BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1566
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 1566 (Wieckowski)
As Amended May 25, 2012
Majority vote
ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY 8-0APPROPRIATIONS 17-0
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|Ayes:|Wieckowski, Miller, |Ayes:|Fuentes, Harkey, |
| |Campos, Chesbro, Davis, | |Blumenfield, Bradford, |
| |Donnelly, Feuer, Morrell | |Charles Calderon, Campos, |
| | | |Davis, Donnelly, Gatto, |
| | | |Ammiano, Hill, Lara, |
| | | |Mitchell, Nielsen, Norby, |
| | | |Solorio, Wagner |
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SUMMARY : Authorizes the Office of the State Fire Marshal (State
Fire Marshal) to regulate the Aboveground Petroleum Storage Act
(APSA) and makes conforming changes to the APSA. Specifically,
this bill :
1)Redefines "aboveground storage tank" (AST) or "storage tank"
as a tank that has the capacity to store 55 gallons or more of
petroleum and that is substantially or totally above the
surface of the ground including a tank located in an
underground area.
2)Defines "tank in an underground area," including specifying
requirements for the structure in which the tank is located,
secondary containment, physical location, and tank contents.
3)Requires the State Fire Marshal to establish an advisory
committee that includes representatives from regulated
entities, appropriate trade associations, fire service
organizations, federal, state and local organizations,
including Unified Program Agencies (UPAs), and other
interested parties.
4)Requires the State Fire Marshal to ensure consistency with
state law and federal enforcement guidance issued by federal
agencies and to provide outreach to regulated persons
regarding compliance with local, state and federal regulations
relevant to the APSA.
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5)Exempts from the definition of "underground storage tank"
(UST) a tank, and associated piping, in an underground area
that is subject to the APSA.
6)Authorizes the State Fire Marshal to adopt regulations to
implement the APSA. Requires the State Fire Marshal to
provide interpretation of the APSA to the Certified Unified
Program Agencies (CUPAs), and to oversee the implementation of
the APSA by the CUPAs.
7)Requires regulations adopted by the State Fire Marshal
pursuant to the APSA to ensure consistency with the
requirements for spill prevention, control, and countermeasure
(SPCC) plans under the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations (40
C.F.R. part 112), and to include any more stringent
requirements necessary to implement the APSA.
8)Establishes, for violation of the APSA, an administrative
penalty of no more than $5,000 for each day on which the
violation continues. Authorizes, if the owner or operator
commits a second or subsequent violation, an administrative
penalty to be imposed of not more than $10,000 for each day on
which the violation continues.
9)Requires the administrative penalties assessed by a CUPA to be
deposited into a unified program account established by the
CUPA for the purpose of carrying out the functions of the
unified program.
10)Provides that the penalties specified in this section are in
addition to any other penalties provided by law.
11)Provides that a person who knowingly violates the APSA, after
reasonable notice of the violation, is, upon conviction,
guilty of a misdemeanor.
12)Clarifies that this section does not preempt any other
applicable criminal or civil penalties.
13)Makes other conforming changes.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, enactment of this bill could have the following
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fiscal impact:
1)Ongoing costs of approximately $225,000, to $300,000,
equivalent to two scientific positions (about $200,000
annually) plus administrative costs such as travel and
equipment, to State Fire Marshal to oversee local
implementation of the APST Program, provide outreach,
establish and administer advisory committee and adopt
regulations, if necessary (Unified Program Account).
2)Annual APSA surcharge revenue, paid by regulated parties,
sufficient to cover State Fire Marshal's annual costs (Unified
Program Account).
3)Potential annual administration penalty revenue of an unknown
amount (Local revenue).
COMMENTS :
Statewide oversight : As established in 1988, the APSA required
Regional Water Quality Control Boards (RWQCBs) to oversee
inspections of AST facilities to ensure that a federally
mandated spill prevention, control and countermeasure (SPCC)
plan was in place, that tanks were not leaking, and that a
monitoring program was undertaken, if necessary. It also
required owners and operators of ASTs to submit documents and
fees to the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB). The
APSA also required CUPAs to enforce the requirements of the APSA
regarding the SPCCs.
According to the SWRCB, in fiscal year 2002-03, due to the
state's fiscal crisis, the funding authority and positions for
the AST inspection program were eliminated from the SWRCB's and
RWQCBs' budgets. As a result, the SWRCB and the RWQCBs
discontinued the AST inspection program. While the intent of
the budget change was to transfer the inspection program to the
CUPAs, complementary statutory changes were not made and no
inspections by any agency were conducted. AB 1130 (Laird),
Chapter 626, Statutes of 2007, attempted to repair the AST
program by transferring the responsibility for the
implementation, enforcement, and administration of the APSA from
the SWRCB and RWQCBs to local environmental health and fire
departments sanctioned under law as CUPAs.
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According to the sponsor, the California Association of
Environmental Health Administrators, currently the APSA is the
only local environmental health program lacking state oversight.
Because there are 83 CUPAs, at times they differ in their
interpretation of the APSA. Therefore, this bill provides
statewide consistency and one point of contact for the AST
program by assigning regulatory authority of the program to the
State Fire Marshal. The State Fire Marshal was selected as the
appropriate oversight agency because many of the aspects of AST
regulations are similar to other regulatory programs implemented
by the State Fire Marshal, such as fire codes and pipeline
safety.
Penalty provisions : Current AST law provides for civil
penalties, but does not explicitly authorize administrative or
criminal penalties. In contrast, UST law, in addition to
providing for civil penalties, provides for criminal penalties
for specified violations. Also, CUPAs are authorized to impose
an administrative penalty for specified violations of UST law.
This bill makes AST penalty provisions consistent with the other
laws consolidated in the Unified Program, including UST law, by
authorizing CUPAs to levy criminal penalties and administrative
penalties.
Conformance with federal law : According to the sponsor,
currently there are more than 1,000 facilities with lubricating
oil and used oil tanks able to be visually inspected in
basements or underground areas statewide that fall under the
definition of an UST. Because UST requirements are designed for
monitoring buried tanks, applying UST rules to tanks in
underground areas is typically an expensive engineering
challenge combined with the difficulty of meeting varying and
inconsistent CUPA requirements. Further, because authority for
the federal SPCC program is not delegated to the CUPAs,
enforcement is confused. This bill redefines aboveground
storage tanks in California law in order to align state statute
with the Code of Federal Regulations and to better streamline
oversight and enforcement of the AST program.
Analysis Prepared by : Shannon McKinney / E.S. & T.M. / (916)
319-3965
AB 1566
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FN: 0003973