BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    




                   Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
                           Senator Tom Torlakson, Chairman

                                           1130 (Laird)
          
          Hearing Date:  8/20/07          Amended: 8/1/07
          Consultant:  Miriam Barcellona IngenitoPolicy Vote: EQ 7-0
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          BILL SUMMARY:  AB 1130 would require the Certified Unified  
          Program Agencies (CUPAs) to administer the Aboveground Storage  
          Tank (AST) inspection program.
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                            Fiscal Impact (in thousands)

           Major Provisions         2007-08      2008-09       2009-10     Fund
           Fund distribution      minor and absorbable             Special*
          Local Mandate          not reimbursable                 

          *Environmental Protection Trust Fund (EPTF) - revenues from fees  
          and penalties.   
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          ____

          STAFF COMMENTS: 
          In 2002-03, State Water Resources Control Board's (SWRCB's) AST  
          Inspection Program was eliminated with the expectation that it  
          would eventually become a local responsibility administered by  
          CUPAs.  This transition has yet to occur.  Although the  
          inspection program was halted in 2002-03, the owners and  
          operators of tank facilities continue to pay a biennial  
          registration fee to EPTF to support the inspection program as  
          required by law.  SB 77 (Ducheny), the proposed budget,  
          authorizes the use of all of the monies in the EPTF ($7.5  
          million) for the authorized purposes of those monies, but the  
          CUPAs would administer the program, not SWRCB.  AB 1130 would  
          transfer the statutory program from SWRCB to the CUPAs. 

          AB 1130 would authorize a portion of the EPTF funds, as  
          determined by the California Environmental Protection Agency  
          (CalEPA), to be allocated to each CUPAs according to a formula  
          and process determined by CalEPA in consultation with the CUPAs.  
           Up to 80 percent of each of the CUPA's allocations could be  
          distributed to it in advance of actual expenditure for start-up  
          costs associated with staff training and for the CUPAs to  










          recommence the inspection program as soon as possible.  

          AB 1130 would provide a "fee holiday" until 2010, at which time  
          owners and operators of AST would be required to resume paying  
          the fee.  The fees would be established by the CUPAs, as part of  
          the single fee system, as specified, at a level sufficient to  
          pay the necessary and reasonable costs incurred by the CUPAs in  
          administering the AST. The CUPAs would be required to implement  
          the fee accountability program, as specified.  AB 1130 would  
          give the CUPAs the discretion to provide a waiver of the fees  
          where a state or local government agency submits a tank facility  
          statement.  

          AB 1130 would have minor costs to CalEPA to disperse $7.5  
          million among the CUPAs.  Any CUPA costs resulting from  
          training, inspecting, and collecting fees would not be  
          reimbursable by the state because they have the authority to  
          levy service charges sufficient to pay for the programs mandated  
          by this bill.