BILL NUMBER: AB 273 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Committee on Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials
(Assembly Members Alejo (Chair), Dahle (Vice Chair), Gonzalez,
McCarty, and Ting)
FEBRUARY 11, 2015
An act to amend Sections 25187.2, 25360, and 25360.1 of the Health
and Safety Code, relating to hazardous waste and substances.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 273, as introduced, Committee on Environmental Safety and Toxic
Materials. Hazardous waste and substances: corrective action:
liability.
Existing law authorizes the Department of Toxic Substances Control
to issue an order under the hazardous waste control laws requiring
that a violation be corrected and imposing a civil penalty to
specified persons, including a person who has violated various
provisions regulating hazardous waste or provisions concerning
removal and remedial actions for hazardous substance releases. A
person who is issued that order is required to pay for oversight of
the removal or remedial action.
Existing law, the Carpenter-Presley-Tanner Hazardous Substance
Account Act, authorizes the department to take or oversee removal and
remedial actions related to the release of hazardous substances.
Existing law authorizes the Attorney General to recover from the
liable person, as defined, the costs incurred by the department or a
California regional water quality control board in carrying out the
act and requires that any monetary obligation owed to the department
pursuant to the act or the hazardous waste control laws be subject to
a specified rate of interest earned in the Surplus Money Investment
Fund. Existing law authorizes the department to waive the interest if
the obligation is satisfied within 60 days of the date of the
invoice.
This bill would require a person to pay for oversight of any
corrective action required of the person with respect to hazardous
waste, and would authorize the recovery by the Attorney General of
costs incurred with regard to carrying out or overseeing a removal
action, a remedial action, or a corrective action under the act or
under the hazardous waste control laws. The bill would require a
monetary obligation owed to the department under the act or these
laws to be subject to an interest rate of 10% per annum, or, in the
case of local governments, 7% per annum. The bill would instead
require the department to waive the interest if the obligation is
satisfied within 60 days or if the person provides notice to the
department disputing the obligation, for a period determined as
specified.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 25187.2 of the Health and Safety Code is
amended to read:
25187.2. If a removal or remedial action order issued
pursuant to Section 25187 to a potentially responsible party requires
a person is required to take corrective action
with respect to hazardous waste, that person shall pay for oversight
of the removal or remedial corrective
action. This section does not prohibit the department or unified
program agency from assessing any other penalty or recovering any
costs for oversight of a removal or remedial action, pursuant to any
other provision. Nothing in this section limits the due process
requirements of Section 25187.
SEC. 2. Section 25360 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to
read:
25360. (a) Any costs A cost incurred
by the department or regional board in carrying out or
overseeing a removal action, a remedial action, or a corrective
action under this chapter or Chapter 6.5 (commencing with
Section 25100) shall be recoverable pursuant to state or
federal law by the Attorney General, upon the request of the
department or regional board, from the liable person or persons. The
amount of any response action costs that may be recovered pursuant to
this section shall include interest on any amount paid. The
interest on amounts paid from the state account or the Site
Remediation Account shall be calculated at the rate of return earned
on investment in the Surplus Money Investment Fund pursuant to
Section 16475 of the Government Code.
(b) A person who is liable for costs incurred at a site shall have
the liability reduced by any reimbursements that were paid by that
person for that site pursuant to Section 25343.
(c) The amount of cost determined pursuant to this section shall
be recoverable at the discretion of the department, either in a
separate action or by way of intervention as of right in an action
for contribution or indemnity. Nothing in this section deprives a
party of any defense that the party may have.
(d) Money Moneys recovered by the
Attorney General pursuant to this section shall be deposited in the
state account.
SEC. 3. Section 25360.1 of the Health and Safety Code is amended
to read:
25360.1. Any (a)
Except as provided in subdivision (b), a monetary obligation to
the department pursuant to Chapter 6.5 (commencing with Section
25100) or this chapter shall be subject to interest from the date of
the demand at the same rate of return earned on investment
in the Surplus Money Investment Fund pursuant to Section 16475 of the
Government Code, except the department may an
interest rate of 10 percent per annum, except that, for local
governments, the interest rate shall be 7 percent per annum.
(b) The department shall
waive the interest described in subdivision (a) if
the obligation is satisfied within 60 days from the date of invoice.
If, within 60 days of receiving an invoice, the liable person or
persons provide written notice to the department disputing the
monetary obligation specified in the invoice, or a portion thereof,
the department shall waive the interest until the dispute is
resolved, or 180 days from the date the department received the
written notice disputing the obligation, whichever occurs first. If
the dispute is not resolved within that 180 days, then upon the
accrual of 180 days, the liable person or persons shall pay the
obligation specified in the invoice, including interest, or seek
judicial or other legal relief, as appropriate.