BILL ANALYSIS
AB 2379
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
Senator S. Joseph Simitian, Chairman
2009-2010 Regular Session
BILL NO: AB 2379
AUTHOR: Feuer
AMENDED: April 7, 2010
FISCAL: Yes HEARING DATE: June 14, 2010
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT: Rachel Machi
Wagoner
SUBJECT : ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION: HAZARDOUS
WASTE SOURCE REDUCTION
SUMMARY :
Existing law , under the Hazardous Waste Source Reduction and
Management Review Act of 1989, requires specified generators
of hazardous waste to maintain certain plans, reports, and
summaries with regard to hazardous waste reduction practices.
The act also requires the Department of Toxic Substances
Control (DTSC) to establish a technical assistance and
outreach program to promote implementation of model source
reduction measures in priority industry categories. The act
requires the DTSC to select at least two priority categories
of generators for participation in DTSC's cooperative source
reduction technical assistance and outreach program every two
years.
This bill expands the number of priority categories of
hazardous waste generators that DTSC must select for
participation in the DTSC's cooperative source reduction
technical assistance and outreach program to:
1) Expand, from two to four, the number of priority
categories of hazardous waste generators DTSC must select
for participation in DTSC's cooperative source reduction
technical assistance and outreach program.
2) Require that at least one selected category of
generators primarily consist of businesses affected by
action taken by DTSC pursuant to the Green Chemistry
program.
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COMMENTS :
1)Purpose of Bill . According to the author, AB 2379 expands
and enhances the scope of DTSC's pollution prevention
program in order to provide assistance to businesses as they
transition to safer consumer products. Under California's
Green Chemistry framework, users and manufacturers of
consumer products containing chemicals of concern will begin
to move towards less toxic alternatives under a regulatory
process established by AB 1879 (Feuer) Chapter 559, Statutes
of 2008, and SB 509 (Simitian) Chapter 560, Statutes of
2008. AB 2379 will allow DTSC to help businesses most
affected by these changes with technical and other
assistance.
2)Pollution Prevention . DTSC developed its pollution
prevention program (P2), pursuant to SB 1916 (Sher) Chapter
881, Statutes of 1998, to provide technical assistance and
outreach to businesses and industries to reduce their
generation of hazardous waste. However, the paradigm of
focusing chemical management on the end of a production
pipeline is currently shifting toward a more
lifecycle-focused principle consistent with implementation
of the Green Chemistry Initiative.
3)Green Chemistry . AB 1879 (Feuer) Chapter 559, Statutes of
2008 and SB 509 (Simitian), Chapter 560, Statutes of 2008
implement together two key pieces of a green chemistry
initiative for California: 1) requiring DTSC to adopt
regulations for the identification, prioritization, and
evaluation of chemicals or chemical ingredients in products
that may be considered a "chemical of concern" and their
potential alternatives; and 2) requiring DTSC and the
Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment to
establish a Toxics Information Clearinghouse for the
collection, maintenance, and distribution of specific
chemical hazard traits and environmental and toxicological
end-point data, and to evaluate and specify the hazard
traits and environmental and toxicological end-points and
any other relevant data that are to be included in the
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clearinghouse.
DTSC recently released an outline of the regulations that DTSC
is currently working to develop.
According to DTSC, the projected release date of the proposed
regulations is late spring/early summer of 2010 and the
department projects completing and adopting the final
regulations by the end of 2010.
4)Related Legislation . AB 1131 (Feuer) of 2009 would have
expanded the DTSC pollution prevention (P2) program and
transferred the state's hazardous materials emergency
programs - the business and area plan program and the
accidental release prevention program (Cal ARP) - from the
California Emergency Management Agency (CAL EMA) to DTSC.
AB 1131 was held on the Assembly Appropriations
Committee Suspense file.
SOURCE : Assembly Member Feuer
SUPPORT : Breast Cancer Fund
OPPOSITION : None on file