BILL NUMBER: SB 981 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Senators Soto and Romero
FEBRUARY 21, 2003
An act to add Division 29 (commencing with Section 38000) to the
Public Resources Code, relating to petroleum pollution.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 981, as introduced, Soto. Petroleum Pollution Cleanup and
Prevention Act of 2003.
Existing law establishes the Carl Moyer Memorial Air Quality
Standards Attainment Program, administered by the State Air Resources
Board, which authorizes grants by air quality management districts
and air pollution control districts to offset the incremental cost of
projects that reduce the emissions of oxides of nitrogen (NOx) from
onroad trucks, offroad nonrecreational equipment and vehicles,
locomotives, diesel marine vessels, stationary agricultural engines,
and other high-emitting diesel engines. Existing law requires the
state board to endeavor to achieve the maximum degree of emission
reduction possible from vehicular and other mobile sources in order
to accomplish the attainment of state ambient air quality standards
by the earliest practicable date. Existing state board guidelines
establish criteria for a lower emission schoolbus program, a
replacement and particulate matter retrofit program for diesel
schoolbuses in the state that is administered by the state board and
implemented in part by the districts. Existing law requires, until
January 1, 2007, any district with a population of 1,000,000
residents or greater, in consultation with the state board, to expend
not less than 50% of the moneys appropriated until January 1, 2007,
for the Carl Moyer Air Quality Standards Attainment Program, on
programs to fund the purchase of reduced emission schoolbuses, and
diesel mitigation programs, in a manner that directly reduces air
contaminants or the public health risks associated with air
contaminants, in communities with the most significant exposure to
air contaminants or localized air contaminants, or both, including
communities of minority populations or low-income populations, or
both.
This bill would enact the Children's Health and Petroleum
Pollution Remediation Act of 2003, which would require the operator
of every refinery to pay a $0.30 fee for each barrel of crude oil
received at a refinery within the state to the State Board of
Equalization on a monthly basis based on the number of barrels of
crude oil received during the previous month.
The bill would establish the Children's Health and Petroleum
Pollution Remediation Fund in the State Treasury.
The bill would require that a certain percentage of the fees
imposed on each barrel of crude oil received, as determined annually
by the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development
Commission, be imposed on the amount of crude oil refined into
transportation fuel, as defined. The bill would require the revenues
generated by the imposition of the fees to be deposited in the fund.
The bill would require that, of those moneys in the fund, $0.40 of
each dollar deposited in the fund be utilized to fund the Carl Moyer
Memorial Air Quality Standards Attainment Program administered by the
state board and districts, and $0.20 of each dollar so deposited be
utilized to fund the lower-emission schoolbus program administered by
the state board. The bill would require $0.40 of each dollar
deposited in the fund to be utilized by districts to fund a grant
program for the intervention, treatment, and education of sensitive
populations suffering from exposure to petroleum-related air
pollution, and would authorize districts to establish and administer
the program within its jurisdiction.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(a) Petroleum products have been shown to cause public health and
environmental degradation problems, and these problems have
stimulated a movement to address these concerns. The Carl Moyer
Memorial Air Quality Standards Attainment Program was established
soon after the State Air Resources Board determined that diesel
particulate is a cancer-causing toxic air contaminant. The
Lower-Emission School Bus Replacement Program was created shortly
thereafter.
(b) Recent studies indicate that there are 2.5 million people in
California with asthma, 500,000 of them children. Asthma is the most
common chronic childhood disease, which affects more than one in 20
children, and is the leading cause of school absences and hospital
admissions for children in California. Additional studies establish
a direct correlation between air quality and respiratory health.
(c) Some toxic air pollutants found in gasoline, including, but
not limited to, benzene and diesel particulate matter, are also known
to cause cancer in humans. Studies have linked particulate
pollution to lung cancer and at least one investigation found a
possible link between brain cancer and air pollution.
(d) Combustion of transportation fuel, including, but not limited
to, gasoline and diesel, is the major source of ozone precursors and
of fine particulate matter throughout the state, and particularly in
the South Coast Air Basin.
(e) To clean up current petroleum-related air pollution and to
protect public health, it is necessary to establish a stable funding
source dedicated specifically to the purposes of air pollution
cleanup and prevention, and the treatment and education of sensitive
populations suffering from exposure to petroleum-related pollution.
