BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 1261
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
Senator Jerry Hill, Chair
2013-2014 Regular Session
BILL NO: SB 1261
AUTHOR: Jackson
AMENDED: April 21, 2014
FISCAL: Yes HEARING DATE: April 30, 2014
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT: Rachel Machi
Wagoner
SUBJECT : HAZARDOUS MATERIALS: BUSINESS PLANS
SUMMARY :
1) Existing law :
a) Requires the Secretary for the California
Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA) to implement a
unified hazardous waste and hazardous materials
management regulatory program, including a statewide
information management system for purposes of receiving
data collected by certified unified program agencies
(CUPAs). A city or local agency that meets specified
requirements is authorized to apply to the Secretary to
implement the unified program and be certified as a
CUPA, and every county is required to apply to the
Secretary to be certified to implement the unified
program.
b) Requires each CUPA to institute a single fee system,
which is required to include a surcharge on each person
regulated by the unified program, the amount of which is
determined by the Secretary annually, to cover the
necessary and reasonable costs of the state agencies in
carrying out their responsibilities in the unified
hazardous waste and hazardous materials management
regulatory program.
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This bill :
a) Requires the Secretary, on and after January 1, 2015,
until January 1, 2018, to increase this surcharge by the
amount that the Secretary determines necessary to
establish an emergency business plan and inventory
system for the purpose of sharing information from the
statewide information management system with emergency
response personnel for use during emergency incidents,
which the Secretary and the Office of Emergency Services
(office) would be required to develop. The bill would
prohibit the increase in the oversight surcharge from
exceeding $15 in any one year over that three-year
period.
1) Existing law requires the CUPA to implement and enforce
provisions that require a business that handles a hazardous
material to establish and implement a business plan,
including an inventory of specified information for
response to a release or threatened release of a hazardous
material. The annual inventory submittal is required to
contain information on specified hazardous materials that
are handled in quantities equal to or greater than certain
amounts or as established by the governing body of the
unified program agency by a local ordinance. A violation of
the business plan requirements is a misdemeanor.
This bill instead requires the Secretary of CalEPA, in
coordination with the office, to specify the hazardous
materials inventory required to be submitted by handlers,
including the data to be collected and submitted for
hazardous materials. The bill would revise the information
required to be included in the business plan.
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2) Existing law :
a) Requires a CUPA to exempt a business operating an
unstaffed remote facility located in an isolated,
sparsely populated area from specified business plan
requirements.
b) Allows a unified program agency to require an
unstaffed remote facility to submit a hazardous
materials business plan and inventory in accordance with
requirements if the agency makes specified findings.
This bill :
a) Instead requires the CUPA to exempt from specified
requirements an unstaffed facility located at least
one-half mile from the nearest occupied structure,
unless required by a local ordinance.
b) Requires the facility to make a one-time business
plan submittal that would not be required to include
specified elements of the plan and would repeal the
authorization for the unified program agency to require
an unstaffed remote facility to submit a plan and
inventory.
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3) Existing law requires a handler to electronically submit
its business plan to the statewide information management
system, to renew the plan at least once every three years
to determine if a revision is needed, and to certify to the
CUPA that the review was made and that any necessary
changes were made to the plan. A handler is also required
to annually review the business plan information and
resubmit or certify as correct the inventory information in
the statewide environmental reporting system.
This bill instead requires the handler to submit the
business plan annually to that system, and would require a
business to at least annually review and verify that the
business plan information in the statewide information
management system meets specified requirements.
4) Existing law requires the CUPA to make the data elements
and documents submitted by businesses available to the
public in a specified manner.
This bill instead requires the CUPA to make the information
in the statewide information management system available to
the public.
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5) Existing law requires the immediate report of any release
or threatened release of a hazardous material to the CUPA,
and to the office, in accordance with the regulations
adopted by the office.
This bill requires the office to adopt regulations by
January 1, 2016, to implement these requirements.
6) Existing law requires a business that believes that the
inventory involves the release of a trade secret, to
provide this information to the CUPA, and notify the
unified program agency in writing of that belief on the
inventory form. Upon receiving a request for the public
release of information that the business has notified the
CUPA is a trade secret, the CUPA is required to follow a
specified procedure.
This bill instead requires a business that believes the
inventory involves the release of a trade secret to comply
with the regulations that the bill would require CalEPA to
adopt by January 1, 2016, with regard to the designation of
trade secrets.
COMMENTS :
1) Purpose of Bill . SB 1261 updates, rearranges and clarifies
the statute related to CUPA administration. The CUPA forum
board has been meeting with business stakeholders to
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clarify the provisions of the Health and Safety Code
related to CUPAs to better provide consistent
interpretation of the statute statewide for all 83 CUPAs.
The author states that these changes will ensure that the
program functions more efficiently and effectively.
2) Related Legislation . SB 483 (Jackson), Chapter 419
Statutes of 2013 made various changes to update, rearrange
and clarify provisions of the health and safety related to
CUPAs.
SOURCE : California Association of Environmental Health
Administrators
California Fire Chiefs Association
SUPPORT : AT&T
OPPOSITION : None on file