BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
Senator Wieckowski, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: AB 1062
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|Author: |Bonta |
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|Version: |4/7/2015 |Hearing |7/1/2015 |
| | |Date: | |
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|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes |
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|Consultant:|Rachel Machi Wagoner |
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SUBJECT: Environmental Justice Small Grant Program
ANALYSIS:
Existing law: Establishes the California Environmental
Protection Agency (CalEPA) Environmental Justice Small Grant
Program to provide grants to eligible community groups that are
located in areas adversely affected by environmental pollution
and hazards and that are involved in work to address
environmental justice issues.
1) Grants are awarded on a competitive basis for projects that
are based in communities with the most significant exposure
to pollution. They are limited to purposes of resolving
environmental problems through information, improving
coordination among public agencies and stakeholders,
expanding community understanding about environmental issues,
developing guidance on environmental risks, promoting
community involvement, and using data to enhance community
understanding and decision-making.
2) Grants cannot be used for other state grant programs,
lobbying or advocacy activities, litigation, funding of
lawsuits, or for opposing technical assessments prepared by a
public agency.
3) The maximum amount of a grant shall not exceed $50,000, and
authorizes the Secretary for CalEPA to expend up to $1.5
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million per year for the program.
4) Authorizes CalEPA to allocate funds from various special
funds, settlements, and penalties to implement this program.
This bill:
1)Allows grants awarded under the Program to include physical
projects, including planning, engineering and construction,
monitoring or filtering technology, and environmental
assessments that improve the environment or the environmental
health of the community, or that address a specific
environmental justice need.
2)Requires CalEPA to expend not less than $5 million per year
for environmental justice grants. Requires each board,
department, or office within CalEPA to allocate appropriated
funds from special funds, settlements, and penalties to
implement this program.
Background
1) CalEPA Environmental Justice Small Grants. This grant
program was established in 2002. Grants are available to
help eligible non-profit community groups/organizations and
federally recognized Tribal governments address environmental
justice issues in areas adversely affected by environmental
pollution and hazards. In 2013, $249,175 was awarded through
Environmental Justice Small Grants projects. A minimum of
$250,000 in grant funds was made available for the 2015/2016
grant cycle. SB 861 (Budget and Fiscal Review, Chapter 35,
Statutes of 2014) increased the maximum grant from $20,000 to
$50,000 and authorized CalEPA to expend up to $1.5 million
annually for the program. The stated goals of the program
include:
a) Improve access to safe and clean water;
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b) Reduce potential for exposure to pesticides and toxic
chemicals;
c) Promote community capacity building and improve
communities' and tribes' understanding of the technical
and procedural aspects of environmental decision making;
d) Promote the development of community-based research
that protects and enhances public health and the
environment; and,
e) Address cumulative impact through collaboration between
community-based organizations and local government.
2)Environmental Justice in California. Environmental justice is
the fair treatment of people of all races, cultures, and
incomes with respect to the development, adoption,
implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws,
regulations, and policies.
According to the Office of Environmental Health Hazard
Assessment (OEHHA), approximately 8 million Californians (21%)
live in zip codes that are considered "highly impacted" by
environmental, public health, and socioeconomic stressors.
Nearly half of all Californians live within six miles of a
facility that is a significant greenhouse gas emitter (46%),
but they are disproportionately people of color (62%).
Throughout California, people of color face a 50% higher risk
of cancer from ambient concentrations of air pollutants listed
under the Clean Air Act. These impacts are felt by all
Californians. The Air Resources Board estimates that air
pollution exposure accounts for 19,000 premature deaths,
280,000 cases of asthma, and 1.9 million lost work days every
year.
Comments
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3)Purpose of Bill. According to the author, "AB 1062 will help
provide our most vulnerable communities of color with the
tools they need to fight against environmental health hazards
in their communities, greatly reducing their quality of life.
"AB 1062 will ensure EJ Small Grants will be continuously
funded. It will require the Boards, Departments, and Agencies
to contribute to the grant program to ensure there is a
CalEPA-wide contribution.
"The bill will also add one additional grant objective to the
program: implementation of physical projects that address
environmental justice issues, such as planning for open-space
in park-poor areas or installation of air filters to address
poor air quality."
1) Should this be a discussion as part of the State Budget?
This bill requires CalEPA to expend no less than $5 million
annually through the Environmental Justice Small Grants
program from unspecified special funds, settlements and
penalties of the CalEPA boards, departments and offices.