(f) In order to ensure the necessary level of funding and
continued operation of these programs, it is necessary to create a
sustainable, consistent funding mechanism. A fee per barrel of
petroleum refined within the state, imposed at the refinery gate,
provides that mechanism.
(g) The fee per barrel imposed by the act adding this section is
proportionate to the harm resulting from petroleum pollution within
the state, and is a fair and reasonable means to mitigate the past,
present, and future harm to public health and safety resulting from
petroleum pollution in the state.
(h) It is the intent of the Legislature that the fee imposed by
the act adding this section not be passed through to consumers.
SEC. 2. Division 29 (commencing with Section 38000) is added to
the Public Resources Code, to read:
DIVISION 29. CHILDREN'S HEALTH AND PETROLEUM POLLUTION
REMEDIATION ACT OF 2003
CHAPTER 1. GENERAL PROVISIONS AND DEFINITIONS
38000. This division shall be known, and may be cited, as the
Children's Health and Petroleum Pollution Remediation Act of 2003.
38001. For purposes of this division, the following terms have
the following meanings:
(a) "Air pollution and brain cancer research" means any research
that explores the correlation between brain cancer and emissions of
air contaminants that can be used to better asses the potential for
reducing cancer incidence by improving air quality.
(b) "Asthma research consortium" means any research consortium on
asthma and outdoor air quality, that utilizes the expertise of the
University of California and other researchers to develop a firmer
scientific foundation for public policy on asthma prevention.
(c) "Barrel of crude oil" has the same meaning as that term is
defined in Section 2241 of Title 18 of the California Code of
Regulations.
(d) "Childhood asthma initiative" means the joint project of the
Division of Chronic Disease and Injury Control, the Children's
Medical Services Branch and the Environmental Health Investigations
Branch of the State Department of Health Services, whose goals are to
decrease asthma morbidity and improve the quality of life of
children up to 5 years old with asthma.
(e) "Crude oil" means petroleum in an unrefined or natural state,
including condensate and natural gasoline.
(f) "Crude oil producer" means any person or entity producing
crude oil within the state that does not refine crude oil into a
product.
(g) "District" means any air quality management district or air
pollution control district in the state.
(h) "Fund" means the Children's Health and Petroleum Pollution
Remediation Fund established pursuant to Section 38050.
(i) "Mobile asthma clinic" means a mobile asthma clinic that is
used to augment health services for children and seniors with asthma
in areas in the state where underserved populations do not have
access to adequate transportation, schools, Head-Start Centers,
senior centers, and health clinics to provide asthma screening and
treatment to low-income and uninsured residents.
(j) "Petroleum" means any petroleum product, including, but not
limited to, petroleum additives.
(k) "Petroleum additive" includes, but is not limited to, benzene,
toluene, cthylbenzene, and xylene.
(l) "Petroleum contamination" means pollution of the air from any
petroleum product, including petroleum additives, or by any action
related to the extraction, refinement, transport, storage, sale,
combustion, or usage of petroleum.
(m) "Refinery" means a facility or location that refines crude
oil, including, but not limited to, condensate and natural gasoline,
into petroleum products, lubricating oils, coke, or asphalt.
(n) "Transportation fuel" means any petroleum-based product used
in the propulsion of an internal combustion engine, including, but
not limited to, engines required to operate onroad or offroad
vehicles, aircraft, marine vessels, and locomotives, and any
petroleum-based product used to fuel stationary internal and external
combustion engines.
CHAPTER 2. CHILDREN'S HEALTH AND PETROLEUM POLLUTION
REMEDIATION FUND
38050. (a) The Children's Health Petroleum Pollution Remediation
Fund is hereby established in the State Treasury. The money in the
fund shall be expended for purposes of this division, upon
appropriation by the Legislature for that purpose.
(b) Every operator of a refinery shall pay a fee in the amount of
thirty cents ($0.30) for each barrel of crude oil received at a
refinery within the state.
(c) The State Board of Equalization shall administer the fee
imposed pursuant to subdivision (b) in accordance with the Fee
Collection Procedures Law (Part 30 (commencing with Section 55001) of
Division 2 of the Revenue and Taxation Code).
(d) The fee imposed pursuant to subdivision (b) is due and payable
to the State Board of Equalization monthly on or before the 25th day
of the calendar month following the monthly period for which the fee
is imposed. Each fee payer, on or before the 25th day of the month
following each monthly period, shall make out a return for the
preceding monthly period, in the form prescribed by the State Board
of Equalization.
