BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



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          CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS


          AB  
          2893 (Committee on Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials)


          As Amended  May 25, 2016


          Majority vote


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          |ASSEMBLY:  | 78-0 |(May 12, 2016) |SENATE: | 37-0 |(June 30, 2016)  |
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          Original Committee Reference:  E.S. & T.M.


          SUMMARY:  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.  


          The Senate amendments make a technical, non-substantive change. 








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          EXISTING LAW:  


             1)   Establishes 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.  


             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).  








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             5)   Authorizes DTSC to disclose the information under  
               certain circumstances to authorized representatives,  
               contractors, or government agencies, including the United  
               States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA). 


          FISCAL EFFECT:  This bill was approved by the Senate  
          Appropriations Committee pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8;  
          therefore, the fiscal impacts of the bill are unknown, but  
          likely negligible.


          COMMENTS:  Background on AB 276:  Assembly Bill 276 (Assembly  
          Environmental Safety & Toxic Materials Committee), 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 of  
          contaminated sites.  Providing this statutory authority aligned  
          state law with federal law, which permits the U.S. 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.


          Need for the bill:  The primary goal of AB 276 was to provide  
          DTSC authority consistent with the U.S. EPA's authority to  
          retrieve financial information from potential responsible  
          parties.  The secondary goal of AB 276, as well as the package  
          of bills it was enacted with in 2015 (AB 273 (Committee on  
          Environmental Safety and Toxic Material), Chapter 456, AB 274  
          (Committee on Environmental Safety and Toxic Material), Chapter  








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          457, and AB 275 (Committee on Environmental Safety and Toxic  
          Material), Chapter 458), was to conform Health & Safety Code  
          Chapters 6.5 and 6.8 by clarifying terms to create better  
          consistency between the two chapters and to eliminate the  
          possibility of confusion during implementation. 


          The purpose of this bill 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.  


          Analysis Prepared by:                                             
                          Paige Brokaw / E.S. & T.M. / (916) 319-3965  FN:  
          0003636