BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 612
Page 1
SENATE THIRD READING
SB
612 (Jackson)
As Amended August 31, 2015
Majority vote
SENATE VOTE: 37-0
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|Committee |Votes|Ayes |Noes |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Environmental |6-0 |Alejo, Dahle, | |
|Safety | |Gonzalez, Gray, | |
| | |McCarty, Ting | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Appropriations |16-1 |Gomez, Bigelow, |Gallagher |
| | |Bloom, Bonta, | |
| | |Calderon, Chang, | |
| | |Nazarian, Eggman, | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | |Eduardo Garcia, | |
| | |Holden, Jones, Quirk, | |
| | |Rendon, Wagner, | |
| | |Weber, Wood | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
SB 612
Page 2
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SUMMARY: Modifies the statute related to Certified Unified
Program Agencies (CUPA) administration to clarify the provisions
of the Health and Safety Code related to CUPAs to provide
consistent interpretation of the statute statewide.
Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires the CUPA to certify to Office of Emergency Services
(OES) every three years that it has conducted a review of its
area plan and has made any necessary revisions or that no
substantial changes have been made.
2)Provides that any additional map requirements required by a
CUPA be adopted pursuant to a local ordinance.
3)Revises 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.
4)Revises the exception to the plan and inspection requirements
to require that the tank facility be operated by, instead of
located on, the farm, nursery, logging site, or construction
site and requires that the plan address best management
practices to prevent petroleum releases, as specified.
5)Revises 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.
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6)Provides a due process for the CUPA enforcement of the Medical
Waste Management Act.
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, this bill would result in first-year costs of
$150,000 and $100,000 ongoing from the CUPA to the State Fire
Marshall for additional responsibilities under the Aboveground
Petroleum Storage Act.
COMMENTS:
Need for this bill: 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? 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
environment."
Elements of SB 612 - CUPA reforms: This bill is designed to
provide technical clarification to both the language of the
Unified Program enforcement act as well as operational
definitions of hazardous materials management. This bill
contains numerous technical modifications that address the
following program elements:
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1)General duty clause: The objective of the California
Accidental Release Prevention Program is to prevent accidental
releases and to minimize the consequences of any such release
at facilities that fall under the program. The owners and
operators of stationary sources producing, processing,
handling or storing hazardous materials have a general duty,
in the same manner and to the same extent as federal law
United States Code Title 29, Section 654), to identify hazards
which may result from such releases using appropriate hazard
assessment techniques to design and maintain a safe facility
taking such steps as are necessary to prevent releases and to
minimize the consequences of accidental releases which do
occur.
2)Additional map requirements: Concern has been raised by
businesses that each CUPA may have additional map requirements
for hazardous material business plans. This poses an extra
burden of inconsistency for regulated businesses. This bill
proposes that if a new local requirement is warranted, it
should be substantiated by a governing body action.
7)Business or facility amendments: Previous legislative actions
(SB 1261 (Jackson) Chapter 715, Statutes of 2014) made
numerous changes to the terms "facility" and "business." Some
of these changes remain confusing to both local regulators and
businesses. This bill proposes to make consistent
distinctions between facilities and business.
8)Used Oil Collection Centers (UOCC): For several years, the
Hazardous Waste Technical Advisory Group of the CUPA Board has
identified an issue related to the regulatory responsibility
of UOCC and the need to provide clear authority for CUPAs to
inspect and regulate these types of facilities. The ambiguity
in the law was raised by a UOCC who argued that the facility
was not under the UPA regulatory authority. This amendment
will provide such authority.
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9)Hazardous waste counting: The amount of hazardous waste
generated by a business determines their generator status.
Businesses that generate more waste have additional
requirements for emergency preparedness, employee training,
inspection frequency, disposal frequency, state/federal
reporting and more. Larger generators are expected to pay for
their disposal through pickup by a registered transporter and
may be subject to professional engineer's assessments of tank
systems. Smaller generators have less training and
documentation requirements, and may be allowed to take small
quantities of their own waste to a collection event.
10)Above ground storage tanks and underground storage tanks:
This bill increases environmental protection in California by
closing gaps in regulatory programs and rationalizing the
regulatory requirements among the APSA, Underground Storage
Tank (UST) law and Hazardous Waste Control Law. Compliance
with one set of rules is easier for regulated facilities to
achieve and regulatory agencies to enforce.
11)Due process for Medical Waste Management Act: Twenty five
counties and one city have been delegated with the authority
by the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) to
administer the Medical Waste Management Act in their local
jurisdictions. CDPH has not adopted regulations specifying
the existing administrative penalty process that is available
to local enforcement agencies. This bill provides
administrative enforcement procedures established for the
enforcement of the Unified Program consistent with the Medical
Waste Management Act in these provisions will establish the
necessary due process and enhance regulatory consistency.
Analysis Prepared by:
SB 612
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Bob Fredenburg / E.S. & T.M. / (916) 319-3965
FN:
0001690