BILL NUMBER: AB 2299 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 5, 2010
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Blakeslee
FEBRUARY 18, 2010
An act to amend Section 39510 of the Health and Safety
Code, relating to air resources. An act to add Section
39602.7 to the Health and Safety Code, relating to air pollution.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2299, as amended, Blakeslee. Air Resources: The
State Air Resources Board. Board:
rules and regulations: impacts analysis.
Existing law authorizes the State Air Resources Board to regulate
pollution from primarily vehicular sources, and designates the state
board as the state agency charged with monitoring and regulating
sources of emissions of greenhouse gases.
This bill would require the state board to complete and place into
the rulemaking record an impacts analysis for a proposed rule, as
provided. The bill would authorize a person to request the state
board to submit the impacts analysis for external peer review in
accordance with specified requirements.
Existing law generally designates the State Air Resources Board as
the state agency with the primary responsibility for the control of
vehicular air pollution, and air pollution control districts and air
quality management districts with the primary responsibility for the
control of air pollution from all sources other than vehicular
sources. Existing law states that the state board is in the
California Environmental Protection Agency, and requires the state
board to consist of 11 specified members.
This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to these
provisions.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no
yes . State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 39602.7 is added to the
Health and Safety Code , to read:
39602.7. (a) For the purposes of this section, the following
terms have the following meanings:
(1) "Air quality basis" mean those foundations of a rule that are
premised upon, or derived from, empirical data or other scientific
findings, conclusions, or assumptions establishing a regulatory
level, standard, or other requirement for the improvement of air
quality to protect public health or the environment.
(2) "Impacts analysis" means an evaluation of the secondary
impacts of a proposed rule quantified to the extent feasible and
appropriate and otherwise qualitatively described.
(3) "Rule" means a rule, regulation, order, or standard or the
amendment, supplement, or revision of a rule, regulation, order, or
standard, adopted by the state board to implement, interpret, or make
specific a law enforced or administered by the state board, or to
govern the state board's procedure.
(4) "Secondary impacts" means the reasonably identifiable and
significant impacts of a proposed rule that do not meet the
definition of "air quality basis" and that are premised upon, or
derived from, empirical data or other scientific or economic
findings, conclusions, or assumptions, which include, but are not
limited to, impacts to any of the following:
(A) Public health and safety not related to air quality.
(B) Other environmental regulatory programs and objectives.
(C) In-state jobs.
(D) The General Fund due to in-state job impacts.
(E) Economic impacts to persons regulated by the proposed rule.
(b) The state board shall complete and place into the rulemaking
record for a proposed rule an impacts analysis for the proposed rule,
at or before the time the proposed rule is made available to the
public, at a public workshop or for purposes of public comment.
(c) (1) Within 15 calendar days after the date the proposed rule
is made available to the public as described in subdivision (b), a
person may request the state board to submit the impacts analysis
created pursuant to subdivision (b) for external peer review pursuant
to this subdivision.
(2) If, within 15 calendar days after making the request, the
person requesting the external peer review enters into an enforceable
agreement with the state board that requires that person to fully
reimburse the state board for all costs associated with conducting
the external peer review, the state board shall enter into an
agreement with the National Bureau of Economic Research, the
University of California, the California State University, or a group
of economists of comparable stature and qualifications to conduct
the external peer review of the impacts analysis of the rule proposed
for adoption. The President of the University of California is
requested to select the peer review entity for purposes of this
paragraph.
(d) (1) A person shall not serve as an external peer reviewer
pursuant to subdivision (c) if that person participated in the
development of the impacts analysis of the proposed rule.
(2) The person who requests the external peer review pursuant to
this section, a person affiliated with that requester, and personnel
of the state board shall not participate in the selection of the
individual external peer reviewers or contact or communicate with the
individual external peer reviewer during the peer review.
(3) The state board may contact or communicate with an external
peer reviewer for the purpose of entering into a contract with the
reviewer, as described in subdivision (c), and for purposes of
providing information as described in paragraph (1) of subdivision
(e).
(4) The identity of the individual external peer reviewers shall
remain confidential until the external peer reviewer submits the
written report to the state board.
