BILL NUMBER: AB 1827	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MARCH 28, 2014

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Patterson

                        FEBRUARY 18, 2014

   An act  to add Section 12812.7 to the Government Code, 
relating to state government.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 1827, as amended, Patterson. State bodies:  environmental
agencies:  administrative and civil penalties.
   Existing law authorizes certain state bodies to impose and enforce
civil and administrative penalties upon businesses for regulatory
violations.  Existing law establishes the California
Environmental Protection Agency and the Natural Resources Agency and
various boards, commissions, departments, divisions, and offices
within those 2 agencies.  
   This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact
legislation to require all state bodies to allow specified businesses
to cure minor violations that do not cause actual public harm or
physical injury prior to the imposition of civil penalties,
administrative penalties, or both. This bill would state legislative
findings regarding enforcement programs.  
   This bill would require an agency, board, commission, department,
division, or office within the California Environmental Protection
Agency or the Natural Resources Agency, prior to the imposition of an
administrative or civil penalty for a minor violation, to allow a
business with 50 or fewer employees an opportunity to cure the
violation. 
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee:  no
  yes  . State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

   SECTION 1.    The Legislature finds and declares that
the primary purpose of enforcement programs administered by
agencies, boards, commissions, departments, divisions, and offices
within the California Environmental Protection Agency or the Natural
Resources Agency is to seek to bring about compliance with the law
and that financial penalties shall only be imposed in the absence of
good faith compliance efforts or after repeated violation of rules
and regulations, and in a manner in which the amount of the financial
penalty accurately and justly reflects the seriousness of the
violation. 
   SEC. 2.    Section 12812.7 is added to the  
Government Code   , to read:  
   12812.7.  (a) Notwithstanding any other law, prior to the
imposition of an administrative or civil penalty, an agency, board,
commission, department, division, or office within the California
Environmental Protection Agency or the Natural Resources Agency shall
allow a business with 50 or fewer employees an opportunity to cure a
minor violation that did not cause an actual harm to the public or
physical injury to a person, or endanger the public health and
safety.
   (b) For the purpose of this section, a minor violation does not
include any of the following:
   (1) A knowing, willful, or intentional violation.
   (2) A violation that enabled the violator to benefit economically
from noncompliance.
   (3) A chronic violation by a recalcitrant violator.  

  SECTION 1.    (a) It is the intent of the
Legislature to enact legislation, notwithstanding any other law, to
require all state bodies, as defined by Section 11121 of the
Government Code, to allow businesses that have 50 or fewer full-time
employees an opportunity to cure minor regulatory violations that did
not cause actual public harm or physical injury to any person prior
to the imposition of administrative penalties, civil penalties, or
both.
   (b) The Legislature finds and declares that the primary purpose of
enforcement programs administered by state bodies is to seek to
bring about compliance with the law, and that financial penalties
shall only be imposed in the absence of good faith compliance efforts
or after repeated violation of rules and regulations, and in a
manner in which the amount of the financial penalty accurately and
justly reflects the seriousness of the offense.