BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    




                   Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
                           Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair

                                           143 (Cedillo)
          
          Hearing Date:  05/18/2009           Amended: 04/23/2009
          Consultant:  Brendan McCarthy   Policy Vote: EQ 7-0, Jud 5-0
          _________________________________________________________________ 
          ____
          BILL SUMMARY: SB 143 would extend the sunset of an existing  
          program that provides legal protection for participants that  
          agree to clean up contaminated properties, provided they meet  
          certain conditions. The bill would extend the sunset of the  
          program from 2010 to 2017.
          _________________________________________________________________ 
          ____
                            Fiscal Impact (in thousands)

           Major Provisions         2009-10      2010-11       2011-12     Fund
           
          DTSC oversight         Unknown, fully reimbursable      Special  
          *

          Water Board oversight  Minor costs, fully reimbursable  Special  
          **                                            
          * Toxic Substances Control Account. 
          ** State Water Quality Control Fund.
          _________________________________________________________________ 
          ____

          STAFF COMMENTS: 
          
          Under current law, there are several programs to incent private  
          parties to voluntarily clean up contaminated properties for  
          which the responsible party can not be made financially  
          responsible (referred to as "brownfields").  The California Land  
          Reuse and Revitalization Act of 2004 provides that innocent  
          landowners, purchasers, or contiguous property owners will be  
          granted immunity from liability for damages due to hazardous  
          materials, provided that they assess and clean up the property,  
          they enter into an oversight agreement with the Department of  
          Toxic Substances Control and/or the State Water Resources  
          Control Board, and that the clean up of the property meets or  
          exceeds existing standards. Under current law, this program will  
          sunset in January 2010, although the immunity from liability  
          from existing agreements will continue. 











          This bill extends the life of the program until January 2017.

          The Department of Toxic Substances Control is overseeing cleanup  
          of 16 sites under this program. The department did not provide  
          information on the current cost to administer this program.  
          However, under the voluntary agreements between the state and  
          affected parties, all state costs are reimbursed. Staff notes  
          that total reimbursements to the Department's brownfield cleanup  
          program, which includes this program among other, is about $10  
          million per year. The State Water Resources Control Board is  
          overseeing one site under the program and its costs to continue  
          the program are minor and fully reimbursed.