BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
Senator Bob Wieckowski, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: SB 612 Hearing Date: 4/15/2015
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|Author: |Jackson |
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|Version: |4/6/2015 |
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|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes |
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|Consultant|Rachel Machi Wagoner |
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Subject: Hazardous materials
ANALYSIS:
Existing law and this bill:
1)Under the Hazardous Waste Control Act (HWCA), provides for the
registration, licensure and permitting of hazardous waste
generators, transporters and storage, transfer and disposal
facilities.
2)Requires the Secretary for the California Environmental
Protection Agency (CalEPA) to adopt regulations and implement
a unified hazardous waste and hazardous materials management
regulatory program.
3)Establishes the respective responsibilities of certified
unified program agencies (CUPA), designated to implement that
unified program, locally, and requires the Secretary to
establish a statewide information management system for
purposes of receiving data collected by CUPAs.
4)Establishes the responsibility of a local administering agency
authorized to implement and enforce provisions that require
(a) the administering agency to establish area plans for
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emergency response to a release or threatened release of a
hazardous material and (b) a business that handles a hazardous
material to establish and implement a business plan for such a
response. Existing law authorizes a CUPA to implement and
enforce these provisions as an administering agency, as
specified.
5)Specifies the contents of the business plan required of the
hazardous materials handler and requires the plan to be
submitted to the administering agency. Existing law requires
the administering agency to submit to the Office of Emergency
Services, the area plan, a plan to conduct onsite inspection,
and a plan to institute a data management system. A violation
of the business plan requirements is a misdemeanor.
6) Existing law requires the Office of Emergency Services (OES)
to adopt, after public hearing and consultation with the
Office of the State Fire Marshal and other appropriate public
entities, regulations for minimum standards for business plans
and area plans, and requires all business plans and area plans
to meet the standards adopted by OES. Existing law requires a
CUPA, in consultation with local emergency response agencies,
to establish an area plan for emergency response to a release
or threatened release of a hazardous material within its
jurisdiction. A CUPA is required to submit a proposed area
plan to the Office of Emergency Services, and the office is
required to notify the CUPA whether the area plan is adequate
and meets the standards adopted by the office in regulations.
Existing law requires a CUPA to certify to the office every 3
years that it has conducted a complete review of its area plan
and has made any necessary revisions and, if a substantial
change is made to its area plan, to forward the changes to the
office within 14 days after the changes have been made.
This bill would require the CUPA to certify to OES Services
every 3 years that it has conducted a review of its area plan
and has made any necessary revisions or that no substantial
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changes have been made.
7)Existing law requires a business handling hazardous materials,
as specified, to establish and implement a business plan for
emergency response to a release or threatened release of a
hazardous material in accordance with the standards prescribed
in the regulations adopted by OES. The business plan is
required to contain specified information, including a site
map that contains north orientation, loading areas, internal
roads, adjacent streets, storm and sewer drains, access and
exit points, emergency shutoffs, evacuation staging areas,
hazardous material handling and storage areas, and emergency
response equipment.
This bill would additionally require the site map to include
additional map requirements required by the Unified Program
Agency (UPA) pursuant to an ordinance.
8)Existing law, under the Aboveground Petroleum Storage Act
defines, for purposes of the act, an "aboveground storage
tank" as a tank that has the capacity to store 55 gallons or
more of petroleum and that is substantially or totally above
the surface of the ground and a tank in an underground area,
as defined, except as specified.
This bill would revise the definition of "aboveground storage
tank" to include a tank or container that has the capacity to
store 55 gallons or more of petroleum, including drums,
intermediate bulk containers, totes, mobile refuelers,
oil-filled operational equipment, and oil-filled manufacturing
equipment, and that is substantially or totally above the
surface of the ground and a tank in an underground area.
Existing law requires CUPAs to implement the Aboveground
Petroleum Storage Act in accordance with regulations adopted
by the Office of the State Fire Marshal and authorizes the
Office of the State Fire Marshal to adopt these regulations.
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This bill would require the Office of the State Fire Marshal
to adopt these regulations.
Except for certain tank facilities located on a farm, nursery,
logging site, or construction site, the Aboveground Petroleum
Storage Act requires each owner or operator of a storage tank
at a tank facility to prepare a spill prevention control and
countermeasure plan and to conduct periodic inspections of the
storage tank.
This bill would revise the above-described exception to the
plan and inspection requirements to instead require that the
tank facility be operated by, instead of located on, the farm,
nursery, logging site, or construction site. The bill would
require that the plan address best management practices to
prevent petroleum releases, as specified.
