BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 900
Page 1
SENATE THIRD READING
SB 900 (Steinberg)
As Amended May 9, 2011
Majority vote
SENATE VOTE :34-0
ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY 9-0
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|Ayes:|Wieckowski, Miller, Campos, | | |
| | | | |
| |Chesbro, Davis, Feuer, | | |
| |Bonnie Lowenthal, Morrell, | | |
| |Valadao | | |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Modifies the conflict of interest requirements for
appointees to Regional Water Quality Control Boards (RWQCBs).
Specifically, this bill :
1)Allows a person to be appointed and serve as a member of a
RWQCB if they receive a significant income from a person
subject to waste discharge requirements, or an applicant for
waste discharge requirements provided that the waste discharge
is outside the jurisdiction of that regional board.
2)Provides that the provisions of the bill shall be implemented
only with the approval of the United States Environmental
Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) pursuant to the Federal Clean
Water Act.
EXISTING LAW :
Under the Porter-Cologne Water Quality Act:
1)Provides that the State Water Resources Control Board
(SWRCB) and RWQCBs are the principal state agencies with the
responsibility for controlling water quality in California.
2)Provides that the nine RWQCBs are semi-autonomous and are
comprised of nine part-time Board members who each fill a
different specialized position representing a specific
interest: water supply, conservation, and production;
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irrigated agriculture; industrial water use; municipal
government; county government; recreation, fish and
wildlife; public; and two water quality members. The
members are appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the
Senate.
3)Prohibits a person from being a member of SWRCB or a RWQCB
if that person receives or has received during the previous
two years a significant portion of his or her income
directly from a person subject to waste discharge
requirements or applicants for prescribed waste discharge
requirements.
FISCAL EFFECT : None
COMMENTS :
Need for the bill : According to the sponsors of this bill,
Western Growers, "This change in statute will expand the pool of
candidates eligible to serve on Regional Water Boards (RWQCB) by
focusing the application of the 10-percent rule to apply on a
per-region basis. Currently, people who receive more than 10
percent of their incomes from regulated interests are ineligible
to serve which makes the pool of qualified individuals small.
This bill would apply the provision to income from persons or
entities that receive NPDES permits from the member's regional
water board but would not apply the restriction to income that
is from persons or entities subject to an NPDES permit issued by
other RWQCB."
Both the Federal Clean Waste Act and California's Porter-Cologne
Water Quality Control Act provides that to be eligible for
appointment to a RWQCB, that member must be free of conflicts of
interest. The Federal Clean Water Act (Clean Water Act, Section
304) provides that the U.S. EPA Administrator shall promulgate
guidelines establishing the minimum procedural and other
elements of any state program including a requirement that no
board or body which approves permit applications or portions
thereof shall include, as a member, any person who receives, or
has during the previous two years received, a significant
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portion of his income directly or indirectly from permit holders
or applicants for a permit.
Arguments in support : A coalition of business and agricultural
interests are supporting the proposed change to RWQCB conflict
of interest standards. Specifically, they have stated, "In
2008, the California Environmental Protection Agency developed
the Water Quality Improvement Initiative in an effort to improve
the ability to identify, appoint and retain qualified candidates
to serve on Regional Water Quality Control Boards. The 10
percent rule was one proposal that came out of that effort as it
has been problematic finding qualified people to serve."
Arguments in opposition : A coalition of environmental groups
has opposed the proposed changes to the conflict of interest
standards and they have raised issues about the operational
effect of the change as well as the need for federal conformance
under the Federal Clean Water Act. Specifically they state,
"This weakening effort raises significant legal concerns, as the
conflicts requirement is a federal Clean Water Act mandate, and
state law cannot scale back on federal CWA requirements. It has
been our regular, direct experience over many years of seeking
to fill Regional Water Board seats with qualified members that
this task can sometimes be challenging - but for reasons other
than a potential conflict outside of the region where the
appointee lives and works. In particular, statewide permit
conflicts (changes to which are extremely unlikely to pass
federal U.S. EPA legal scrutiny) and low pay ($100/day) and are
the major difficulties with filling seats, not other-region
business ties. Moreover, contrary to the sponsor's assertion,
it is inaccurate to state that the federal 10% conflict
provisions have caused a "dramatic reduction" in the pool of
farmers eligible to be appointed. In fact, because the "10%
rule" only applies to CWA NPDES permit holders, and the Act
exempts irrigated agriculture return flows, irrigated
agriculture appointees regulated only by waivers under the
state's Porter-Cologne Act are not bound by this federal CWA
conflicts mandate."
Analysis Prepared by : Bob Fredenburg / E.S. & T.M. / (916)
319-3965 FN:
0001438
SB 900
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