BILL ANALYSIS
AB 2379
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Date of Hearing: April 13, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY AND TOXIC MATERIALS
Pedro Nava, Chair
AB 2379 (Feuer) - As Amended: April 7, 2010
SUBJECT: Environmental protection: hazardous waste source
reduction.
SUMMARY: Requires the Department of Toxic Substances Control
(DTSC) to select four, instead of two, priority categories of
hazardous waste generators for participation in DTSC's
cooperative source reduction technical assistance and outreach
program. Requires that at least one selected category of
generators is a category that consists primarily of businesses
affected by action taken by DTSC pursuant to the Green Chemistry
program (Article 14, commencing with Section 25251 of Chapter
6.5 of Division 20 of the Health and Safety Code).
EXISTING LAW:
Requires DTSC to establish a technical assistance and outreach
program to promote implementation of model source reduction
measures in priority industry categories.
Requires DTSC, every two years and in consultation with the
California Source Reduction Advisory Committee, to select at
least two priority categories of generators by Standard
Industrial Classification (SIC) Code. Requires that at least
one selected category of generators is a category that consists
primarily of small businesses.
Requires DTSC to adopt regulations by January 1, 2011, to
identify and prioritize chemicals of concern, to evaluate
alternatives, and to specify regulatory responses.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown.
COMMENTS :
Purpose of the bill : According to the author's office, DTSC
developed its pollution prevention program (P2), pursuant to SB
1916 (Sher; 1998), to provide technical assistance and outreach
to businesses and industries to reduce their generation of
AB 2379
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hazardous waste. However, the paradigm of focusing chemical
management on the end of a production pipeline has undergone
significant revision with the emergence of the lifecycle-focused
principles of green chemistry. The Governor's Green Chemistry
Initiative, as well as AB 1879 and SB 509, which implement key
planks of the Initiative's recommendations, have moved these
principles from the abstraction of academic study to the reality
of state policy.
The author contends that AB 2379 addresses this paradigm shift
by expanding DTSC's pollution prevention program from 2 to 4
industries per year, and assisting these industries to think
more about the entire lifecycle of their products, rather than
simple waste reduction. Given the regulatory tools available to
DTSC under AB 1879 and SB 509, it is essential that existing
technical assistance programs, such as P2, be flexible enough to
aid industries as they transition to safer alternatives and
products. AB 2379 provides that flexibility and aids businesses
and regulators to transition the consumer product sector into a
greener, safer and healthier future.
Pollution prevention program : According to DTSC, the pollution
prevention program began with the passage of the Hazardous Waste
Reduction, Recycling, and Treatment Research and Demonstration
Act of 1985. This statute required that DTSC establish a
technical and research assistance program to assist generators
in identifying and applying methods of source reduction and
other hazardous waste management approaches. In 1989,
California enacted the Hazardous Waste Source Reduction and
Management Review Act (SB 14), which provided a regulatory
mandate for industries that generate larger waste quantities to
systematically examine opportunities for reducing the generation
of hazardous waste at the source.
DTSC's pollution prevention program was again expanded when SB
1916 of 1998 expressed the Legislature's intent to "expand the
State's hazardous waste activities . . . to promote
implementation of source reduction measures using education,
outreach, and other effective voluntary techniques." One of the
key features of this expansion was the requirement that DTSC
establish a "technical assistance and outreach program to
promote implementation of model source reduction measures in
priority industry categories," focusing on at least two priority
categories of industries with source-reduction potential every
two years, including one category consisting primarily of small
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businesses. SB 1916 also created an external Source Reduction
Advisory Committee to provide advice on and critical review of
DTSC's source reduction program.
This bill expands the number of priority categories of industry
from two to four and requires that one category consists
primarily of businesses affected by action taken by DTSC
pursuant to the Green Chemistry program.
Green Chemistry : In 2008, the Governor signed AB 1879 and SB
509 into law, which established the statutory foundation of
California's Green Chemistry program. These bills establish a
lifecycle, rather than an end of the pipe, approach to toxic
chemical and hazardous waste reduction.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
None received.
Opposition
None received.
Analysis Prepared by : Shannon McKinney / E.S. & T.M. / (916)
319-3965