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:        |                |
          |-----------+-----------------------+-------------+----------------|
          |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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