BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 2891|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 2891
Author: Committee on Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials
Amended: 8/19/16 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY COMMITTEE: 7-0, 6/15/16
AYES: Wieckowski, Gaines, Bates, Hill, Jackson, Leno, Pavley
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 5-2, 8/11/16
AYES: Lara, Beall, Hill, McGuire, Mendoza
NOES: Bates, Nielsen
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 79-0, 5/5/16 (Consent) - See last page for
vote
SUBJECT: Hazardous waste: funding
SOURCE: Author
DIGEST: This bill revises and updates the annual appropriation
requirements for funding federal hazardous waste cleanup
requirements.
Senate Floor Amendments of 8/19/16 specify that that amount not
be less than $10,750,000 and make other technical changes.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
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1)Establishes the Comprehensive Environmental Response,
Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) of 1980 to provide a
federal "Superfund" to clean up uncontrolled or abandoned
hazardous waste sites as well as accidents, spills, and other
emergency releases of pollutants and contaminants into the
environment.
2)Makes, pursuant to the Carpenter-Presley-Tanner Hazardous
Substance Account Act, available adequate funds in order to
permit the State of California to assure payment of its 10%
share of the costs mandated under federal Superfund
requirements, Section 104(c)(3) of the federal act (42 U.S.C.
Sec. 9604(c)(3)).
3)Establishes the Toxic Substances Control Account (TSCA), and
allows the Department of Toxic Substances Control's (DTSC)
director to expend federal funds in the TSCA consistent with
the requirements specified in Section 114 of CERCLA and
defines TSCA as the "State Account."
4)Establishes the Site Remediation Account (SRA), to be funded
by money transferred from the TSCA, and may be expended by
DTSC for direct site remediation costs consistent with the
requirements of Section 114(c) of the federal act.
5)Authorizes use of funds from DTSC's State Account to provide
the state share of a removal or remedial action pursuant to
CERCLA if the site is the subject of a final remedial action
plan.
6)Establishes, pursuant to the Johnston-Filante Hazardous
Substance Cleanup Bond Act of 1984, the Orphan Share
Reimbursement Trust Fund to pay specified costs and claims
relating to response actions at hazardous substance release
sites under circumstances in which the share of liability for
those costs is attributable to the activities of persons who
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are defunct or insolvent.
This bill revises the annual appropriation requirements for
funding federal hazardous waste cleanup requirements.
Specifically, this bill:
1)Amends the legislative intent in statute to state that not
less than $10,750,000 be appropriated in the annual Budget Act
each year to the SRA for direct site remediation costs and
replaces with intent to appropriate an amount sufficient to
cover the estimated costs identified by DTSC.
2)Requires DTSC, at the same time as the Governor's January 10
Budget, and annually thereafter, to report to the legislative
budget committees an estimate of the funding needed to meet
the state's obligation at federal Superfund orphan sites and
at state-only orphan sites. Requires the estimate to include
projected budget-year and out-year costs for new and ongoing
operations and maintenance budget obligations at federal
Superfund sites, and new and ongoing remediation, and any
other related orphan site costs.
3)Deletes a requirement that DTSC report to the Legislature a
determination that the state's obligation under CERCLA will
exceed $3,300,000 in any fiscal year. And replaces with an
expression of intent of the Legislature that those rates are
intended to provide sufficient revenue to fund appropriations
in any given fiscal year to fund the state's obligation under
the Federal Superfund Act.
Background
1)Superfund. CERCLA, also known as Superfund, was enacted to
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address the problem of remediating abandoned hazardous waste
sites. Through CERCLA, the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (US EPA) and California were given power to seek out
those parties responsible for any hazardous waste release and
recover costs from financially viable individuals and
companies once cleanup is completed.
According to DTSC, both the US EPA and DTSC have identified
sites which represent an immediate threat to public health and
environment and/or for which no viable responsible parties
have been identified to address these projects. These are
known as National Priorities List (NPL) sites and state orphan
sites.
