BILL NUMBER: AB 2877	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Aghazarian

                        FEBRUARY 20, 2004

   An act to amend Section 25150.6 of the Health and Safety Code,
relating to hazardous waste.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 2877, as introduced, Aghazarian.  Hazardous waste: regulation.
   (1) Existing law establishes various standards for management and
control of hazardous waste.  Existing law authorizes the Department
of Toxic Substances Control to exempt, by regulation, a hazardous
waste management activity from certain statutory requirements related
to hazardous waste management if specific conditions for exemption
are met.  Existing law authorizes the department to adopt those
regulations for exemptions only until January 1, 2003.
   This bill would extend that authorization until January 1, 2008.
   Because a violation of the regulations authorized by this bill
would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local
program.
  (2) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse
local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
   This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this
act for a specified reason.
   Vote:  majority.  Appropriation:  no.  Fiscal committee:  yes.
State-mandated local program:  yes.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:


  SECTION 1.  Section 25150.6 of the Health and Safety Code is
amended to read:
   25150.6.  (a) Except as provided in subdivisions (e) and (f), the
department, by regulation, may exempt a hazardous waste management
activity from one or more of the requirements of this chapter, if the
department does all of the following:
   (1) Prepares an analysis of the hazardous waste management
activity to which the exemption will apply pursuant to subdivision
(b).  The department shall first prepare the analysis as a
preliminary analysis and make it available to the public at the same
time that the department gives notice, pursuant to Section 11346.4 of
the Government Code, that it proposes to adopt a regulation
exempting the hazardous waste management activity from one or more of
the requirements of this chapter.  The department shall include, in
the notice, a reference that the department has prepared a
preliminary analysis and a statement concerning where a copy of the
preliminary analysis can be obtained.  The information in the
preliminary analysis shall be updated and the department shall make
the analysis available to the public as a final analysis not less
than 10 working days prior to the date that the regulation is
adopted.
   (2) Demonstrates that one of the conclusions required by
subdivision (c) is valid.
   (3) Imposes, as may be necessary, conditions and limitations on
the exemption that ensure that the exempted activity will not pose a
significant potential hazard to human health or safety or to the
environment.
   (b) Before the department gives notice of a proposal to adopt a
regulation exempting a hazardous waste activity from one or more of
the requirements of this chapter pursuant to subdivision (a), and
before the department adopts the regulation, the department shall
evaluate the hazardous waste management activity and prepare, as
required by paragraph (1) of subdivision (a), an analysis that
addresses all of the following aspects of the activity, to the extent
that the requirement or requirements from which the activity will be
exempted can affect these aspects of the activity:
   (1) The types of hazardous waste streams and the estimated amounts
of hazardous waste that are managed as part of the activity and the
hazards to human health or safety or to the environment posed by
reasonably foreseeable mismanagement of those hazardous wastes and
their hazardous constituents.  The estimate of the amounts of
hazardous waste that are managed as part of the activity shall be
based upon information reasonably available to the department.
   (2) The complexity of the activity, and the amount and complexity
of operator training, equipment installation and maintenance, and
monitoring that are required to ensure that the activity is conducted
in a manner that safely and effectively manages the particular
hazardous waste stream.
   (3) The chemical or physical hazards that are associated with the
activity and the degree to which those hazards are similar to, or
differ from, the chemical or physical hazards that are associated
with the production processes that are carried out in the facilities
that produce the hazardous waste that is managed as part of the
activity.
   (4) The types of accidents that might reasonably be foreseen to
occur during the management of particular types of hazardous waste
streams as part of the activity, the likely consequences of those
accidents, and the actual reasonably available accident history
associated with the activity.
   (5) The types of locations at which the activity may be carried
out, an estimate of the number of these locations, and the types of
hazards that may be posed by proximity to the land uses described in
subdivision (b) of Section 25232.  The estimate of the number of
locations at which the activity may be carried out shall be based
upon information reasonably available to the department.
   (c) The department  shall   may  not
give notice proposing the adoption of, and the department may not
adopt, a regulation pursuant to subdivision (a) unless it first
demonstrates, using the information developed in the analysis
prepared pursuant to subdivision (b), that one of the following is
valid:
   (1) The requirement from which the activity is exempted is not
significant or important in either of the following:
   (A) Preventing or mitigating potential hazards to human health or
safety or to the environment posed by the activity.
   (B) Ensuring that the activity is conducted in compliance with
other applicable requirements of this chapter and the regulations
adopted pursuant to this chapter.
   (2) A requirement is imposed and enforced by another public agency
that provides protection of human health and safety and the
environment that is as effective as, and equivalent to, the
protection provided by the requirement, or requirements, from which
the activity is being exempted.
   (3) Conditions or limitations imposed on the exemption will
provide protection of human health and safety and the environment
equivalent to the requirement, or requirements, from which the
activity is exempted.
   (4) Conditions or limitations imposed on the exemption accomplish
the same regulatory purpose as the requirement, or requirements, from
which the activity is being exempted but at less cost or greater
administrative convenience and without increasing potential risks to
human health or safety or to the environment.
   (d) A regulation adopted pursuant to this section  shall
  may  not be deemed to meet the standard of
necessity, pursuant to Section 11349.1 of the Government Code, unless
the department has complied with subdivisions (b) and (c).
   (e) The department  shall   may not
exempt a hazardous waste management activity from a requirement of
this chapter or the regulations adopted by the department if the
requirement is also a requirement for that activity under the federal
act.
   (f) (1) On and after January 1, 2002, the department may, by
regulation, exempt a hazardous waste management activity from one or
more of the requirements of this chapter pursuant to this section
only if the regulations govern the management of one of the hazardous
wastes listed in subparagraphs (A) to (E), inclusive, of paragraph
(2), the regulations identify the hazardous waste as a universal
waste, and the regulations amend the standards for universal waste
management set forth in Chapter 23 (commencing with Section 66273.1)
of Division 4.5 of Title 22 of the California Code of Regulations.
   (2) The regulations that the department may adopt pursuant to
paragraph (1) shall govern only the following types of hazardous
waste:
   (A) Electronic hazardous wastes, as the department may describe in
the regulations adopted pursuant to this subdivision.
   (B) Hazardous waste batteries.
   (C) Hazardous wastes containing mercury.
   (D) Hazardous waste lamps.
   (E) Lead-painted wood debris that is a hazardous waste.
   (g) The authority of the department to adopt regulations pursuant
to this section shall remain in effect only until January 1, 
2003   2008  , unless a later enacted statute,
which is enacted before January 1,  2003   2008
 , deletes or extends that date.  This subdivision does not
invalidate any regulation adopted pursuant to this section prior to
the expiration of the department's authority.
  SEC. 2.  No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because
the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school
district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or
infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty
for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the
Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the
meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
Constitution.