BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SB 483
Author: Jackson (D)
Amended: As introduced
Vote: 21
SENATE ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY COMMITTEE : 9-0, 4/3/13
AYES: Hill, Gaines, Calderon, Corbett, Fuller, Hancock,
Jackson, Leno, Pavley
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
SUBJECT : Hazardous materials: business and area plans
SOURCE : California Association of Environmental Health
Administrators
California Fire Chiefs Association
DIGEST : This bill revises and recasts the area and business
plan requirements in existing law, which authorizes a unified
program agency (UPA) to implement and enforce specified
provisions. This bill requires instead a UPA enforce these
requirements.
ANALYSIS :
Existing law:
1. Requires the Secretary for the California Environmental
Protection Agency (Cal/EPA) to adopt regulations and
implement a unified hazardous waste and hazardous materials
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management regulatory program (Unified Program).
2. Establishes the respective responsibilities of UPA,
designated to implement that unified program, locally, and
requires the Secretary to establish a statewide information
management system for purposes of receiving data collected by
UPAs.
3. Specifies the contents of the business plan required of the
hazardous materials handler and requires the plan to be
submitted to the administering agency. Existing law requires
the administering agency to submit to the Office of Emergency
Services, the area plan, a plan to conduct onsite inspection,
and a plan to institute a data management system. A
violation of the business plan requirements is a misdemeanor.
This bill:
1. Revises and recasts the area and business plan requirements
in existing law, which authorizes a UPA to implement and
enforce provisions that require (1) the administering agency
to establish area plans for emergency response to a release
or threatened release of a hazardous material and (2) a
business that handles a hazardous material to establish and
implement a business plan for such a response. This bill
requires instead a UPA enforce these requirements.
2. Requires the inspection program that is part of the unified
program to include the onsite inspections of businesses and
deletes the requirement to institute a data management
system. This bill requires the UPA to provide to agencies
that have certain shared responsibilities, access to
information collected in the statewide information management
system and requires handlers to submit certain information to
that system, as specified.
Background
SB 1082 (Calderon, Chapter 418, Statutes of 1993) required the
Secretary to establish a Unified Program by January 1, 1996.
Currently, there are 83 Certified Unified Program Agencies
(CUPA) in California. All counties have been certified by the
Secretary. The Unified Program consolidates, coordinates, and
makes consistent six existing programs, as specified.
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A local agency, such as a county or city, applies to Cal/EPA for
certification as the UPA, responsible for implementing the
Unified Program within its jurisdiction. A CUPA must establish
a program which consolidates, coordinates and makes consistent
the administrative requirements, permits, inspection activities,
enforcement activities, and hazardous waste and hazardous
materials fees. The implementation of the Unified Program must
not result in more fragmentation between jurisdictions than
existed before the Unified Program, and the Unified Program must
be consistent throughout the entire county.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
SUPPORT : (Verified 5/22/13)
California Association of Environmental Health Administrators
(co-source)
California Fire Chiefs Association (co-source)
Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors
Humboldt County Department of Health and Human Services
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The California Association of
Environmental Health Administrators states, this bill is
intended to correct and revise redundant provisions of this
chapter which deals with the hazardous materials management
regulatory program. Specifically this bill (1) updates fire
code section citations; (2) changes the term "administering
agency" to "unified program agency"; (3) updates references to
California Environmental Reporting System; (4) requires CUPAs to
provide access to data in a mutually agreeable format and
timeframe; and (5) requires training documentation; make site
plans mandatory; and remove various outdated provisions.
These changes to current code have been proposed by a working
group of CUPAs as part of an ongoing effort to enhance program
compliance but eliminating outdated provisions, and regulatory
duplication, redundancies and inconsistencies in the Unified
Program laws and regulations.
RM:k 5/22/13 Senate Floor Analyses
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SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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