BILL ANALYSIS Ó ----------------------------------------------------------------- |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1842| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- THIRD READING Bill No: AB 1842 Author: Levine (D) Amended: 8/2/16 in Senate Vote: 21 SENATE ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY COMMITTEE: 5-1, 6/29/16 AYES: Wieckowski, Hill, Jackson, Leno, Pavley NOES: Gaines NO VOTE RECORDED: Bates SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: Senate Rule 28.8 ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 66-7, 6/1/16 - See last page for vote SUBJECT: Water: pollution: fines SOURCE: California District Attorneys Association DIGEST: This bill imposes an additional civil penalty of up to $10 per gallon or pound of polluting material illegally discharged into state waterways. This bill requires the penalty to be reduced by every gallon or pound of the illegally discharged material recovered and properly disposed of by the responsible party. This bill prohibits a person from being subject to both this penalty and the civil penalties imposed under the Oil Spill Prevention and Response Act. ANALYSIS: Existing law: 1)Provides for a base fine/ penalty of up to $2,000 on criminal AB 1842 Page 2 or $25,000 on civil polluters of state waters. 2)Provides, under criminal proceedings, for up to a $10 additional fine/penalty per gallon or pound of material that is not removed from state waters. Provides for a similar penalty under administrative proceedings. This bill: 1)Imposes an additional civil penalty of up to $10 per gallon or pound of polluting material illegally discharged into state waterways. 2)Requires the penalty to be reduced for every gallon or pound of the illegally discharged material recovered and properly disposed of by the responsible party. 3)Prohibits a person from being subject to both this penalty and the civil penalties imposed under the Lempert-Keene-Seastrand Oil Spill Prevention and Response Act. Comments 1)Purpose of Bill. According to the author, AB 1842 protects California's waterways by underscoring the importance of appropriate sanctions that reflect the severity of a violation. California is home to some of the most beautiful coastline, bays, estuaries, streams, and rivers in the nation. Gross polluters of our waterways must be held accountable and strong enforcement is needed. FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.:YesLocal: No SUPPORT: (Verified8/8/16) AB 1842 Page 3 California District Attorneys Association (source) California League of Conservation Voters Natural Resources Defense Council Sierra Club OPPOSITION: (Verified8/8/16) Association of California Water Agencies California Association of Sanitation Districts El Dorado Irrigation District ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: According to the California District Attorneys Association, which is the sponsor of the legislation, the inability to utilize the surcharge as an enforcement tool for civil actions hampers a prosecutors flexibility and in many cases is an impediment to environmental protection. Environmental prosecution units throughout California help ensure that those who pollute state waters are held accountable for their conduct. When a polluter fouls state waters, the violator may face an administrative, civil, or criminal proceeding. The polluter is also required to take clean up action and is held responsible for removing and properly disposing of the pollutant. To help ensure that the polluter did as much clean up as possible, the law also provides for a surcharge of $1 to $10 per gallon or pound of material that is not removed from state waters. Unfortunately, as previously mentioned, this surcharge is available only for criminal and administrative proceedings. Not authorized for civil proceedings. ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION:According to the opposition the disparity in existing law creates a loophole. A prosecutor who cannot bring an administrative action, and believes that the conduct fell short of a criminal action, must then forego the AB 1842 Page 4 surcharge when filing a civil action. AB 1842 would expose public wastewater agencies to double penalties for the same event. The bill would expand existing penalty authority under the Fish and Game Code by authorizing all 58 California District Attorneys (DAs) to pursue per gallon penalties for pollutant discharges to state waters in a civil proceeding. DAs are already allowed to pursue these penalties criminally, and may also pursue a penalty of $25,000 for such violations civilly. While expanding the DAs ability to pursue per gallon penalties civilly may be warranted to fill a gap, the bill would result in the possibility of double penalties from multiple sources being imposed on our members. California Association of Sanitation Districts states that "dischargers, including local wastewater agencies, which have already paid penalties to the State Water Resources Control Board and/or Regional Water Quality Control Boards (Water Boards) on a per gallon basis, could face another set of per gallon penalties from local DAs for the same discharge. This is both duplicative and unnecessarily punitive." ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 66-7, 6/1/16 AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Arambula, Atkins, Baker, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brown, Burke, Calderon, Campos, Chang, Chau, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh, Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Hadley, Roger Hernández, Holden, Irwin, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey, Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Medina, Mullin, Nazarian, O'Donnell, Olsen, Quirk, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Weber, Wilk, Williams, Wood, Rendon NOES: Brough, Chávez, Dahle, Gallagher, Grove, Melendez, Wagner NO VOTE RECORDED: Bigelow, Beth Gaines, Harper, Obernolte, Patterson, Steinorth, Waldron Prepared by:Rachel Machi Wagoner / E.Q. / (916) 651-4108 8/10/16 15:53:16 AB 1842 Page 5 **** END ****