980, as amended (42 U.S.C. Sec. 9601 et seq.),
31and Key Tronic Corp. v. U.S. (511 U.S. 809 (1994)).end insert

begin insert

32(9) The state board may use moneys in the Groundwater
33Contamination Cleanup Project Fund, upon appropriation by the
34Legislature, for the costs of administering this subdivision.

end insert
begin insert

35(b) The state board may directly recover moneys from a party
36responsible for contamination addressed by a loan or grant
37pursuant to Section 75025 in accordance with the procedures
38described in subdivision (c) of Section 13304 of the Water Code.
39The state board, upon appropriation by the Legislature, may use
40moneys in the Groundwater Contamination Cleanup Project Fund
P5    1for this purpose. If moneys from the Groundwater Contamination
2Cleanup Project Fund are used for legal costs pursuant to this
3subdivision, moneys recovered by a judgment in favor of the state
4board shall be deposited in that fund.

end insert
begin delete

5(b)

end delete

6begin insert(c)end insert For the purposes of implementing subdivision (a) of Section
775050, the Department of Fish and Wildlife, when funding a natural
8 community conservation plan, shall fund only the development of
9a natural community conservation plan that is consistent with the
10Natural Community Conservation Planning Act (Chapter 10
11(commencing with Section 2800) of Division 3 of the Fish and
12Game Code).

begin delete

13(c)

end delete

14begin insert(d)end insert The San Francisco Bay Area Conservancy may use the funds
15made available pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 75060 to
16restore the salt ponds in the south San Francisco Bay and to create
17trails and visitor facilities for public use in that area.



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