BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 2297
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 2297 (Levine)
As Amended April 24, 2014
Majority vote
HEALTH 16-2 APPROPRIATIONS 13-4
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|Ayes:|Pan, Ammiano, Rendon, |Ayes:|Gatto, Bocanegra, |
| |Bonilla, Bonta, Ch�vez, | |Bradford, |
| |Chesbro, Gomez, Gonzalez, | |Ian Calderon, Campos, |
| |Roger Hern�ndez, | |Eggman, Gomez, Holden, |
| |Lowenthal, Nazarian, | |Linder, Pan, Quirk, |
| |Waldron, Patterson, | |Ridley-Thomas, Weber |
| |Ridley-Thomas, Wieckowski | | |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
|Nays:|Maienschein, Wagner |Nays:|Bigelow, Donnelly, Jones, |
| | | |Wagner |
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SUMMARY : Allows certain health facilities to use reliable
alternative clean energy technologies as primary or backup power
sources if the technology meets reliability requirements set
forth by federal and state regulators. Requires the Office of
Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD) to submit
guidelines for the use of reliable alternative clean energy
technologies to the California Building Standards Commission
(CBSC) in the next triennial edition of the California Building
Standards Code.
EXISTING LAW establishes OSHPD which, among other things, is
responsible for developing the building standards for the
adequacy, safety, and sanitation of the physical plant of
general acute care hospitals and requires regulations adopted
pursuant to law to permit program flexibility by the use of
alternate concepts, methods, procedures, techniques, and
equipment.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, staff costs, likely minor and absorbable, to OSHPD
and the CBSC, to incorporate building standards specific to
clean energy technology for backup power generation in the next
revision of the California Building Standards Code.
AB 2297
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COMMENTS : According to the author, the health and environmental
risks of diesel exhaust have been well-documented. The author
also notes that processes are underway at the federal level to
explore making current regulations on essential backup
technologies technologically neutral, and that this means that,
so long as technology is as reliable and safe as diesel
generators, they could be used as replacements. The author
concludes that this bill simply directs the state to prepare for
these standards by allowing for clean energy technologies that
are at least as reliable as diesel generators.
Health facilities are required to maintain backup generators to
provide emergency lighting and power supplies in case of a power
failure. State and federal regulations require hospitals to
store enough fuel to operate the generators for 48 hours. All
general acute care hospitals in California use diesel generators
as their backup.
State building standards. Building standards submitted to the
CBSC for approval are required, by law, to be accompanied by an
analysis which will, to the satisfaction of the CBSC, justify
their approval. The approval of the proposed building standards
is based on a nine point list of criteria that must be met,
including whether or not the proposed building standards
conflict with, overlap, or duplicate other building standards,
and that the applicable national specifications, published
standards, and model codes have been incorporated where
appropriate.
Diesel. Diesel engines emit a complex mixture of air
pollutants, including particulate matter. In 1998, the
California Air Resources Board identified diesel particulate
matter as a toxic air contaminant based on its potential to
cause cancer and other adverse health effects. In addition to
particulate matter, emissions from diesel engines include over
40 other cancer-causing substances. A report issued in 2002 by
the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) estimates that the cancer
risk from diesel exhaust is about 10 times higher than from all
other toxic air effects on the respiratory, neurological, and
immune systems, especially for vulnerable groups such as
children and people who are ill and at a higher risk of injury
and illness due to exposure to diesel exhaust.
Environmental Protection Agency regulations, which go into
AB 2297
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effect in 2015, will require emergency engines to use cleaner
fuel, ultra-low sulfur diesel however, the rules re-state that
in an emergency, such as a hurricane or earthquake, any engine
of any size can operate without meeting emission limits.
The National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) supports this bill
and writes that currently hospitals are required to have diesel
back-up generators on-site in case electricity from the grid
fails and these backup generators are required to be tested at
regular intervals. NRDC further argues that diesel back-up
generators contribute to local air pollution problems and that
even though other technologies exist that provide similar
electrical back-up capacities and are cleaner than back-up
diesel generating technologies, significant regulator
impediments exist that prevent hospitals from utilizing these
cleaner technologies.
EDF also supports this bill stating that researchers estimate
that as many as 60,000 Americans die prematurely each year
because of exposure to fine particles and diesel back-up
generators emit fine particles at extremely high rates. EDF
states that this bill will help allow for the adoption of less-
or non-polluting technologies in many of the areas of California
most impacted by localized air pollution.
No opposition on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Lara Flynn / HEALTH / (916) 319-2097
FN: 0003358