BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 1224|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|1020 N Street, Suite 524 | |
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|327-4478 | |
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SB 1224
Author: Wright (D)
Amended: 5/10/10
Vote: 21
SENATE ENV. QUALITY COMMITTEE : 6-1, 5/3/10
AYES: Simitian, Runner, Corbett, Hancock, Lowenthal,
Strickland
NOES: Pavley
SUBJECT : Air discharges
SOURCE : California Metals Coalition
DIGEST : This bill authorizes, until January 1, 2014, a
local air pollution control district or air quality
management district to adopt a rule or regulation,
consistent with protecting the public's comfort, health,
and safety, that ensures district staff and resources are
not used to investigate repeated and unsubstantiated
complaints, alleging a nuisance odor violation concerning
the discharge of current prohibited air contaminants.
ANALYSIS : Existing law:
1. Under the California Constitution, authorizes a city or
county to "make and enforce within its limits all local,
police, sanitation, and other ordinances and regulations
not in conflict with general law."
CONTINUED
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2. Under Nuisance Law:
A. Defines "nuisance" to be anything injurious to
health, including, but not limited to the illegal
sale of controlled substances, or is indecent or
offensive to the senses, or an obstruction to the
free use of property, so as to interfere with the
comfortable enjoyment of life or property, or
unlawfully obstructs the free passage or use, in the
customary manner, of any navigable lake, river, bay
stream canal or basin, or any public park, square,
street, or highway.
B. Defines "public nuisance" as one that affects at
the same time an entire community or neighborhood, or
any considerable number of persons, although the
extent of annoyance or damage inflicted upon
individuals may be unequal.
C. Defines "private nuisance" as every nuisance not
included in the definition of "public nuisance."
D. Provides that an agricultural or agricultural
processing facility cannot become a nuisance due to
any changed condition in or about the locality after
it has been in operation for more than three years if
it was not a nuisance at the time it began, and
certain conditions are met.
3. Provides the Air Resources Board (ARB) with primary
responsibility for control of mobile source air
pollution, including adoption of rules for reducing
vehicle emissions and the specification of vehicular
fuel composition. ARB must coordinate efforts to attain
and maintain ambient air quality standards.
4. Provides that air pollution control districts (APCD) and
air quality management districts (AQMD) have primary
responsibility for controlling air pollution from all
sources, other than emissions from mobile sources.
5. Under Nonvehicular Air Pollution Control Law:
A. Prohibits persons from discharging from any
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source quantities of air contaminants or other
material that causes injury, detriment, nuisance, or
annoyance to any considerable number of persons or to
the public, or that endanger the comfort, repose,
health, or safety of any of those persons or the
public, or that cause or have a natural tendency to
cause injury or damage to business or property.
B. Exempts odors emanating from certain agricultural
and compost operations unless the California
Integrated Waste Management Board adopts regulation
governing composting sites by April 1, 2003.
C. Authorizes an APCD or AQMD board, after notice
and hearing, to issue an order for abatement whenever
it finds that any person is constructing or operating
any article, machine, equipment, or other contrivance
without a permit required by the law, or is in
violation of #5a (above), or of any order, rule, or
regulation prohibiting or limiting the discharge of
air contaminants into the air.
This bill:
1. Authorizes, until January 1, 2014, an APCD or AQMD to
adopt a rule or regulation, consistent with protecting
the public's comfort, repose, health, and safety, and
not causing injury, detriment, nuisance, or annoyance,
that ensures district staff and resources are not used
to investigate complaints determined to be repeated and
unsubstantiated, alleging a nuisance odor violation
concerning the discharge of current prohibited air
contaminants.
2. Requires, until January 1, 2014, an APCD or AQMD to
submit the rule or regulation to the Senate
Environmental Quality Committee and the Assembly Natural
Resources Committee within 30 days of adopting the rule
or regulation.
COMMENTS :
According to the author's office, "Present law, Health and
Safety Code []41700, does not provide guidance on how odor
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complaints are processed. []41705 provides exemptions,
but again, not guidance on processing complaints. The
problem that SB 1224 would fix is to establish parameters
that are clear for the regulated community, as well as
local neighbors filing complaints. Consistency will also
help curb abuse of the law as several industries have seen
local public nuisance (odor) complaints filed by
individuals who don't even live or work in the area.
Avenues exhausted have been multiple meetings with the
South Coast AQMD and Bay Area AQMD."
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 5/12/10)
California Metals Coalition (source)
AB&I Foundry
Alameda County Board of Supervisors
American Foundry Society, Southern California
Atlas Pacific Corporation
California Chamber of Commerce
California Chapter, Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries
California Forestry Association
California League of Food Processors
California Manufacturers and Technology Association
California State University, Chico- Manufacturing
Technology Program
CASS, Inc.
Crenshaw Die and Manufacturing Corporation
Dameron Alloy Foundries, Inc.
Edelbrock Corporation
Globe Iron Foundry, Inc.
Griswold Industries
Helfrich Tool and Die Corporation
Hyatt Die Cast & Engineering Corporation
Industrial Environmental Association
KenWalt Die Casting Corporation
Lodi Iron Works, Inc.
Magnesium Alloy Products Company, Inc.
North American Die Casting Association, Chapter 30
Northern California Coasters Association
Pacific Steel Casting Company
Rangers Die Casting Co.
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Small Business California
Strategic Materials Corporation
Thorock Metals, Inc.
TST, Inc.
United States Pipe & Foundry Company (Union City Pipe
Plant)
OPPOSITION : (Verified 5/12/10)
American Lung Association
Breathe California
California Communities Against Toxics
California Environmental Rights Alliance
California Safe Schools
Society for Positive Action
Coalition for a Safe Environment
Del Amo Action Committee
Physicians for Social Responsibility (Los Angeles)
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the proponents of
this bill:
"Odor is arguably the most difficult air contaminant to
regulate. The sensitivity of the individual - not the
science of whether the odor is harmful - drives
enforcement. Almost every air rule in California is based
on numerical limits. Odor is based on the viewpoint of the
person smelling the odor, which is totally subjective.
"Small businesses require consistency and certainty from
the laws they are expected to follow. Unfortunately, some
citizen and citizen groups are abusing the ambiguities
associated with the odor law to harass or extort money from
small businesses.
"Manuals and checklists have surfaced on how to walk the
streets and target companies based on odors. The manual
states what to complain about, and even how to feel. Many
of these documents openly state that the data will be used
for lawsuits. While metalworking facilities are not alone
in dealing with the odor law, we have seen attacks on local
metal companies that have led to job loss, and even closure
of companies.
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"Inconsistencies and ambiguities in the state's odor law
have already cost small businesses millions of dollars due
to unconfirmed odor claims. And misuse of the odor law
means uncertainty for companies during unprecedented
economic challenges."
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : According to the American Lung
Association who writes in opposition:
"SB 1224 would limit the ability of the public to file
complaints with their local air district upon detecting
odors caused by local discharges of air contaminants or
other harmful materials. By requiring that all nuisance
complaints be filed in association with the physical
location of the reporter's residence, business or place of
employment unsafely limits the public's ability to report
harmful emissions where and when they occur. This bill
could result in health and safety complaints being deferred
or disregarded and erode the public's confidence in their
ability to timely report harmful events.
"This bill would also consider all confirmed nuisance
complaints from a single address, such as a place of work,
to be treated as a single complaint. This provision could
minimize the effect of significant events in terms of
public nuisance. In order to demonstrate the public's
awareness and engagement in reporting harmful events, the
public agencies involved should retain the ability to
report the number of complaints received, in addition to
the number of harmful events."
TSM:nl 5/12/10 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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