BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
Senator Wieckowski, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: AB 2893
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|Author: |Committee on Environmental Safety and Toxic |
| |Materials |
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|Version: |5/25/2016 |Hearing |6/8/2016 |
| | |Date: | |
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|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes |
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|Consultant:|Rachel Machi Wagoner |
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SUBJECT: Department of Toxic Substances Control: enforcement.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
1) Establishes the Department of Toxic Substances Control
(DTSC) to protect California against threats to public
health and degradation to the environment and to restore
properties degraded by past environmental contamination.
Requires DTSC to regulate management of hazardous wastes,
clean up existing contamination, and prevent pollution by
working with businesses to reduce their hazardous waste and
use of toxic materials.
2) Authorizes DTSC to incur direct cleanup costs and
oversight costs in remediating contaminated properties, and
authorizes DTSC to recover those costs from responsible
parties.
3) Permits DTSC or any local officer or agency authorized
to enforce the Hazardous Waste Control Law to require
specified parties to furnish and transmit certain
information relating to hazardous substances, hazardous
wastes, and hazardous materials, and requires any person
that is managing or has managed hazardous waste, including
those that have applied for a permit, to provide
information to DTSC regarding the ability of those persons
to pay for or perform a cleanup.
AB 2893 (Committee on Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials)
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4) Authorizes, pursuant to the Carpenter-Presley-Tanner
Hazardous Substance Account Act, DTSC to require any
potentially responsible party, or any person who has, or
may have acquired certain information relating to hazardous
substances and hazardous substance release sites in the
course of a commercial, ownership, or contractual
relationship with a potentially responsible party to
furnish that information, and authorizes DTSC to require a
person who has or may have information or documents
relevant to the ability of a responsible party or liable
person to pay for or perform a cleanup, consistent with
Section 104 of the Comprehensive Environmental Response,
Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA).
5) Authorizes DTSC to disclose the information under
certain circumstances to authorized representatives,
contractors, or government agencies, including the United
States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA).
This bill: makes conforming changes to the statutes governing
the Department of Toxic Substances Control's (DTSC) cost
recovery authorities. Specifically, this bill:
1) Modifies and adds terms to strengthen consistency
between DTSC's governing statutes;
2) Requires that any person required to furnish information
to DTSC pay any costs of photocopying or transmitting the
information; and,
3) Makes other technical, conforming changes to clean up
the codes.
Comments
Purpose of Bill. According to the author, Assembly Bill 276
(Chapter 459, Statutes of 2015) gave DTSC authority to ask
certain parties for information related to the party's finances
AB 2893 (Committee on Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials)
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that could demonstrate the party's ability to pay for or perform
cleanup. Providing this statutory authority aligned state law
with federal law, which, under CERCLA, permits the US EPA to
request financial information from potential responsible
parties.
Having the authority to compel parties to submit pertinent
financial information now allows DTSC to identify those
potentially responsible parties who genuinely lack the ability
to pay for cleanup and no longer require DTSC to first sue these
parties to obtain the relevant financial information. This
authority could expedite the cost recovery process by obviating
the need for costly litigation, thus increasing DTSC's ability
to recover costs effectively.
The primary goal of AB 276 was to provide DTSC authority
consistent with the US EPA's authority to retrieve financial
information. The secondary goal of AB 276, as well as the
package of bills it was enacted with in 2015 (AB 273 (Chapter
456), AB 274 (Chapter 457), and AB 275 (Chapter 458)), was to
conform Health & Safety Code Chapters 6.5 and 6.8 by clarifying
terms used to eliminate obfuscating terminology, create better
consistency between the two chapters, and eliminate the
possibility of confusion during implementation.
The author states that the purpose of AB 2893 is to further
conform terms used in those statutes that govern DTSC's
hazardous waste cleanup and cost recovery authorities.
Specifically, the goal is to conform DTSC's statutes governing
their authority to request financial information from
potentially responsible parties when assessing costs of
hazardous waste cleanup.
Related/Prior Legislation
AB 276 (Assembly Committee on Environmental Safety and Toxic
Materials, Chapter 459, Statutes of 2015) gave DTSC authority to
ask certain parties for information related to the party's
finances that could demonstrate the party's ability to pay for
or perform cleanup.
SOURCE: Assembly Committee on Environmental Safety
and Toxic Materials
AB 2893 (Committee on Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials)
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SUPPORT:
None received
OPPOSITION:
None received
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