BILL NUMBER: AB 274	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN SENATE  AUGUST 19, 2015
	AMENDED IN SENATE  JUNE 24, 2015
	AMENDED IN SENATE  MAY 27, 2015

INTRODUCED BY   Committee on Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials
(Assembly Members Alejo (Chair), Dahle (Vice Chair), Gonzalez, Gray,
McCarty, and Ting)

                        FEBRUARY 11, 2015

   An act to add and repeal Section 25269.9 of the Health and Safety
Code, relating to hazardous substances.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 274, as amended, Committee on Environmental Safety and Toxic
Materials. Oversight costs: uncollectible accounts.
   Existing law requires the Department of Toxic Substances Control
to comply with specified procedures when recovering oversight costs
for corrective action taken pursuant to the hazardous waste control
laws or for certain other actions taken pursuant to the
Carpenter-Presley-Tanner Hazardous Substances Account Act. The
department is required to take specified actions with regard to
uncollectible accounts, including reviewing all current outstanding
receivables and making an appropriate adjustment for estimated
uncollectible amounts. The department is authorized, if warranted, to
write off or write down those receivable amounts.
   This bill, until January 1, 2019, would define the term
"uncollectible account" and would authorize the department not to
pursue an uncollectible account and to write off or write down that
uncollectible account, 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 25269.9 is added to the Health and Safety Code,
to read:
   25269.9.  (a) The Legislature finds and declares both of the
following:
   (1) The department should prioritize its cost recovery efforts to
make the most efficient use of its resources available for that
activity.
   (2)  It   Consistent with a determination by
the department, it  is not cost effective or practicable 
for the department  to seek recovery of an uncollectible
account, as defined in subdivision (b).
   (b) For purposes of this section, "uncollectible account" means
response action, corrective action, or oversight costs, including
accrued interest, incurred by the department that meet all of the
following conditions:
   (1) The response action, corrective action, or oversight costs
were incurred by the department on or after July 1, 1987, but not
later than December 31, 2013, while overseeing or carrying out a
response or corrective action pursuant to Chapter 6.5 (commencing
with Section 25100) or Chapter 6.8 (commencing with Section 25300).
   (2) The response action, corrective action, or oversight costs are
not more than five thousand dollars ($5,000).
   (3) The department will not incur further response action,
corrective action, or oversight costs related to the site for which
the costs were incurred. 
   (4)  The department's estimated cost to pursue the oversight costs
exceeds the value of the oversight costs. 
   (c) The department is not required to pursue an uncollectible
account and may write off or write down that uncollectible account
pursuant to Section 25269.8.
   (d) The requirements of Chapter  5   3 
(commencing with Section 13940) of Part 4 of Division 3 of Title 2 of
the Government Code shall not apply to any action taken by the
department pursuant to subdivision (c).
   (e) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1,
2019, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted
statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2019, deletes or extends
that date.