BILL ANALYSIS
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
346 (Kehoe)
Hearing Date: 05/26/2009 Amended: 05/20/2009
Consultant: Brendan McCarthy Policy Vote: EQ 5-2
SB 346 (Kehoe)
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BILL SUMMARY: SB 346 would reduce the use of copper and other
heavy metals in automobile brake friction materials starting in
2014. The bill provides for a fee on brake friction materials
sold in the state to fund the activities specified in the bill.
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Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 Fund
New fee revenues ($7,000) ($14,000) Special
*
DTSC - developing criteria, $35 $260
$850Special *
establishing baseline data
SWRCB - reporting up to $250Special
*
OEHHA - reporting up to $160Special
*
Grants for water quality $6,700
$12,740Special *
improvement
* Brake Friction Materials Water Pollution Fund (new special
fund).
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STAFF COMMENTS:
SB 346 would reduce the use of copper and other heavy metals in
automobile brake friction materials (for example, brake pads).
After January 2014, the bill would prohibit the sale of brake
friction materials which contain certain heavy metals in
concentrations over specified limits. After January 2021, the
bill would prohibit the sale of brake friction materials
containing more than 5% copper by weight. After January 2032,
the bill would prohibit the sale of brake friction materials
containing more than 0.5% copper by weight. Beginning in 2014,
SB 346 (Kehoe)
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the bill requires brake friction material manufacturers to
obtain certification of their compliance with the requirements
of the bill.
The bill would require the Department of Toxic Substances
Control to perform a baseline survey of various heavy metals in
brake friction materials and then to perform periodic monitoring
of those metals. If the concentration of any of those metals
rise more than 50% over the baseline level, the bill requires
the Department consult with the State Water Resources Control
Board and/or the Office of Environmental Health Hazard
Assessment on the impacts of those changes.
Beginning in January 2011, the bill requires the Department to
assess a fee of $1 per set of brake friction materials sold in
the state to fund the regulatory requirements of the bill,
including outreach, monitoring, regulatory costs, and
environmental mitigation of metals covered by the bill.
(Currently, the number of brake friction material sets sold in
the state is estimated to be about 14 million per year.)
In January 2012 and every year thereafter, the bill requires the
Department to adjust the fee level for inflation. In January
2016 and every two years thereafter, the bill requires the
Department to adjust the fee, such that total revenues fall
between $13 million and $16 million per year (in 2011 dollars).
The bill requires that revenues generated from the fee be used
to implement the requirements of the bill and for grants to
improve water quality in water bodies that receive runoff
containing pollution from brake friction materials.
Staff notes that some of the expenditures under the bill will
occur before the fee is enacted. Those costs can be covered by
the existing balance in the Hazardous Waste Control Account,
until sufficient fee revenues are generated to repay the fund.