BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular Session
SB 820 (Hertzberg) - Hazardous materials: California Land Reuse
and Revitalization Act of 2004
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|Version: April 12, 2016 |Policy Vote: E.Q. 6 - 0, JUD. 7 |
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|Urgency: No |Mandate: No |
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|Hearing Date: May 2, 2016 |Consultant: Narisha Bonakdar |
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This bill does not meet the criteria for referral to the
Suspense File.
Bill
Summary: SB 820 extends the sunset date for the California Land
Reuse and Revitalization Act of 2004 (CLRRA) to January 1, 2027,
and makes corresponding changes to a provision that provides for
continued immunity after the repeal of CLRRA.
Fiscal
Impact:
Unknown, but likely around $50,000 (Toxic Substances Control
Account), for the Department of Toxic Substance Control (DTSC)
oversight of clean-up projects.*
Minor costs for the State Water Resources Control Board
(SWRCB) oversight (State Water Quality Control Fund).*
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*Costs are reimbursed through a fee-for-service agreement.
Background: CLRRA provides that innocent landowners, purchasers, or
contiguous property owners will be granted immunity from
liability for damages due to hazardous materials if they assess
and clean up the property, they enter into an oversight
agreement with DTSC and/or SWRCB, and that the clean-up of the
property meets or exceeds existing standards. This program will
sunset in January 2017, although the immunity from liability
from existing agreements will continue.
Brownfields are typically abandoned, idled, or underutilized
sites, formerly used for industrial or commercial purposes,
where perceived or actual contamination deters redevelopment.
Costs associated with brownfield site clean-up can be
prohibitively expensive for parties who purchase these
properties, particularly when unexpected hazardous materials are
encountered during site remediation. Consequently, many of
these sites remain vacant for years.
The USEPA estimates that there are approximately 90,000
brownfields in California. The large number of brownfield sites
and the unavailability of sufficient public resources to
remediate these sites mean that California's brownfields will
not be restored to productive use without significant
participation by the private sector.
Proposed Law:
This bill extends the sunset date for CLRRA to January 1,
2027, and makes corresponding changes to a provision that
provides for continued immunity after the repeal of CLRRA.
Related
Legislation: SB 143 (Cedillo, Chapter 167, Statutes 2009)
extended the sunset date for CLRRA, from January 1, 2010 to
January 1, 2017, and made corresponding changes to a provision
that provides for continued immunity after the repeal of CLRRA.
This bill also authorized a prospective purchaser who qualifies
as a bona fide purchaser to enter into a contract to acquire a
site, but prohibited the prospective purchaser from receiving
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immunity under CLRRA until the prospective purchaser acquired
the site.
SB 989 (Committee on Environmental Quality, Chapter 510,
Statutes 2006) created a program for bona fide ground tenants,
as defined, to purchase contaminated property subject to certain
immunities from suit for damages related to prior contamination
of the property, similar to the program made available to bona
fide purchasers under CLRRA.
AB 2144 (Montanez, Chapter 562, Statutes 2006) among other
things, revised the public participation procedures required in
a response plan, under CLRRA, for agencies with oversight over
the clean-up of certain brownfield sites.
AB 389 (Montanez, Chapter 705, Statutes 2004) created the
California Land Reuse and Revitalization Act of 2004.
SB 493 (Cedillo, 2004) would have enacted the California Land
Reuse and Revitalization Act. This bill died in the Assembly
Appropriations Committee.
Staff
Comments: According to DTSC, CLRRA sites represent a small fraction of
their brownfield cleanup sites. DTSC currently oversees 24
active CLRRA sites and has 16 completed sites. Statewide DTSC
typically has more than 1000 active cleanup projects, and
currently has 280 active Voluntary Cleanup Program sites.
Approximately 50 staff work on these programs.
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