(e) If the requirement of paragraph (2) of subdivision (c) is met,
the state board shall not take any action to adopt the final version
of a rule unless all of the following conditions are met:
(1) The state board submits the proposed rule, including the
impacts analysis, and other appropriate materials on which the
impacts analysis of the proposed rule are based, to the external peer
reviewer for evaluation.
(2) The external peer review entity prepares a written report that
contains an evaluation of the impacts analysis within 90 days of
receiving the materials listed in paragraph (1) from the state board.
If the external peer review entity finds that the state board has
failed to demonstrate that the impacts analysis is based upon sound
scientific or economic knowledge, methods, or practices, the report
shall state that finding and the reasons explaining that finding.
(3) The state board accepts the finding of the external peer
review entity, in whole or in part, and revises the proposed rule
accordingly, or rejects the finding. If the state board disagrees
with any aspect of the findings of the external peer review entity,
it shall explain, and include as part of the rulemaking record, its
basis for arriving at that determination in the adoption of the final
rule, including why it has determined that the impacts analysis is
based on sound scientific and economic knowledge, methods, and
practices.
(4) A public hearing is conducted to provide opportunity for
public comment on the written report of the external peer review
entity or public comment on the explanation of disagreement with the
report included in the rulemaking record by the state board. The
state board shall not issue notice of a public hearing on adoption of
the final version of a rule until the public hearing described in
this paragraph has concluded.
(f) Notwithstanding subdivision (e), if the external peer review
entity fails to provide a written report within 90 days, the state
board may act to adopt the final version of the rule.
(g) The requirements of this section do not apply to an emergency
regulation adopted pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 11346.1 of
the Government Code.
(h) This section shall not be construed to limit the authority of
the state board to adopt a rule pursuant to the requirements of any
other law that authorizes or requires the adoption of the rule.
SECTION 1. Section 39510 of the Health and
Safety Code is amended to read:
39510. (a) The State Air Resources Board is continued in
existence in the California Environmental Protection Agency. The
state board shall consist of 11 members.
(b) The members shall be appointed by the Governor, with the
consent of the Senate, on the basis of their demonstrated interest
and proven ability in the field of air pollution control and their
understanding of the needs of the general public in connection with
air pollution problems. Six members shall have the following
qualifications:
(1) One member shall have training and experience in automotive
engineering, or closely related fields.
(2) One member shall have training and experience in chemistry,
meteorology, or related scientific fields, including agriculture or
law.
(3) One member shall be a physician and a surgeon, or an authority
on the health effects of air pollution.
(4) Two members shall be public members.
(5) One member shall have the qualifications specified in
paragraph (1), (2), or (3), or shall have experience in the field of
air pollution control.
(c) Five members shall be board members from districts who shall
reflect the qualitative requirements of subdivision (b) to the extent
practicable. Of these five members, one shall be a board member from
the south coast district, one shall be a board member from the bay
district, one shall be a board member from the San Joaquin Valley
Unified Air Pollution Control District or, if the unified district is
abolished, from the San Joaquin Valley Air Quality Management
District if created pursuant to Section 5 of Chapter 915 of the
Statutes of 1994, one shall be a board member from the San Diego
County Air Pollution Control District, and one shall be a board
member of any other district.
(d) Any vacancy shall be filled by the Governor within 30 days of
the date on which it occurs. If the Governor fails to make an
appointment for any vacancy within the 30-day period, the Senate
Committee on Rules may make the appointment to fill the vacancy in
accordance with this section.
(e) While serving on the state board, all members shall exercise
their independent judgment as officers of the state on behalf of the
interests of the entire state in furthering the purposes of this
division. No member of the state board shall be precluded from voting
or otherwise acting upon any matter solely because that member has
voted or acted upon the matter in his or her capacity as a member of
a district board, except that no member of the state board who is
also a member of a district board shall participate in any action
regarding his or her district taken by the state board pursuant to
Sections 41503 to 41505, inclusive.
(f) Notwithstanding subdivision (e) of Section 1 of Chapter 1201
of the Statutes of 1991, this section shall become operative on
January 1, 1994.