BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                     SB 612


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          SENATE THIRD READING


          SB  
          612 (Jackson)


          As Amended  August 31, 2015


          Majority vote


          SENATE VOTE:  37-0


           ------------------------------------------------------------------ 
          |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


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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:                                             








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                          Bob Fredenburg / E.S. & T.M. / (916) 319-3965     
                                                                  FN:  
          0001690