BILL NUMBER: AB 1071	ENROLLED
	BILL TEXT

	PASSED THE SENATE  SEPTEMBER 3, 2015
	PASSED THE ASSEMBLY  SEPTEMBER 4, 2015
	AMENDED IN SENATE  AUGUST 31, 2015
	AMENDED IN SENATE  AUGUST 18, 2015
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MAY 7, 2015

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Members Atkins and Eduardo Garcia

                        FEBRUARY 26, 2015

   An act to add Section 71118 to the Public Resources Code, relating
to environmental justice.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 1071, Atkins. Supplemental environmental projects.
   Existing law requires the Secretary for Environmental Protection
to convene a Working Group on Environmental Justice to assist the
secretary in developing an agencywide strategy for identifying and
addressing gaps in existing programs, policies, or activities of the
California Environmental Protection Agency's boards, departments, and
offices that may impede the achievement of environmental justice.
   This bill would require each board, department, and office within
the agency that has enforcement authority to establish a specified
policy on supplemental environmental projects, as defined, that
benefits disadvantaged communities, as defined.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  (a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
   (1) Many communities across California are located in areas
disproportionately impacted from multiple sources of pollution,
including air and water pollution, leading to higher rates of
respiratory illness, hospitalizations, and premature death.
   (2) These environmentally impacted communities, also known as
environmental justice communities, need resources to appropriately
address environmental health impacts and to implement community-led
solutions.
   (3) One way that environmental justice communities can see direct
environmental and public health benefits in their neighborhoods is
through the implementation of supplemental environmental projects,
which allow entities in violation of environmental laws to
voluntarily undertake environmental projects as part of a settlement
of an enforcement action.
   (4) Currently, not all boards, departments, and offices within the
California Environmental Protection Agency have policies on
supplemental environmental projects, and those with policies largely
lack a focus on how to best help environmental justice communities.
   (b) Therefore, it is the intent of the Legislature that all
boards, departments, and offices within the California Environmental
Protection Agency that have enforcement authority develop a policy on
supplemental environmental projects that includes a focus on
benefiting environmental justice communities and engaging
community-based organizations through an accessible and open public
process.
  SEC. 2.  Section 71118 is added to the Public Resources Code, to
read:
   71118.  (a) For purposes of this section, the following terms have
the following meanings:
   (1) "Agency" means the California Environmental Protection Agency.

   (2) "Disadvantaged community" means a community identified
pursuant to Section 39711 of the Health and Safety Code.
   (3) "Supplemental environmental project" means an environmentally
beneficial project that a person subject to an enforcement action
voluntarily agrees to undertake in settlement of the action and to
offset a portion of a civil penalty.
   (b) Each board, department, and office within the agency that has
enforcement authority shall establish a policy on supplemental
environmental projects that benefits disadvantaged communities. The
policy shall include, but need not be limited to, all of the
following:
   (1) A public process to solicit potential supplemental
environmental projects from disadvantaged communities.
   (2) Allowing the amount of a supplemental environmental project to
be up to 50 percent of the enforcement action brought under the
jurisdiction of a board, department, or office within the agency.
   (3) An annual list of supplemental environmental projects that may
be selected to settle a portion of an enforcement action under the
jurisdiction of a board, department, or office within the agency.
   (4) A consideration of the relationship between the location of
the violation and the location of the proposed supplemental
environmental project.
   (c) The Secretary for Environmental Protection shall consolidate
the projects compiled pursuant to subdivision (b) into one list and
post that list on the agency's Internet Web site.