BILL NUMBER: AB 2781	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 7, 2016

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Eduardo Garcia

                        FEBRUARY 19, 2016

   An act to amend Section 71118 of, and to add Section 71119 to, the
Public Resources Code, relating to environmental justice.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 2781, as amended, Eduardo Garcia. Supplemental environmental
projects.
   Existing law requires each board, department, and office within
the California Environmental Protection Agency that has enforcement
authority to establish a policy on supplemental environmental
projects that benefits disadvantaged communities  and  that
includes, among other things, allowing the amount of a supplemental
environmental project to be up to 50% of the enforcement action.
   This bill would require the policy to also include a requirement
that  an additional  10% of an enforcement action
 to   monetary penalty  be deposited in the
Supplemental Environmental Projects  and   in
the  Disadvantaged Communities  Fund.  
Fund, which would be created by the bill.  The bill would
require the moneys in the fund, upon appropriation, to be used to
implement environmental projects in disadvantaged communities, 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 71118 of the Public Resources Code is amended
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 and
requiring  an additional  10 percent of the
enforcement action  monetary penalty  be deposited in the
Supplemental Environmental Projects  and   in
the  Disadvantaged Communities Fund, created pursuant to Section
71119.
   (3) An annual list of  potential  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 paragraph (3) of subdivision (b)
into one list and post that list on the agency's Internet Web site.
  SEC. 2.  Section 71119 is added to the Public Resources Code, to
read:
   71119.  The Supplemental Environmental Projects  and
  in the  Disadvantaged Communities Fund is hereby
created. All moneys deposited in the fund shall be available, upon
appropriation by the Legislature, to implement environmental projects
in disadvantaged communities, as identified pursuant to Section
 39711.   39711 of the Health and Safety Code.
 Priority shall be given to projects on the list compiled
pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 71118.