BILL ANALYSIS Ó
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1330|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|1020 N Street, Suite 524 | |
|(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | |
|327-4478 | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1330
Author: John A. Pérez (D)
Amended: 4/9/13 in Assembly
Vote: 21
SENATE ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY COMMITTEE : 8-1, 6/26/13
AYES: Hill, Gaines, Calderon, Corbett, Hancock, Jackson, Leno,
Pavley
NOES: Fuller
SENATE GOVERNANCE & FINANCE COMMITTEE : 6-1, 7/3/13
AYES: Wolk, Beall, DeSaulnier, Emmerson, Hernandez, Liu
NOES: Knight
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 6-1, 8/30/13
AYES: De León, Gaines, Hill, Lara, Padilla, Steinberg
NOES: Walters
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 74-2, 5/29/13 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Environmental justice
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill directs the California Environmental
Protection Agency (Cal/EPA) to update the Environmental Justice
Action Plan; requires related agencies to post online,
information on enforcement actions; and amends the Ralph M.
Brown Act (Act) to ensure access to public meetings by
limited-English-speakers.
CONTINUED
AB 1330
Page
2
ANALYSIS :
Existing law:
1. Requires Cal/EPA to:
A. Conduct its programs in a manner that ensures the
fair treatment of people of all races, cultures, and
income levels, including minority populations and
low-income populations of the state;
B. Promote greater public participation in the agency's
development, adoption, and implementation of
environmental policies and rules; and
C. Improve research and data collection for programs
within Cal/EPA relating to the health of, and
environment of, people of all races, cultures, and
income levels, including minority populations and
low-income populations of the state (SB 828, Alarcón,
Chapter 765, Statutes of 2001).
2. Under the 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.
3. Establishes the Environmental Justice Small Grant Program,
administered by Cal/EPA, 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 as the coordinating
agency in state government for environmental justice
programs.
5. Requires Cal/EPA 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).
CONTINUED
AB 1330
Page
3
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. Amends the Act to ensure that local agency regulations, which
may set time limits for public testimony, recognize the need
for additional time for interpreter services so that language
barriers do not result in reduced opportunities for public
testimony for some speakers.
3. Requires Cal/EPA, with the assistance of the Environmental
Justice Working Group, to 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. On or
before July 1, 2014, requires the Secretary of Cal/EPA to
submit a report to the Governor and the Legislature on the
implementation of this provision.
4. Requires each board, department, or office within Cal/EPA to
maintain a public database on its Web site 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.
5. Sunsets Cal/EPA's reporting requirement on July 1, 2018.
Background
According to the OEHHA, approximately 8 million Californians
(21%) 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%), but
they are disproportionately people of color (62%). Throughout
California, people of color face a 50% higher risk of cancer
from ambient concentrations of air pollutants listed under the
Clean Air Act. These impacts are felt by all Californians. The
CONTINUED
AB 1330
Page
4
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.
California Communities Environmental Health Screening Tool
(CalEnviroScreen) . Cal/EPA and OEHHA have developed the
nation's first comprehensive screening methodology to identify
California communities that are disproportionately burdened by
multiple sources of pollution and presents the statewide results
of the analysis using the screening tool.
Cal/EPA released two public review drafts of the CalEnviroScreen
on July 30, 2012 and January 3, 2013. Public comments on the
draft reports were received at a series of regional and
stakeholder-specific workshops held throughout the state, an
Academic Expert Panel workshop, at two meetings of the
Cumulative Impacts and Precautionary Approaches Work Group, and
in written comments from the public.
CalEnviroScreen is meant to be used primarily to assist Cal/EPA
and its boards, departments, and office in carrying out its
environmental justice mission: to conduct its activities in a
manner that ensures the fair treatment of all Californians,
including minority and low-income populations. CalEnviroScreen
is the next step in the implementation of Cal/EPA's 2004
Environmental Justice Action Plan, which called for the
development of guidance to analyze the impacts of multiple
pollution sources in California communities.
The initial drafts show which portions of the state have higher
pollution burdens and vulnerabilities than other areas, and
therefore are most in need of assistance. In a time of limited
resources, it will provide meaningful insight into how decision
makers can focus available time, resources, and programs to
improve the environmental health of Californians, particularly
those most burdened by pollution. The tool uses existing
environmental, health, demographic and socioeconomic data to
create a screening score for communities across the state. An
area with a high score would be expected to experience much
higher impacts than areas with low scores.
