BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 1071 Page 1 CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS AB 1071 (Atkins and Eduardo Garcia) As Amended August 31, 2015 Majority vote -------------------------------------------------------------------- |ASSEMBLY: |79-0 |(June 1, 2015) |SENATE: |39-1 |(September 3, | | | | | | |2015) | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | -------------------------------------------------------------------- Original Committee Reference: NAT. RES. SUMMARY: Requires each board, department, and office within the California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA) to establish a policy on supplemental environmental projects (SEPs) that benefits environmental justice communities. The Senate amendments: 1)Add legislative findings and declarations relating to disproportionate environmental and public health impacts on disadvantaged communities and the benefits of SEPs. 2)Replace the term "environmental justice community" with "disadvantaged community." AB 1071 Page 2 3)Specifies that the bill applies to boards, departments, and offices that have enforcement authority. 4)Require that the SEP policy include consideration of the relationship between the location of the violation and the location of the proposed SEP. FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, this bill has minor and absorbable costs to various special funds to oversee SEPs and result in unknown lost revenues, likely in the millions of dollars, to various special funds as a result of penalty reductions as a result of SEPs. COMMENTS: According to the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA), approximately eight 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%), and 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. ARB 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. SEPs are environmentally beneficial projects that a violator agrees to undertake as part of a settlement for an enforcement action, but which the violator is not otherwise legally required to perform. In 2003, CalEPA released guidelines for the use of SEPs for its boards, departments, and offices. The guidelines specify that an SEP must improve, protect, or reduce risks to public health and the environment at large. The enforcing agency must have the opportunity to help shape the scope of the project before it is implemented and the project must not be commenced until the enforcing agency has identified a violation. Finally, the SEP must not be required by a federal, state, or AB 1071 Page 3 local law or regulation. CalEPA's SEP guidelines suggest limiting the SEP to 25% of the total enforcement action. Within CalEPA, the Air Resources Board (ARB), Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC), and the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) have adopted SEP policies. ARB and DTSC's policies are consistent with CalEPA's guidelines and allow SEPs up to 25% of the amount of the enforcement action. SWRCB, consistent with authority granted by SB 1733 (Aanestad), Chapter 404, Statutes of 2006, allow SEPs up to 50% of the amount of the penalty. Under this bill, the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle), OEHHA, and the Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) to adopt SEP policies directed toward disadvantaged communities and specify that SEPs can account for up to 50% of an enforcement action. CalEPA's 2012 Environmental Compliance and Enforcement Report provides information on the use of SEPs in California. For hazardous waste law violations, three cases totaling over $33.9 million, of which $5.5 million was used for SEPs. ARB assessed just under $16.1 million in penalties, and $525,000 was used for SEPs. In the report, SWRCB provided aggregated data for "backlogged violations," which showed total penalties of over $25 million and $2.5 million for SEPs. Analysis Prepared by: Elizabeth MacMillan / NAT. RES. / (916) 319-2092 FN: 0001952 AB 1071 Page 4