BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1098
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CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB 1098 (Saldana)
As Amended July 3, 2007
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |72-0 |(May 3, 2007) |SENATE: |38-0 |(August 27, |
| | | | | |2007) |
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Original Committee Reference: E.S. & T.M.
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.
The Senate amendments make further technical changes to clarify
the process for applying the administrative and criminal
penalties.
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)Authorizes, under the CUPA program, local city and county
agencies to unify the administration and enforcement of six
environmental programs: a) hazardous waste; b) aboveground
storage tanks; c) underground storage tanks; d) hazardous
materials inventory; e) extremely hazardous materials
accidental release; and, f) hazardous materials/fire code
enforcement.
3)Provides an administrative order/administrative penalty
program to enforce the corrective action order provisions of
the hazardous materials/waste laws.
AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY , this bill:
1)Deleted the reference to "governing body" in the Business Plan
AB 1098
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Administrative Enforcement Order (AEO) for setting
administrative penalties.
2)Clarified enforcement options by separating existing
enforcement options for administrative and criminal processes
into individual subsections.
FISCAL EFFECT : This bill is keyed non-fiscal.
COMMENTS :
Clean-up language to AB 2481 (Frommer), Chapter 999, Statutes of
2002: According to the sponsor, County of San Diego, prior to
AB 2481, 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 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 state Administrative Procedures Act (APA) in which
the hearing officer issues a decision, including the amount of
the fine.
The new AEO procedure requires the CUPA to follow APA for
issuing an enforcement order or assessing an administrative
penalty. In creating the new system, AB 2481 did not remove the
clause that mandates the governing board of the administrative
agency to set the administrative penalty. 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 states that this bill will provide greater clarity
for both regulators and the regulated community in the
enforcement of the state's CUPA program.
Analysis Prepared by : Carol Mortensen / E.S. & T.M. / (916)
319-3965
AB 1098
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FN: 0002044