BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1098
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Date of Hearing: April 17, 2007
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY AND TOXIC MATERIALS
Jared Huffman, Chair
AB 1098 (Saldana) - As Amended: April 16, 2007
SUBJECT : Hazardous materials: administrative penalties:
liability.
SUMMARY : Provides clarifying language to AB 2481 (Frommer),
Chapter 999, Statutes of 2002, regarding the imposition of
administrative and criminal penalties relating to the handling
and release of hazardous materials. Specifically, this bill :
1)Deletes reference to "governing body" in the Business Plan
Administrative Enforcement Order (AEO) for setting
administrative penalties.
2)Clarifies enforcement options by separating existing
enforcement options for administrative and criminal processes
into individual subsections.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Requires the Secretary for Environmental Protection (CalEPA)
to adopt regulations and implement the Unified Hazardous Waste
and Hazardous Materials Management Regulatory Program. A city
or local agency that meets specified requirements can be
authorized to assume enforcement duties of the program as a
Certified Unified Program Agency (CUPA).
2)Under the CUPA program, authorizes local city and county
agencies to unify the administration and enforcement of six
environmental programs - the hazardous waste, aboveground and
underground storage tank, hazardous materials inventory,
extremely hazardous materials accidental release, and
hazardous materials/fire code programs.
3)Provides an administrative order/administrative penalty
program to enforce the corrective action order provisions of
the hazardous materials/waste laws.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown.
COMMENTS :
AB 1098
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Clean-Up Language to AB 2481 (Frommer) : According to the
sponsor, County of San Diego, prior to AB 2481 (Frommer),
Chapter 999, Statutes of 2002, of the six programs overseen by
CUPA, four had different administrative order procedures and two
had none at all. AB 2481 created a single, uniform system of
administrative actions (AEOs) for all six CUPA programs.
However, AB 2481 failed to include a revision needed to a
previously existing provision for imposition of penalties by a
governing board in the hazardous materials business plan
program. Because this resulted in conflicting statutory
provisions, this has been an obstacle in implementing the AEO
program for Business Plans. This has created inconsistency and
confusion in the program for regulators and the regulated. The
hearing process created by AB 2481 uses the Administrative
Procedures Act in which the hearing officer issues a decision,
including the amount of the fine.
The new AEO procedure requires the CUPA to follow the state
Administrative Procedures Act for issuing an enforcement order
or assessing an administrative penalty. In creating the new
system, AB 2481 (Frommer) did not remove the clause that
mandates the governing board of the administrative agency to set
the administrative penalty. This bill, AB 1098, clarifies that
it is not the local governing body but rather the CUPA or
participating agency that would set the penalty as it does for
other CUPA programs.
The sponsor, the County of San Diego, states that this bill will
provide greater clarity for both regulators and the regulated
community in the enforcement of the State's CUPA program.
Dual Referral : This bill is double-referred. Should this bill
pass out of this committee, it will be referred to Judiciary
Committee.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
County of San Diego (Sponsor)
Opposition
AB 1098
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California Chamber of Commerce
Analysis Prepared by : Caroll Mortensen / E.S. & T.M. / (916)
319-3965