BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 1117
Page 1
Date of Hearing: July 2, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Mike Gatto, Chair
SB 1117 (Monning) - As Amended: June 4, 2014
Policy Committee: Environmental
Safety and Toxic Materials Vote: 7-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill requires the Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR)
to develop peer-reviewed methods for determining how pesticides
are included on the Groundwater Protection List (list).
Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires DPR to determine, to the extent possible, the
toxicological significance of pesticides on the list and to
regulate each active ingredient, other specific ingredient, or
degradation product of a pesticide on the list that has the
potential to pollute groundwater.
2)Requires the DPR Director, in consultation with a subcommittee
of the pesticide registration and evaluation committee, to
create a peer reviewed method to determine the potential of a
pesticide to pollute groundwater using specific numerical
values.
3)Requires DPR to monitor for each active ingredient, other
specified ingredient, or degradation product of a pesticide on
the list.
4)Requires DPR to continuously review new science and data that
could impact the validity of a finding that a pesticide has
not polluted and does not threaten to pollute the state's
groundwater.
5)Requires the director to either mitigate the threat presented
by pollution or subject the pesticide to further review if the
department determines there is no new science or data that
could impact the validity of a finding.
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FISCAL EFFECT
1)Absorbable costs for DPR.
2)Potential costs savings for the groundwater monitoring program
resulting from a more accurate list.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose. According to the author, this bill requires DPR to
update the statistical method used to identify potential
groundwater pollutants and to mitigate or cancel the use of a
pesticide if its breakdown product is found to pollute
groundwater.
According to DPR, this bill provides flexibility to revise the
methodology to determine which pesticides to put on the list.
Modern statistical methods, such as multivariate analysis,
will produce a more accurate prediction of a pesticide's
potential to leach into groundwater. DPR is concerned that if
a legislative change is not made, some pesticides will remain
on the list that are unlikely to pollute groundwater,
decreasing DPR's ability to focus resources on pesticides of
greater concern.
2)Groundwater Protection List. The Pesticide Contamination
Prevention Act requires DPR to maintain a list of pesticides
that have the potential to pollute groundwater.
The Act establishes a set of data requirements for identifying
and tracking potential and actual groundwater contaminants.
Registrants of agricultural use must provide DPR with
chemistry and environmental data for the active ingredients in
their pesticide products.
DPR establishes threshold values, or special numeric values
for water solubility, soil adsorption, hydrolysis half-life,
aerobic soil metabolism half-life, and anaerobic soil
metabolism half-life. DPR's numeric values are equal to or
more stringent than the values used by the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency.
Pesticides that exceed the numeric values and have specified
labeled uses are placed on the list. DPR is required to sample
for pesticides on the list to determine if they are present in
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groundwater.
3)California's Groundwater. According to the Department of
Water Resources, California's groundwater provides
approximately 30% to 46% of the State's total water supply,
depending on wet or dry years. Some communities in California
are 100% reliant upon groundwater for urban and agricultural
use. Since 1990, DPR's Environmental Monitoring Branch has
sampled more than 1,700 unique wells for 91 pesticides and
pesticide breakdown products as part of Groundwater Protection
List monitoring.
Analysis Prepared by : Jennifer Galehouse / APPR. / (916)
319-2081