BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 483
Page 1
Date of Hearing: July 2, 2013
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY AND TOXIC MATERIALS
Luis Alejo, Chair
SB 483 (Jackson) - As Amended: July 1, 2013
SENATE VOTE : 37-0
SUBJECT : Local agency oversight of hazardous material.
SUMMARY : This bill revises and recasts the area and business
plan requirements regarding unified program agencies (UPA).
Specifically, this bill :
1) Requires the inspection program that is part of the
unified program to include the onsite inspection of
businesses and would delete the requirement to institute a
data management system. The bill would require the unified
program agency to provide to agencies that have certain
shared responsibilities access to information collected in
the statewide information management system and would
require handlers to submit certain information to that
system.
2) Requires that business plan information be submitted in
an electronic format to the California Environmental
Reporting System (CERS).
3) Extends the sunset date from 2010 to January 2015 for
the exemption from the Toxics in Packaging Prevention Act
(TPPA) for regulated metals that are the result of
unintended contamination from the use of recycled packaging
material.
4) Deletes obsolete provisions and makes general conforming
changes.
SB 483
Page 2
EXISTING LAW :
1)Requires the Secretary of the California Environmental
Protection Agency (CalEPA) to adopt regulations and implement
a unified hazardous waste and hazardous materials management
regulatory program.
2) Establishes the respective responsibilities of unified
program agencies, designated to implement that unified
program, locally, and requires the Secretary of CalEPA to
establish a statewide information management system for
purposes of receiving data collected by unified program
agencies.
3) Establishes the responsibility of a local administering
agency authorized to implement and enforce provisions that
require (a) the administering agency to establish area
plans for emergency response to a release or threatened
release of a hazardous material and (b) a business that
handles a hazardous material to establish and implement a
business plan for such a response. Existing law authorizes
a unified program agency to implement and enforce these
provisions as an administering agency.
4) 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.
5)Prohibits, with exceptions, a manufacturer, supplier or person
from offering for sale or for promotional purposes a package
SB 483
Page 3
or packaging component that includes an intentionally
introduced regulated metal or in which the sum of the
incidental total concentration levels of the regulated metals
exceeds 100 parts per million by weight.
6)Exempted, until January 1, 2010, package and packaging
components from having to comply with the prohibition if the
manufacturer or supplier complies with specified documentation
requirements and the package or packaging component meets
specified conditions.
FISCAL EFFECT : The Senate Appropriations Committee moved this
bill out of its committee pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8
indicating insignificant state costs.
COMMENTS :
1)Need for the bill . According to the author, "SB 483 is a
technical bill that updates, rearranges, and clarifies Health
and Safety Code Chapter 6.95, Article 1, Section 25500 et seq.
The purpose of the bill is to modernize the provisions of
this section, which addresses the unified hazardous and
hazardous materials management regulatory program. These
changes will ensure that the program functions more
efficiently and effectively by reducing redundancies and
inconsistencies in the law."
2)Certified Unified Program Agencies . The Secretary of Cal/EPA
has established a "unified hazardous waste and hazardous
materials management" regulatory program (Unified Program).
Currently, there are 83 Certified Unified Program Agencies
(CUPA) in California. The Unified Program consolidates,
coordinates the following six existing programs:
a) Hazardous Materials Release Response Plans and
Inventories (Business Plans),
b) California Accidental Release Prevention (CalARP)
Program,
c) Underground Storage Tank Program,
d) Aboveground Petroleum Storage Act,
e) Hazardous Waste Generator and Onsite Hazardous Waste
Treatment Programs,
f) California Uniform Fire Code: Hazardous Material
Management Plans and Hazardous Material Inventory
Statements.
SB 483
Page 4
3)Electronic Reporting and CERS . All regulated businesses and
local governments are required to submit their regulatory
reports electronically by 2013. Regulated businesses can
report using Cal/EPA's California Environmental Reporting
System (CERS) or directly to their local regulatory agency.
4)Toxics in Packaging Prevention Act : The Toxics in Packaging
Prevention Act (TPPA) targets four heavy metals, lead,
mercury, cadmium and hexavalent chromium--all of which present
serious health risks. TPPA prohibits, with some exceptions,
the sale of any package or packaging component, or any product
in a package, that includes: (i) any amount of intentionally
introduced lead, mercury, cadmium, or hexavalent chromium
(referred to as "regulated metals"); or (ii) more than 100
parts per million of these metals incidentally present in the
package or packaging component.
Exemptions are allowed, but must be approved by Department of
Toxic Substance Control. On January 1, 2010, the exemption for
recycled materials in packaging expired. The previous
exemption applied to the package or packaging component
containing no intentionally introduced regulated metals, but
exceeds the applicable maximum concentration level only
because of the addition of a recycled material. (Health &
Safety Code Section 25214.14 (c) (1)).
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Association of Environmental Health Administrators
(co-sponsor)
California Fire Chiefs Association (co-sponsor)
Humboldt County Department of Health and Human Services
Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors
Opposition
None received.
Analysis Prepared by : Bob Fredenburg / E.S. & T.M. / (916)
319-3965
SB 483
Page 5