Cal/EPA and OEHHA are committed to revising the tool in the
future, in an open and public process, as new information
becomes available in order to make the tool as meaningful and as
CONTINUED
AB 1330
Page
5
current as possible. Over the next several years, Cal/EPA plans
to refine the tool by considering additional indicators,
modifying the geographic scale, enhancing the current
indicators, and reassessing the tool's methodology. In addition,
Cal/EPA will look for new ways to ensure the tool is accessible
and comprehensible to the public.
Previous Legislation
SB 535 (De Leon, Chapter 830, Statutes of 2012) requires Cal/EPA
to identify disadvantaged communities for investment
opportunities using the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund.
SB 89 (Escutia, Chapter 728, Statutes of 2000) requires Cal/EPA
to convene the Working Group and develop an agency-wide
environmental justice strategy.
SB 828 (Alarcon, Chapter 765, Statutes of 2001) establishes a
timeline for the requirements of SB 89, and requires Cal/EPA to
update its report to the Legislature every three years. (In
October of 2004, Cal/EPA released its Environmental Justice
Action Plan; however, Cal/EPA has never completed the required
updates.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
Ongoing costs of at least $600,000 from various special funds
for database changes, hardware, and personnel.
A onetime appropriation of $800,000 to the Department of Toxic
Substances Control (DTSC) from the Hazardous Waste Control
Account (special) to develop the hazardous waste reduction
plan and to make related necessary changes to DTSC policies or
regulations.
Unknown ongoing costs, likely in the mid-hundreds of thousands
of dollars from the Hazardous Waste Control Account for DTSC's
CONTINUED
AB 1330
Page
6
implementation of the hazardous waste reduction plan.
Ongoing costs in the low-hundreds of thousands of dollars from
the Hazardous Waste Control Account to participate and support
in the Hazardous Waste Reduction Advisory Committee.
Unknown increased revenues from increased fines and penalties
to the Toxic Substances Control Account (General) as a result
of the doubling of maximum penalties and fines, and must be
used to fund environmentally beneficial projects located
within an environmental justice community.
Unknown administrative costs to Cal/EPA to administer the
Environmental Justice Small Grant Program and the funding of
the Green Zone Environmental projects, including the
development of guidelines for designating Green Zone
Environmental Projects.
Unknown annual costs, likely in the low- to mid-hundreds of
thousands of dollars, to Cal/EPA to identify Environmental
Justice Communities.
One-time costs in the mid-hundreds of thousands of dollars
from various special funds to develop regulations regarding
the automatic revocation of a facility permits for a facility
located in an environmental justice community that has had
three separate violations within a five-year period that
threaten the public health or the environment.
Possible reimbursable state mandate in the tens to hundreds of
thousands of dollars regarding public meeting and outreach
requirements for local governments.
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/30/13)
American Association of University Women
Asian Pacific Environmental Network
Breathe California
California Environmental Justice Alliance
CONTINUED
AB 1330
Page
7
Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice
Center on Race, Poverty, and the Environment
Central Basin Municipal Water District
Communities for a Better Environment
Environmental Defense Fund
Environmental Health Coalition
People Organizing to Demand Environmental and Economic Rights
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 74-2, 5/29/13
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Bigelow,
Blumenfield, Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown,
Buchanan, Ian Calderon, Campos, Chau, Chávez, Chesbro, Conway,
Cooley, Dahle, Daly, Dickinson, Eggman, Fong, Fox, Frazier,
Beth Gaines, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gorell,
Gray, Grove, Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Roger Hernández, Jones,
Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Linder, Logue, Lowenthal, Maienschein,
Medina, Melendez, Mitchell, Morrell, Mullin, Muratsuchi,
Nazarian, Nestande, Olsen, Pan, Patterson, Perea, V. Manuel
Pérez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Salas, Skinner, Stone,
Ting, Wagner, Weber, Wieckowski, Wilk, Williams, Yamada, John
A. Pérez
NOES: Donnelly, Mansoor
NO VOTE RECORDED: Bloom, Holden, Waldron, Vacancy
RM:d 9/1/13 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
**** END ****
CONTINUED