BILL ANALYSIS
SB 855
Page 1
SENATE THIRD READING
SB 855 (Budget and Fiscal Review Committee)
As Amended October 7, 2010
2/3 vote. Urgency
SENATE VOTE :Vote not relevant
SUMMARY : Enacts various changes in statute necessary to
implement the 2010-11 State Budget for Resources and
Environmental Protection. Specifically, this bill :
1)Provides that the penalties collected to enforce the
requirements of the hazardous waste control laws regarding
lead-containing jewelry, toxic packaging, and lead wheel
weights be deposited into the Toxic Substances Control
Account, where they are to be expended by the Department of
Toxic Substances Control to implement and enforce the
provisions of those laws.
2)Places various requirements on biorefiners receiving loans
from the California Energy Commission's (CEC) proposed
California Ethanol Producer Incentive Program (CEPIP),
including developing plans and securing funding for refinery
improvements (that either reduce greenhouse gas emissions
and/or allow for the use of alternative feedstocks) within a
specified time period.
3)Establishes a 2-year sunset on statutory requirements in this
bill that accelerates the development on non-corn-based
ethanol.
4)Requires the CEC to submit to the Legislature the annual
investment plan (plan) required by Chapter 750, Statutes of
2007 (AB 118) in coordination with the Governor's Budget. On
March 15, 2011, and each January thereafter, the draft plan is
to be submitted for legislative review, followed by the final
plan at the time of the Governor's May Revision.
Additionally, the Legislature is to be notified of any
significant changes made thereafter, as defined.
5)Clarifies that any increased fees imposed by the Department of
Conservation (DOC) for the accelerated remediation of orphaned
oil facilities, for the purposes of completing workload
requested in the 2010-11 Budget Act, shall last for only four
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years.
6)Requires the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL
FIRE) to report to the Legislature by January 1, 2012 on the
steps taken by the Office of the State Fire Marshal to improve
fire and panic safety with respect to green building
standards, and to better coordinate work on green building
standards code development with the California Building
Standards Commission and the Department of Housing and
Community Development.
7)Requires CAL FIRE to report on Emergency Fund (E-Fund)
expenditures and Schedule A contracts, and clarifies existing
requirements for reporting on fire prevention activities.
Additionally, specifies that the Governor is to submit a
zero-based budget for CAL FIRE expenditures previously
supported from the E-Fund in fiscal year 2009-10 (but
subsequently included in the base budget for 2010-11).
8)Specifies the terms under which the "Freeman Property," a
portion of land abutting both Anza-Borrego Desert State Park
(park) and Ocotillo-Wells State Vehicular Recreation Area
(OWSVRA), may be acquired and divided between the OWSVRA.
Waives the California Environmental Quality Act review process
only for the purposes of the acquisition. This bill does not
exempt any general plan amendments that are required for the
management of the lands or any subsequent project approved for
the property.
9)Specifies the information to be provided in the Department of
Resources Recycling and Recovery's quarterly report to the
Legislature on the condition of the Beverage Container
Recycling Fund.
10) Extends, until January 1, 2013 and January 1, 2016,
respectively, the State Energy Conservation Assistance Account
and the Local Jurisdiction Energy Assistance Account.
11)Authorizes the CEC to implement the Clean and Renewable
Energy Business Financing Revolving Loan Program to provide
low interest loans to California clean and renewable energy
manufacturing businesses, and to use federal funds made
available by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of
2009 for this purpose. Additionally, creates the Clean and
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Renewable Energy Business Financing Revolving Loan Fund, which
is continuously appropriated for the purposes of the program.
12)Increases the minimum and maximum levels for siting
application and compliance fees for construction of a thermal
powerplant or electric transmission line. Additionally,
deletes the existing siting application fee exemption for
renewable generation, and requires a report to the Legislature
by July 1, 2012 on the impact of these changes. Revenues from
siting application and compliance fees support application
processing and compliance monitoring at the California Energy
Commission.
13)Clarifies and conforms existing solid waste landfill fee
provisions to related provisions in the clean water act by
specifying that, if revenues from solid waste disposal
"tipping fees" are insufficient to fund state water board and
regional water board regulatory activities for solid waste
landfills, then the current waste discharge permit fee shall
not be waived (as has been the custom and practice for quite a
number of years when tipping fees were sufficient to fund
water quality activities). Requires the State Water Resources
Control Board (Water Board) to perform an analysis and report
on the costs of regulating water quality at active landfills,
and directs the board, on a one-time basis, to collect the
full-year value of the Waste Discharge Fee from permitees in
the second half of the 2010-11 fiscal year.
14)Authorizes, until January 1, 2013, the Secretary of
Environmental Protection to enter into a memorandum of
agreement with an "external fiscal agent," as defined, in
order to direct the expenditure of private contributions made
to that agent for the purposes of carrying out the
Environmental Education Initiative.
15)Establishes the Wastewater Operator Certification Fund as a
repository for revenues from fees (authorized under current
law) charged to certified operators of wastewater treatment
plants, applicants to become certified operators, and contract
operators for various services associated with certification.
The Operator Certification historically operated on a
reimbursement basis, but continues to grow, resulting in the
need to create a special fund to receive growing revenues.
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16)Declares the Legislature's intent that the Delta Stewardship
Council, in entering contracts for the completion of the Delta
Plan and the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) avoid any
actual or apparent conflict of interest by including contract
provisions to ensure the independence of the contractor's work
on the Delta Plan with respect to any work that contractor may
do on the BDCP.
17)Requires the Governor to submit a zero-based budget for
fiscal year 2011-12 for all state agency programs that
implement water and ecosystem restoration activities in the
Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (Delta), including those related
to the CALFED Bay-Delta Program.
18)Requires the Water Board to submit to the Joint Legislative
Budget Committee, no later than July 1, 2013, a report on the
effectiveness of a pilot program to directly contract with
environmental consultants to prepare required California
Environmental Protection Act documents for water rights
applicants and petitioners.
19)Reverts $522 million in Proposition 1E and Proposition 84
funds originally appropriated in SB 8 X7 (Steinberg), Chapter
2, Statutes of 2009-10 Seventh Extraordinary Session, and
appropriates those dollars anew with certain requirements
designed to better align the funding with existing law,
including:
a) Broaden Proposition 1E and Proposition 84 flood control
project eligibility;
b) Link storm water-flood funding to SB 790 (Pavley; 2009);
and,
c) Make integrated regional water management appropriation
language consistent with existing grant guidelines.
20)Requires the DOC to provide the Legislature with annual
reporting on the Underground Injection Control Program,
including progress in implementing the program's action plan.
21)Requires the Governor to submit a zero-based fiscal year
2011-12 budget for all California Global Warming Solution Act
of 2006 (AB 32) programs and expenditures.
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22)Clarifies the intent of Chapter 384, Statutes of 2009 (AB
1085), which specified that the State Air Resources Board
(ARB) must make available to the public certain information
associated with the rule-making process prior to the beginning
of the comment period for any regulation proposed for
adoption. Originally, the stated intent of AB 1085 was to
require the provision of certain information such that
interested parties could "easily and without undue effort
reproduce and verify all aspects of" ARB staff analyses. The
revised language would state the Legislature's intent that
"the public is provided all of the information relied on" by
the ARB in the rule-making process.
23)Provides that this bill contains an urgency clause allowing
the bill to take effect immediately.
24)This bill is identical to AB 1615 (Budget Committee) with
exception to the inclusion of a
2-year sunset for statutory changes that accelerate the
production of non-corn-based ethanol.
Analysis Prepared by : Keali'i Bright / BUDGET / (916)
319-2099FN: 0007190