Amended in Assembly April 9, 2013

California Legislature—2013–14 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 1330

Introduced by Assembly Member John A. Pérez

February 22, 2013

An act to begin delete add Section 71117 end delete begin insert amend Section 54954.3 of the Government Code, and to add Sections 71117 and 71119 end insert to the Public Resources Code, relating to environmental justice.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 1330, as amended, John A. Pérez. Environmental justice.

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(1) The Ralph M. Brown Act requires a local legislative body to provide an opportunity for members of the public to directly address the body concerning any item described in a notice of meeting. The act authorizes the legislative body to adopt reasonable regulations limiting the total amount of time allocated for public testimony for each individual speaker.

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This bill would, if a local legislative body limits the time for public comment, prohibit the body from counting the time used by a translator to translate comments from a non-English-speaking commenter in determining whether the speaker has exceeded his or her time limit unless simultaneous translation equipment is used to allow the body to hear the translated public testimony simultaneously.

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Existing

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begin insert (2) end insert begin insert   end insert begin insert Existing end insert law requires the Secretary for Environmental Protection to convene a Working Group on Environmental Justice to assist the secretary in developing, by July 1, 2002, an agencywide strategy for identifying and addressing gaps in existing programs, policies, or activities of the agency’s boards, departments, and offices that may impede the achievement of environmental justice.

This bill would require the secretary, with the assistance of the begin insert Cal/EPA Interagency end insert Working Group on Environmental Justice, to periodically revise and update the agencywide strategy to identify and address any additional gaps. The bill would require the secretary to submit to the Governor and the Legislature, by July 1, 2014, a report on the revision and update of the strategy.

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(3) The bill would require each board, department, and office of the California Environmental Protection Agency to maintain a publicly available database on its Internet Web site of its ongoing enforcement cases and compliance histories of its regulated entities. The bill would require the California Environmental Protection Agency to provide links to the databases on its Internet Web site.

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

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

SECTION 1.  

(a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:

(1) The Legislature, in 2001, enacted Senate Bill 828 of the
2001-02 Regular Session (Chapter 765 of the Statutes of 2001) to
require the California Environmental Protection Agency to convene
a Working Group on Environmental Justice to assist the agency
in developing an agencywide strategy for identifying and
addressing gaps in existing programs, policies, or activities that
may impede the achievement of environmental justice.

(2) After the development of the strategy, Senate Bill 828
requires each board, department, and office within the agency, in
coordination with the Secretary for Environmental Protection and
the Director of the Office of Planning and Research, to review its
programs, policies, or activities that may impede the achievement
of environmental justice.

(3) Senate Bill 828 also requires the secretary to submit, on a
triennial basis beginning on January 1, 2004, a report to the
Governor and the Legislature, on the implementation of begin insert the end insert above
requirements.

(4) In September of 2004, the agency submitted to the Governor
and the Legislature a report on actions taken to implement Senate
Bill 828.

(5) In October of 2004, the agency issued the Environmental
Justice Action Plan identifying opportunities for the agency and
its boards, departments, and offices to take the initial steps toward
addressing environmental justice issues.

(6) Since 2004, the agency has not submitted a report to the
Governor or the Legislature on the implementation of the
Environmental Justice Action Plan.

(7)  begin delete Additionally end delete begin insert Additionally, end insert issues regarding environmental
begin delete justice, end delete begin insert justice end insert not addressed by the begin delete agency, end delete begin insert agency end insert may have
arisen since 2004.

(b) It is the intent of the Legislature that the agency should
update the Environmental Justice Action Plan to address issues
regarding environmental justice that may begin delete be end delete begin insert have end insert arisen since 2004
that may have impeded the achievement of environmental justice.

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(c) It is further the intent of the Legislature to ensure increased
public participation from individuals in the environmental justice
community in the governmental decisionmaking process.

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begin insert SEC. 2. end insert   

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begin insert Section 54954.3 of the end insert begin insert Government Code end insert begin insert is amended
to read: end insert

54954.3.  

(a) Every agenda for regular meetings shall provide
an opportunity for members of the public to directly address the
legislative body on any item of interest to the public, before or
during the legislative body’s consideration of the item, that is
within the subject matter jurisdiction of the legislative body,
provided that no action shall be taken on any item not appearing
on the agenda unless the action is otherwise authorized by
subdivision (b) of Section 54954.2. However, the agenda need not
provide an opportunity for members of the public to address the
legislative body on any item that has already been considered by
a committee, composed exclusively of members of the legislative
body, at a public meeting wherein all interested members of the
public were afforded the opportunity to address the committee on
the item, before or during the committee’s consideration of the
item, unless the item has been substantially changed since the
committee heard the item, as determined by the legislative body.
Every notice for a special meeting shall provide an opportunity
for members of the public to directly address the legislative body
concerning any item that has been described in the notice for the
meeting before or during consideration of that item.

(b) The legislative body of a local agency may adopt reasonable
regulations to ensure that the intent of subdivision (a) is carried
out, including, but not limited to, regulations limiting the total
amount of time allocated for public testimony on particular issues
and for each individual speaker.

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(c) (1) To ensure that a non-English speaker who uses a
translator receives the same opportunity to directly address the
legislative body of a local agency as a speaker who does not use
a translator, notwithstanding subdivision (b), if that body limits
time for public comment, the time used by a translator to translate
a non-English speaker’s comments into English shall not count
toward the speaker’s allotted time.

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(2) Paragraph (1) shall not apply if the legislative body of a
local agency utilizes simultaneous translation equipment in a
manner that allows that body to hear the translated public
testimony simultaneously.

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(c)

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begin insert (d) end insert  The legislative body of a local agency shall not prohibit
public criticism of the policies, procedures, programs, or services
of the agency, or of the acts or omissions of the legislative body.
Nothing in this subdivision shall confer any privilege or protection
for expression beyond that otherwise provided by law.

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begin insert SEC. 3. end insert   

Section 71117 is added to the Public Resources Code,
to read:

71117.  

(a) The Secretary for Environmental begin delete Justice end delete begin insert Protection end insert
shall, with the assistance of the begin insert Cal/EPA Interagency end insert Working
Group on Environmental Justice, periodically revise and update
the agencywide strategy developed pursuant to Section 71113 to
identify and address any additional gaps in existing programs,
policies, or activities that begin delete impedes end delete begin insert impede end insert the achievement of
environmental justice.

(b) (1) On or before July 1, 2014, the secretary shall submit to
the Governor and the Legislature a report on the implementation
of this section.

(2) The report required by paragraph (1) that is submitted to the
Legislature shall be submitted pursuant to Section 9795 of the
Government Code.

(3) Pursuant to Section 10231.5 of the Government Code, this
subdivision is inoperative on July 1, 2018.

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begin insert SEC. 4. end insert   

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begin insert Section 71119 is added to the end insert begin insert Public Resources Code end insert begin insert ,
to read: end insert

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begin insert 71119. end insert   

(a) Each board, department, and office of the
California Environmental Protection Agency shall maintain a
public database on its Internet Web site of its ongoing enforcement
cases, to the extent the information on the database would normally
be available pursuant to the California Public Records Act
(Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 6250) of Division 7 of
Title 1 of the Government Code), and compliance histories of its
regulated entities that have committed violations focusing on
information related to how the entities rectified the violation.

(b) The California Environmental Protection Agency shall
provide links to the databases on its Internet Web site.

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