Where is this $5 million coming from? How is each board,
department and office expected to meet this mandate? What
programs and other statutory mandates may go underfunded as a
result of an administrative reappropriation of funds?
Annually the budgets of CalEPA and each of these boards,
departments and offices are legislatively apportioned
according to funding and need to fulfill mandates through the
State Budget. How does this bill interact with that process?
As the 2015-2016 Budget was just approved for the state, how
will this impact this budget and future year's budgets? If
it is the will of the Legislature to take funding
appropriated for other programs, why is this done through the
Budget?
This bill appears to imply that there is surplus funding
among the CalEPA boards, departments and offices that are not
currently being fully utilized or it implies that this grant
program is a better use. It is unclear, without identifying
which funds and programs would specifically be impacted, how
this would impact other statutory mandates.
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2) Is this the appropriate source of funding? As mentioned in
the previous comment, the special funds, settlements and
penalties of each of the CalEPA boards, departments and
offices go to statutory mandates such as regulation and
enforcement of the programs they are each responsible for -
would this bill take away from those mandated
responsibilities and if so would it be more appropriate to
identify a different source of funding or alternately create
a new source of funding for this priority?
Related/Prior Legislation
SB 535 (de León, Chapter 830, Statutes of 2012) requires
CalEPA to identify disadvantaged communities for investment
opportunities using the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund.
Pursuant to this requirement, OEHHA has developed the
California Communities Environmental Health Screening Tool
(CalEnviroScreen) that uses existing environmental, health,
and socioeconomic data to determine the extent to which
communities across the state are burdened by and vulnerable to
pollution. OEHHA states that the results generated by
CalEnviroScreen are not intended to assign responsibility for
any issues identified. The intent is to provide information
that enables the state to focus time, resources, and programs
on areas that are in the greatest need of assistance.
SB 89 (Escutia, Chapter 728, Statutes of 2000) requires CalEPA
to convene the Environmental Justice Working Group and develop
an agency-wide environmental justice strategy. Follow-up
legislation, SB 828 (Alarcon, Chapter 765, Statutes of 2001),
established a timeline for these requirements and required
CalEPA to update its report to the Legislature every three
years. In October of 2004, CalEPA released its Environmental
Justice Action Plan.
SOURCE:
Asian Pacific Environmental Network
California Environmental Justice Alliance
SUPPORT:
Alameda County Board of Supervisors
Asian Pacific Islander Obesity Prevention Alliance
California Catholic Conference of Bishops
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California Coastal Protection Network
California Equity Leaders Network
California League of Conservation Voters (CLCV)
Catholic Charities, Diocese of Stockton
Center for Community Action & Environmental Justice
Center on Race, Poverty and the Environment
Central Coast Alliance United for Sustainable Economy
City Heights Community Development Corporation
Clean Water Action
Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice
Coalition for Clean Air
Coastal Environmental Rights Foundation
Communities for a Better Environment
Community Water Center
Environmental Action Committee of West Marin
Environmental Health Coalition
Environmental Justice Coalition for Water
Environmental Working Group
Filipino American Coalition for Environmental Solidarity (FACES)
Fresno Interdenominational Refugee Ministries (FIRM)
Greater Pasadena Jews for Justice (GPJJ)
Inland Congregations United for Change
Leadership Counsel for Accountability and Justice
Los Angeles Waterkeeper
MAAC
National Parks Conservation Association
Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)
Pacific Isle Environmental Reserve (PIER)
Pacoima Beautiful
People Organizing to Demand Environmental & Economic Rights
(PODER)
People's CORE
Pesticide Action Network, North America
Physicians for Social Responsibility-Los Angeles
Physicians for Social Responsibility-San Francisco Bay Area
Regional Asthma Management and Prevention
San Diego-Imperial Counties Labor Council (SDICLC)
Sierra Club California
The City Project
Trust for Public Land
Valley Clean Air Now
Warehouse Worker Resource Center
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OPPOSITION:
None received
ARGUMENTS IN
SUPPORT: According to supporters of AB 1062, "Across California, low-income
communities of color face a range of pollution burdens, from
poor air quality and related environmental health illnesses, to
contaminated drinking water to hazardous clean-up sites. AB
1062 will provide much-needed, permanent source of funding for
community solutions to these challenges. In doing so, it will
give CalEPA a dependable vehicle to provide direct benefits to
low-income communities and communities of color overburdened
with pollution."
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