BILL NUMBER: AB 273 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 2, 2015
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 amended, 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 subjects 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
explicitly apply each of these provisions regarding a person's
liability for cost recovery to the release of hazardous
waste constituents into the environment. The bill would
also explicitly make the costs of response or corrective action
recoverable.
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 person, within 45 days of receiving
an invoice, provides notice to the department disputing the
obligation, for a period determined as specified.
obligation.
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 person is required to take corrective action with
respect to hazardous waste, that person shall pay for oversight of
the 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.
SECTION 1. Section 25187.2 of the
Health and Safety Code is amended to read:
25187.2. If a removal or remedial action
an order or agreement issued by the department
pursuant to Section 25187 to a potentially responsible party
requires a person to take corrective action with respect to a
release of hazardous waste or hazardous waste constituents
into the environment , that person shall pay for
oversight of the removal or remedial 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.
the department's costs incurred in overseeing or
carrying out the corrective action.
SEC. 2. Section 25360 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to
read:
25360. (a) A cost incurred by the department or regional board in
carrying out or overseeing a removal action, a remedial
action, response 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 or
corrective action costs that may be recovered pursuant to this
section shall include interest on any amount paid.
(b) A person who is liable for response or corrective action
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 response or corrective action costs incurred
by the department or regional board shall be recoverable at the
discretion of the department, department or
regional board, 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) 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. (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 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 45
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. resolved.