BILL NUMBER: SB 1722 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Senator Ducheny
FEBRUARY 20, 2004
An act to add Section 25249.7.3 to the Health and Safety Code,
relating to toxic substances.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 1722, as introduced, Ducheny. Proposition 65: enforcement:
judgments.
(1) The existing Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of
1986 (Proposition 65) prohibits any person, in the course of doing
business, from knowingly and intentionally exposing any individual to
a chemical known to the state to cause cancer or reproductive
toxicity without giving a specified warning, or from discharging or
releasing such a chemical into any source of drinking water, except
as specified. The act imposes civil penalties upon persons who
violate those prohibitions, and provides for the enforcement of those
prohibitions by the Attorney General, a district attorney, or
specified city attorneys or prosecutors, and by any person in the
public interest. Existing law requires 75% of all civil and criminal
penalties collected pursuant to the act be deposited in the Safe
Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Fund in the State Treasury,
which may be expended by the director of the lead agency, who is
designated by the Governor to implement the act, to implement and
administer the act, upon appropriation by the Legislature. Existing
law requires 25% of all civil and criminal penalties collected
pursuant to the act be paid to the prosecuting office or the person
who brought the action in the public interest. The act requires any
person bringing an action in the public interest, or any private
person filing an action in which a violation of the act is alleged,
to notify the Attorney General that such an action has been filed.
This bill would prohibit a person from filing an action in the
public interest or bringing an action that alleges a violation of the
act if the defendant has previously entered into a settlement or has
been a party to a final judgment in another action brought pursuant
to the act, and the person filing or bringing the action alleges the
same violation of the act that was settled or adjudicated. The bill
would provide that any person who files an action in the public
interest or brings an action that alleges a violation against a
defendant would be deemed to be in privity with any other person who
files an action in the public interest or brings an action that
alleges a violation of this chapter against that same defendant.
(2) The bill, in conformance with the requirements of Proposition
65, would make a legislative finding and declaration that this change
would further the purposes of the act.
Vote: 2/3. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 25249.7.3 is added to the Health and Safety
Code, to read:
25249.7.3. (a) (1) Notwithstanding subdivision (d) of Section
25249.7, except as provided in subdivisions (b) and (c), a person may
not file an action in the public interest pursuant to subdivision
(d) of Section 25249.7 or bring an action that alleges a violation of
this chapter if the defendant has previously entered into a
settlement or has been a party to a final judgment in another action
brought pursuant to this chapter, and the person filing or bringing
the action alleges the same violation of this chapter that was
settled or adjudicated.
(2) For purposes of this subdivision, any person who files an
action in the public interest pursuant to subdivision (d) of Section
25249.7 or brings an action that alleges a violation of this chapter
against a defendant shall be deemed to be in privity with any other
person who files an action in the public interest pursuant to
subdivision (d) of Section 25249.7 or brings an action that alleges a
violation of this chapter against that same defendant.
(b) The prohibition specified in subdivision (a) does not bar an
action that may be brought by the Attorney General alleging a
violation of this chapter in the State of California, by a district
attorney alleging a violation of this chapter within the county of
the district attorney's jurisdiction, or by a city attorney alleging
a violation of this chapter within the city of the city attorney's
jurisdiction.
(c) A person who files an action in the public interest pursuant
to subdivision (d) of Section 25249.7 or brings an action that
alleges a violation of this chapter, and who has entered into a
settlement, or was a party to a final judgment pursuant to this
chapter regarding that same violation, may only file an action for an
order to show cause to enforce the terms of the prior settlement or
judgment. In an action authorized by this subdivision, the burden of
proof that the defendant's conduct violates the original settlement
or judgment is on the plaintiff. A private plaintiff bringing an
action authorized by this subdivision shall comply with any other
requirements imposed by subdivision (d) of Section 25249.7.
SEC. 2. The Legislature finds and declares that this act furthers
the purposes of the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of
1986.