BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                  AB 1330
                                                                  Page 1

          Date of Hearing:  April 1, 2013

                       ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES
                                Wesley Chesbro, Chair
                 AB 1330 (Pérez) - As Introduced:  February 22, 2013
           
          SUBJECT  :  Environmental justice

           SUMMARY  :  Requires the California Protection Agency (CalEPA) to  
          update its environmental justice strategy and report related  
          information to the Governor and the Legislature.  

           EXISTING LAW  : 

          1)Defines "environmental justice" to mean the fair treatment of  
            people of all races, cultures, and incomes with respect to the  
            development, adoption, implementation, and enforcement of  
            environmental laws, regulations, and policies. 

          2)Requires CalEPA to: 

             a)   Conduct its programs, policies, and activities, and  
               enforce all health and environmental statutes within its  
               jurisdiction in a manner that ensures the fair treatment of  
               people of all races, cultures, and income levels, including  
               minority and low-income populations. 

             b)   Convene a Working Group on Environmental Justice  
               (Working Group) comprised of the Secretary for  
               Environmental Protection, the Chairs of the Air Resources  
               Board (ARB), the California Integrated Waste Management  
               Board (now CalRecycle), the State Water Resources Control  
               Board, the Director of Toxic Substances Control, the  
               Director of Pesticide Regulation, the Director of  
               Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, and the Director of  
               Planning and Research. The Working Group has been tasked  
               with examining existing data and studies on environmental  
               justice and recommending policies for implementation by  
               CalEPA. 

             c)   No later than July 1, 2002, adopt an agency-wide  
               strategy for identifying and addressing gaps in existing  
               programs, policies, or activities of CalEPA's boards,  
               departments, and offices that may impede the achievement of  
               environmental justice.  








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             d)   No later than January 1, 2004, and every three years  
               thereafter, prepare and submit a report to the Governor and  
               the Legislature on the implementation of these  
               requirements.  

          3)Establishes the Environmental Justice Small Grant Program,  
            administered by CalEPA, to award funds to community-based,  
            grassroots nonprofit organizations serving communities  
            adversely impacted by environmental justice issues. 

          4)Names the Office of Planning and Research (OPR) as the  
            coordinating agency in state government for environmental  
            justice programs. 

          5)Pursuant to open meeting requirements, requires the  
            legislative body of a city, county, or state agency to:

             a)   During regular meetings, provide an opportunity for a  
               member of the public to address the legislative body on any  
               item of interest to the public, before or during the  
               legislative body's consideration of that item; 

             b)   During special meetings, provide an opportunity for a  
               member of the public to address the legislative body  
               concerning any item described in the notice of the special  
               meeting, before or during consideration of that item; and, 

             c)   Not prohibit public criticism of the policies,  
               procedures, programs, or services of the agency, or of the  
               acts or omissions of the legislative body.

          6)Requires CalEPA to identify disadvantaged communities based on  
            geographic, socioeconomic, public health, and environmental  
            hazard criteria for investment opportunities using the  
            Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (i.e., cap-and-trade action  
            revenues). 

           THIS BILL  :

          1)States numerous findings and declarations relating to the  
            current statutory requirements for environmental justice and  
            the administration's implementation of those requirements.  

          2)Requires CalEPA, with the assistance of the Working Group, to  








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            periodically revise and update the agency-wide strategy  
            developed in 2004 to address any additional gaps in existing  
            programs, policies, or activities that impede the achievement  
            of environmental justice.  

          3)On or before July 1, 2014, requires the Secretary of CalEPA to  
            submit a report to the Governor and the Legislature on the  
            implementation of this bill.  

          4)Sunsets the above requirements on July 1, 2018.  

           FISCAL EFFECT  :  Unknown

           COMMENTS  :   

           1)Background .  According to the Office of Environmental Health  
            Hazard Assessment (OEHHA), approximately 8 million  
            Californians (21 percent) live in zip codes that are  
            considered "highly impacted" by environmental, public health,  
            and socioeconomic stressors.  Nearly half of all Californians  
            live within six miles of a facility that is a significant  
            greenhouse gas emitter (46 percent), but they are  
            disproportionately people of color (62 percent).   Throughout  
            California, people of color face a 50 percent higher risk of  
            cancer from ambient concentrations of air pollutants listed  
            under the Clean Air Act.  These impacts are felt by all  
            Californians.  ARB estimates that air pollution exposure  
            accounts for 19,000 premature deaths, 280,000 cases of asthma,  
            and 1.9 million lost work days every year.  

            In 2000, legislation [SB 89 (Escutia), Chapter 728] required  
            CalEPA to convene the Environmental Justice Working Group and  
            develop an agency-wide environmental justice strategy.  In  
            2001, follow up legislation [SB 828 (Alarcon), Chapter 765]  
            established a timeline for these requirements and required  
            CalEPA to update its report to the Legislature every three  
            years.  In October of 2004, CalEPA released its Environmental  
            Justice Action Plan; however, the agency has never completed  
            the required updates.  
            In 2012, SB 535 (De Leon), Chapter 830 required CalEPA to  
            identify disadvantaged communities for investment  
            opportunities using the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund.   
            Pursuant to this requirement, OEHHA has developed the  
            California Communities Environmental Health Screening Tool  
            (CalEnviroScreen) that will use existing environmental,  








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            health, and socioeconomic data to determine the extent to  
            which communities across the state are burdened by and  
            vulnerable to pollution.  OEHHA states that the results  
            generated by CalEnviroScreen are not intended to assign  
            responsibility for any issues identified.  The intent is to  
            provide information that enables the state to focus time,  
            resources, and programs on areas that are in the greatest need  
            of assistance.  

           2)This bill  .  AB 1330 requires CalEPA to keep the Legislature  
            and the Governor apprised of environmental justice activities  
            throughout California.  This bill is also intended to ensure  
            that all Californians that wish to participate in the public  
            process are given an equal opportunity to do so and that  
            information relating to previous violations and enforcement  
            activities of regulated entities is available to the public.  

           3)Suggested amendments  :  In order to more fully meet the goals  
            of the bill and to increase public participation for  
            non-English speakers at public meetings, the author may wish  
            to amend the bill as follows: 

             a)   Specify that, under the Government Code requirements  
               relating to open meetings, when a non-English speaker uses  
               a translator in a public meeting, the time used by the  
               translator to translate the speaker's comments does not  
               count toward the speaker's allotted speaking time.  

             b)   Require each board, department, or office within CalEPA  
               to maintain a public database on its website of its ongoing  
               enforcement cases, to the extent that the information on  
               the database would normally be available through a public  
               records act request, and compliance histories of its  
               regulated entities that have committed violations focused  
               on information related to how the entities rectified the  
               violation.

             c)   Add related legislative intent language. 

           REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION  :

           Support 
           American Association of University Women - California
          Asian Pacific Environmental Network
          Breathe California








                                                                  AB 1330
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          California Environmental Justice Alliance 
          Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice 
          Center on Race, Poverty, and the Environment

           Opposition 
           None on file
           
          Analysis Prepared by  :  Elizabeth MacMillan / NAT. RES. / (916)  
          319-2092