BILL NUMBER: AB 835	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Monning

                        FEBRUARY 26, 2009

   An act to add Chapter 7 (commencing with Section 42900) to Part 4
of Division 26 of the Health and Safety Code, relating to air
pollution.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 835, as introduced, Monning. Pesticides: volatile organic
compound emissions.
   Existing law requires the State Air Resources Board to adopt
regulations to achieve the maximum feasible reduction in volatile
organic compounds emitted by consumer products, as defined, if the
state board makes certain findings. Existing law makes it a crime to
violate any nonvehicular pollution control law, as provided.
   Existing law requires the Director of Pesticide Regulation to
develop control measures for certain pesticides designed to reduce
emissions in order to protect public health.
   This bill would require the state board to update, in a public
hearing, the commercial structural and agricultural use pesticide
volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions inventory on an annual
basis. This bill would require any regulation adopted by the state
board, or adopted by the Department of Pesticide Regulation, or
pesticide product registered by the Department of Pesticide
Regulation, that reduces an environmental hazard associated with a
pesticide product to not lead to the registration of, or increased
use of, any product that is more toxic than that pesticide product.
   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) Toxic air contaminants in pesticides poison communities and
are probable carcinogens and reproductive toxins. Pesticides,
especially fumigants, pose significant health risks to rural
communities, because of drift, and to farm workers. Many pesticides
and fumigants emit volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which are
low-level ozone and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) precursors.
   (b) An unacceptable number of California air basins where
pesticides and fumigants are used, including, but not limited to, the
San Joaquin Valley, Ventura, and the Southeast Desert nonattainment
areas violated state and federal ambient air quality standards. The
failure to meet the 1997 federal ozone National Ambient Air Quality
Standard and the 2008 federal PM2.5 National Ambient Air Quality
Standard in the San Joaquin Valley costs residents $5.7 billion
annually in measurable health costs, or approximately $1,600 per
person.
   (c) Ozone damages vegetation and causes crop loss, and poses a
significant threat to the agricultural industry. A 1994 State Air
Resources Board estimate shows that bringing average ozone levels
down to 0.04ppm statewide would save producers and consumers $490
million a year.
   (d) The Department of Pesticide Regulation has responsibility to
ensure that VOC emission reductions are achieved. The department has
failed to adopt regulations to achieve these reductions.
   (e) The State Air Resources Board has the demonstrated
independence, democratic processes, and fulfillment of its legal duty
to ensure that the state implementation plan's goals and commitments
are met.
   (f) The public's right to information related to pesticide use,
pesticide ingredients, and volatile organic compound emissions
outweigh pesticide registrants' interests in maintaining use and
ingredient secrecy.
  SEC. 2.  Chapter 7 (commencing with Section 42900) is added to Part
4 of Division 26 of the Health and Safety Code, to read:
      CHAPTER 7.  PESTICIDES


   42900.  (a) No later than July 1, 2010, and annually thereafter,
the state board shall update, in a public hearing, the commercial
structural and agricultural use pesticide volatile organic compound
(VOC) emissions inventory developed by the Director of Pesticide
Regulation with the most currently available emissions data.
   (b) The state board, in cooperation with the Department of
Pesticide Regulation, shall disclose active and inert pesticide
ingredients of all pesticide products registered for use in the
state, and shall include this information in the annual emission
inventories required by this section. Any claim of confidential
business information or other proprietary assertion shall not
interfere with the disclosures mandated by this section.
   (c) In calculating the emissions inventory pursuant to this
section, the state board shall use the same methodologies for
calculating the 1990 baseline inventory as all subsequent
inventories, except that for the year 1990, the state board shall use
the 1991 pesticide use report data to calculate the 1990 baseline
inventory.
   (d) If the United States Environmental Protection Agency takes
final action to reclassify a pesticide product or ingredient from a
VOC to an exempt status, the state board shall remove the VOC
emissions associated with that product or ingredient from all
emissions inventory years.
   42901.  Any regulation adopted by the state board, or adopted by
the Department of Pesticide Regulation, or pesticide product
registered by the Department of Pesticide Regulation, that reduces an
environmental hazard associated with a pesticide product shall not
lead to the registration of, or increased use of, any product that is
more toxic than that pesticide product.