(e) All fees imposed pursuant to subdivision (b) shall be paid in
the form of remittances payable to the State Board of Equalization.
The State Board of Equalization shall transmit the payment to the
fund.
(f) The money deposited to the credit of the fund may be expended
for the following purposes:
(1) To pay for refunds pursuant to Part 30 (commencing with
Section 55001) of Division 2 of the Revenue and Taxation Code.
(2) To pay for the administrative costs of the State Board of
Equalization of collection, auditing, and making refunds associated
with the fund.
(3) The balance shall be expended as provided in Section 38051.
38051. (a) The moneys in the fund shall be expended as follows:
(1) Forty cents ($0.40) of each dollar deposited in the fund
pursuant to this subdivision shall be allocated to the Carl Moyer
Memorial Air Quality Standards Attainment Trust Fund, established
pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 44299 of the Health and Safety
Code, to fund diesel emissions exposure reduction incentive projects
and programs through districts as described in Section 44280 of the
Health and Safety Code.
(2) Twenty cents ($0.20) of each dollar deposited in the fund
pursuant to this subdivision shall be allocated to the State Air
Resources Board to provide funding to the Lower-Emission School Bus
Program administered by the State Air Resources Board, which provides
funding to purchase new, lower emitting school buses and to retrofit
school buses with particulate trap and emissions reduction
technology.
(3) Forty cents ($0.40) of each dollar deposited in the fund
pursuant to this subdivision shall be allocated to districts for the
grant program described in Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 38150),
for the intervention, treatment, and education of sensitive
populations suffering from exposure to petroleum-related air
pollution.
(b) Not more than 3 percent of each allocation described in
paragraphs (1) to (3), inclusive, of subdivision (a) may be used for
program administration and overhead costs.
(c) All interest earned on moneys deposited in the fund shall be
deposited in the fund.
CHAPTER 3. PETROLEUM POLLUTION EXPOSURE REMEDIATION PROGRAM
38150. (a) The purpose of this chapter is to establish a
competitive grant program for the intervention, treatment, and
education of sensitive populations suffering from exposure to
petroleum-related air pollution.
(b) Each district may establish and administer an air quality
grant program to provide grants to organizations that provide
respiratory and health services to children and other sensitive
populations for unhealthful conditions caused by exposure to air
pollution from crude oil refining and vehicular emissions.
(c) Each participating district shall determine the parties,
projects, and costs eligible for grants moneys through a competitive
grant solicitation process.
(d) Organizations eligible to receive a grant pursuant to this
section include, but are not limited to, all of the following:
(1) Organizations that provide respiratory health services to
children and other sensitive populations.
(2) Mobile asthma clinics.
(3) The Childhood Asthma Initiative.
(4) The Asthma Research Consortium.
(5) Any air pollution and brain cancer research organization.
(6) Any organization that researches the health effects of air
pollution from crude oil refining and vehicular emissions.
(e) Funds allocated pursuant to paragraph (3) of subdivision (a)
of Section 38051 shall be allocated to districts for the purposes of
this chapter on the basis of the population served.
(f) Each participating district that administers a grant program
pursuant to this section shall establish an advisory committee made
up of stakeholders to review the program implementation, with special
emphasis on areas with environmental justice concerns, and provide a
report to the Legislature reviewing the implementation of the
program not later than 24 months after the date the program is
established.
(g) If a district determines that it is not feasible for it to
establish and administer a grant program, any county health agency
within the jurisdiction of that district may establish and administer
a program consistent with this chapter within the jurisdiction of
the county health agency.
CHAPTER 4. AIR POLLUTION PREVENTION
38160. The moneys allocated to each project funded pursuant to
Sections 38051 and 38150 shall be expended in a manner that directly
addresses air pollution in communities that are severely impacted by
air pollution, consistent with subdivisions (a) and (b) of Section
43023.5 of the Health and Safety Code.
38161. The parties, projects, and costs eligible for the moneys
allocated to the Carl Moyer Memorial Air Quality Standards Attainment
Trust Fund pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) of Section
38051 are the same as those described in Chapter 9 (commencing with
Section 44275) of Part 5 of Division 26 of the Health and Safety
Code.
38162. The parties, projects, and costs eligible for funds
allocated to the Lower-Emission School Bus Program pursuant to
paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) of Section 38051 are those that the
State Air Resources Board has defined as eligible for that program.