9)Existing law regulates the storage of hazardous substances in
underground storage tanks and requires underground storage
tanks that are used to store hazardous substances and that are
installed after January 1, 1984, to meet certain requirements
and obtain a permit from the UPA.
This bill would revise the definition of "storage" and "store"
for purposes of the regulation of the storage of hazardous
substances in underground storage tanks, to exempt storage
that is in compliance with specified alternative laws for the
regulation of hazardous materials.
10) Existing law provides for CUPA enforcement of HWCA
violations.
This bill makes consistent the CUPA enforcement of the Medical
Waste Management Act with HWCA.
11) This bill would make other technical changes to the
hazardous materials laws.
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12) This bill would make additional legislative findings and
declarations relative to the unified program.
Background
SB 1082 (Calderon), Chapter 418, Statutes of 1993, required
the Secretary of the CalEPA to establish a "unified hazardous
waste and hazardous materials management" regulatory program
(Unified Program) by January 1, 1996. Currently, there are
83 Certified Unified Program Agencies (CUPAs) in California.
All counties have been certified by the Secretary. The
Unified Program consolidates, coordinates, and makes
consistent the following six existing programs:
Hazardous Materials Release Response Plans and
Inventories (Business Plans).
California Accidental Release Prevention (CalARP)
Program.
Underground Storage Tank Program.
Aboveground Petroleum Storage Act.
Hazardous Waste Generator and Onsite Hazardous
Waste Treatment (tiered permitting) Programs.
California Uniform Fire Code: Hazardous Material
Management Plans and Hazardous Material Inventory
Statements.
A local agency, such as a county or city, applies to CalEPA
for certification as the Unified Program Agency, responsible
for implementing the Unified Program within its jurisdiction.
A Certified Unified Program Agency must establish a program
which consolidates, coordinates and makes consistent the
administrative requirements, permits, inspection activities,
enforcement activities, and hazardous waste and hazardous
materials fees. The implementation of the Unified Program
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must not result in more fragmentation between jurisdictions
than existed before the Unified Program, and the Unified
Program must be consistent throughout the entire county.
Comments
1. Purpose of Bill.
According to the author, "SB 612 is a technical bill that
makes a number of changes to various sections of the Health
and Safety Code. These provisions deal with area plans for
emergency response to a release or threatened release of a
hazardous material, the Accidental Release Prevention
Program, used oil collection centers, the Above Ground
Petroleum Storage Act, the Underground Storage Tank Act and
the Hazardous Waste Control Act."
The author states that "the purpose of the bill is to bring
clarity to certain provisions, reduce inconsistencies and
ambiguities and increase environmental protection by closing
gaps in regulatory programs. These changes will ensure that
the programs specified above function more efficiently and
effectively."
Related/Prior Legislation
SB 1261(Jackson) Chapter 715, Statutes of 2014 revises and
recasts the area and business plan requirements for certified
unified program agencies CUPA.
SB 483 (Jackson) Chapter 419, Statutes of 2013 revises and
recasts the area and business plan requirements in existing law,
which authorizes a CUPA to implement and enforce specified
provisions.
SOURCE:
The California Association of Environmental Health
Administrators
The California Fire Chiefs Association
SUPPORT:
None on file
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OPPOSITION:
None on file
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT:
According to the California Association of Environmental Health
Administrators (CAEHA) "SB 612 is the third bill authored by
Senator Jackson and co-sponsored by CAEHA and the Fire Chiefs
that is intended to help in clarifying the complex codes that
govern the seven elements in the "Unified Program". Like SB
483 and SB 1261, this measure updates, rearranges, and clarifies
parts of the law in an attempt to make the requirements clearer
for both the regulated community and the regulators.
Specifically, the bill will:
Eliminate inconsistencies in site map requirements;
Provide clear authority for Unified Program Agencies to
inspect and regulate used oil collection centers;
Increase environmental protection by closing gaps and
harmonizing the relationship between the Aboveground
Petroleum Storage Act, the Underground Storage Tank Act and
the Hazardous Waste Control Act;
Clarify duties of owners and operators under the
Accidental Release Prevention Program;
Make the due process of existing local agency
administrative enforcement of the Medical Waste Management
Act the same as the due process used in the Unified
Program; and
Make other related technical changes.
With the above changes, SB 612 will improve clarity, reduce
inconsistencies and ambiguities, and increase environmental
protection by closing gaps in certain regulatory programs.
These changes will ensure that the programs under the
jurisdiction of CUPAs operate as efficiently as possible, which
in turn will facilitate compliance for regulated businesses
without reducing the protection of public health, safety and the
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environment."
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION: None received.
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