The state's SRA funds DTSC's work at sites on the NPL and at
state orphan sites. Sites on the NPL, also known as the
federal Superfund list, are the nation's worst hazardous
substances sites and pose a significant threat to the
environment and public health.
Under federal law, the state is required to provide at a
minimum a 10% match for design and implementation of
remediation, or cleanup. Ultimately, California is also
required to cover 100% of the long-term operation and
maintenance (O&M) for NPL sites where no viable responsible
party has been identified. State orphan sites are not on the
NPL, but also are contaminated by hazardous substances that
pose an environmental or public health threat; the responsible
parties for both types of sites are unknown or are unwilling
or unable to pay for cleanup.
2)The Legislative Analysts' Office (LAO) Report on California
Superfund Site Cost Obligations. The Assembly Environmental
Safety and Toxic Materials Committee requested LAO to complete
a review of DTSC's federal requirements and cost share
obligations under CERCLA as it relates to Superfund cleanup;
the anticipated resource demand for Superfund site cleanup and
the gap between resource need and resource availability; and
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programmatic and/or policy changes that could be made at DTSC
to better manage the growing cleanup demand.
The LAO found that annual combined California costs for
remediation and O&M at federal NPL sites are projected to
range from $2.2 million to $17.3 million between Fiscal Years
2015-2016 and 2020-2021. The funds in the SRA to support
these costs are projected to grow over this period from $10.6
million to $12 million. Under federal regulation, California
is required to pay its share of the NPL site cleanup and O&M
first, which means state-designated orphan sites are second
priority. Given the estimated increases in future state costs
for NPL sites, California will have significantly less
available in the SRA for state orphan sites, and may end up
with no funds for state orphan site cleanup.
Comments
Purpose of Bill. According to the author, US EPA estimates
between 96,000 and 212,000 contaminated sites in California.
DTSC has identified approximately 9,800 contaminated sites
statewide.
The author states that DTSC's Independent Review Panel (IRP)
reported in its January 28, 2016 report that there are projected
shortfalls in DTSC's SRA for funding orphan and Superfund site
cleanup. The report states, "The DTSC currently spends
approximately $10 million per year from the SRA for both: a)
California's operations and maintenance oversight obligations at
federal Superfund NPL sites, and b) California orphan site
clean-ups where there is no responsible party to pay for
clean-up."
According to the author, "the IRP is concerned that this $10
million annual allocation in the SRA is insufficient, since the
State's NPL obligations are projected to grow as more sites are
turned over to California to assume operations and maintenance
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oversight obligations. In fact, by Fiscal Year 2020-2021, there
is a concern that no SRA funds will be available for orphan
sites, even though those sites impact groundwater or release
toxic vapors from underground contamination into occupied
buildings."
The author states, "to address the projected demand on state
resources to meet the state's financial obligations at Superfund
and state-only orphan sites, the LAO recommends the Legislature
require DTSC to prepare an annual estimate of its funding
demand, and adopt legislation to move away from a statutory
funding formula to an annual appropriation as part of the state
budget process, among other recommendations. AB 2891 would
codify those recommendations."
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: No
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, this bill has
cost pressures in the millions of dollars to appropriate funds
necessary to meet demonstrated need.
SUPPORT: (Verified8/11/16)
None received
OPPOSITION: (Verified8/11/16)
None received
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 79-0, 5/5/16
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AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Arambula, Atkins, Baker,
Bigelow, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke,
Calderon, Campos, Chang, Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley,
Cooper, Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier,
Gallagher, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson,
Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Grove, Hadley, Harper, Roger
Hernández, Holden, Irwin, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey,
Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes,
McCarty, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Nazarian, Obernolte,
O'Donnell, Olsen, Patterson, Quirk, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez,
Salas, Santiago, Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting,
Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wilk, Williams, Wood, Rendon
NO VOTE RECORDED: Beth Gaines
Prepared by:Rachel Machi Wagoner / E.Q. / (916) 651-4108
8/22/16 23:10:21
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