BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
SB 612 (Jackson) - Hazardous materials
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|Version: April 6, 2015 |Policy Vote: E.Q. 7 - 0 |
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|Urgency: No |Mandate: Yes (see staff |
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|Hearing Date: April 27, 2015 |Consultant: Marie Liu |
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This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill
Summary: SB 612 would make various changes to the Aboveground
Petroleum Storage Act and other aspects of the unified program
to regarding the duties and responsibilities of local and state
administrators.
Fiscal
Impact: First-year costs of $150,000 and $100,000 ongoing from
the Unified Program Account (special) to the State Fire Marshall
for additional responsibilities under the Aboveground Petroleum
Storage Act.
Background: Existing law requires the California Environmental Protection
Agency (CalEPA) to implement a unified hazardous waste and
hazardous materials management regulatory program (unified
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program). The program is administered by unified program
agencies (UPAs), which is the state, a designated local agency,
or one of 83 local government agencies that have certified by
the secretary of CalEPA as having met specified requirements
necessary to implement the unified program agency (certified
unified program agency or CUPA). The Department of Toxic
Substances Control, the Office of the State Fire Marshal (SFM),
the California Emergency Management Agency, and the State Water
Resources Control Board have various oversight responsibilities
in the unified program.
Existing law requires UPAs to establish area plans for emergency
response to a release or threatened release of a hazardous
material. UPAs also responsible for requiring businesses that
handles hazardous materials to establish and implement business
plans that include an inventory of specified information that
would necessary in a response to a release or threatened release
of a hazardous material. Part of the business plan is a site map
that includes information such as access and exit points and
emergency shutoffs.
Existing law establishes the Aboveground Petroleum Storage Act
(APSA) which is largely administered by the CUPAs with oversight
by the SFM.
Existing law (HSC §25404.5) requires CUPAs to institute a single
fee system, which is required to include a surcharge to cover
the necessary and reasonable costs of the state agencies in
carrying out their responsibilities in the unified program. The
surcharge amount is determined by the CalEPA secretary annually.
Proposed Law:
This bill would make various changes to the state's hazardous
waste laws. Specifically, this bill would:
Modify definitions, including the definition of "aboveground
storage tank" and "storage" to help align responsibilities
between the APSA, the Underground Storage Tank law, and the
Hazardous Waste Control Act. One of these changes clarifies
that a storage tank that is an underground area in a structure
(such as a vault or basement), can be regulated as an above
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ground tank.
Clarifying visual inspection requirements under the APSA.
Require the SFM to adopt regulations implementing the APSA.
Require the SFM to approve alternative inspection and
compliance plans submitted by an UPA under the APSA.
Expand requirements of the contents of a business plan
submitted under the APSA.
Allow an UPA to make additional requirements of the site map
that is part of a business plan.
Specify the authority of UPAs to inspect and regulate used oil
collection centers.
Make various technical changes to the hazardous waste laws.
Make legislative findings and declarations relative to the
unified program, including findings in the California
Accidental Release Prevention Program, that the owners and
operators of stationary sources dealing with hazardous
materials have a general duty to identify hazards which might
result in spills and to take necessary steps to prevent spills
and minimize the consequences of accidental spills that do
occur.
Related
Legislation:
SB 1261 (Jackson) Chapter 715, Statutes of 2014 revised and
recast the area and business plan requirements for CUPAs.
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SB 483 (Jackson) Chapter 419, Statutes of 2013 revised and
recast the area and business plan requirements including
authorization for CUPAs to implement and enforce specific
provisions.
AB 1566 (Wieckowski) Chapter 532, Statutes of 2012 established
the SFM as the state oversight agency under the APSA.
Staff
Comments: This bill would make the SFM's authority to adopt the
regulations to implement the APSA a mandatory activity. The
approved 2013-14 budget provided two additional positions for
the SFM for its then-new oversight responsibilities under the
APSA due to the passage of AB 1566, including the development of
implementing regulations. This regulatory process is currently
underway and is anticipated to be completed by the end of 2015.
As these regulatory actions are already funded, this bill would
not necessitate any additional costs for regulation development.
This bill would increase the duties of the SFM in overseeing the
APSA, including training CUPAs and fire code officials on the
changes proposed in the bill. The SFM estimates that its
expanded duties will require an additional PY at an ongoing cost
of $100,000 annually with an additional $50,000 in one-time
costs in the first year.
This bill creates a state mandate on local agencies as it
modifies existing crimes and creates new crimes. However, costs
associated with these mandates are not reimbursable pursuant to
the California Constitution. Additionally, any mandates of the
CUPAs are also not reimbursable as the CUPAs have existing fee
authority to recover their costs.
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