BILL NUMBER: SB 89 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Senator Escutia
DECEMBER 7, 1998
An act to add Chapter 4.6 (commencing with Section 71076) to Part
2 of Division 34 of the Public Resources Code, relating to
environmental protection.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 89, as introduced, Escutia. Environmental quality: minority
and low-income populations.
Existing law requires the California Environmental Protection
Agency, the Resources Agency, and the State Department of Health
Services to implement, administer, and enforce various environmental
laws and regulations in this state.
This bill would require the Secretary for Environmental
Protection, not later than April 1, 2000, to convene a Working Group
on Environmental Justice, comprised of representatives from each
environmental agency, as defined, for the purpose of identifying
disproportionately high and adverse human health or environmental
effects on minority populations or low-income populations, and
providing guidance to state agencies that implement, administer, and
enforce environmental laws in the state. The bill would require each
environmental agency, in cooperation with the Working Group on
Environmental Justice, to take specified actions to develop an
agencywide strategy to identify and address issues relating to
environmental justice, as defined.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares both of the
following:
(a) On February 11, 1994, President Bill Clinton signed federal
Executive Order 12898, which covers federal actions to address
environmental justice in minority populations and low-income
populations, and directs specified federal agencies to address human
health and environmental issues in minority and low-income
communities.
(b) Federal Executive Order 12898 followed a 1992 United States
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) report that indicated that
minority populations and low-income populations experience higher
than average exposures to selected air pollutants, hazardous waste
facility emissions, and other forms of environmental pollution.
(c) A recent federal Environmental Working Group study reveals
that communities of color are three times more likely to be exposed
to unsafe levels of air pollutants than are white neighborhoods.
(d) A study prepared by the University of California at San
Francisco and the San Francisco Department of Health found that an
area with a 90 percent minority population had over three times the
hospitalization rate for asthma, congestive heart failure,
hypertension, diabetes, and emphysema than is found in the rest of
the state.
(e) Unlike the United States Government, the State of California
has failed to address the issue of environmental justice in minority
populations and low-income populations in the state.
(f) To the greatest extent practicable and permitted by law, each
environmental agency in the state should identify and address, as
appropriate, disproportionately high and adverse human health or
environmental effects of its programs, policies, and activities on
minority and low-income communities in this state.
SEC. 2. Chapter 4.6 (commencing with Section 71076) is added to
Part 2 of Division 34 of the Public Resources Code, to read:
CHAPTER 4.6. ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE
71076. For purposes of this chapter, the following terms have the
following meanings:
(a) "Environmental agency" means all of the following:
(1) The California Environmental Protection Agency, and any of the
various departments, boards, offices, and commissions within that
agency.
(2) The Resources Agency, and any of the various departments,
boards, offices, and commissions within that agency.
(3) The State Department of Health Services.
(b) "Environmental justice" means the fair treatment of people of
all races, cultures, and income levels with respect to the
development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws,
regulations, and policies.
71077. Not later than April 1, 2000, the Secretary for
Environmental Protection shall convene a Working Group on
Environmental Justice, comprised of representatives from each
environmental agency, for the purpose of identifying
disproportionately high and adverse human health or environmental
effects on minority populations and low-income populations, and
providing guidance to state agencies that implement, administer, and
enforce environmental laws in the state. The working group shall
also hold public meetings, as appropriate, for the purpose of
investigating problems and issues, receiving public comments, and
conducting inquiries concerning environmental justice.
71078. In cooperation with the Working Group on Environmental
Justice established pursuant to Section 71077, each environmental
agency shall do all of the following:
(a) Examine existing data and studies on environmental justice.
(b) Hold public meetings and develop interagency model projects on
environmental justice that evidence cooperation among state agencies
that oversee and administer environmental protection programs.
(c) Develop an agencywide environmental justice strategy that
makes environmental justice issues a priority, and identifies and
addresses disproportionately high and adverse human health or
environmental effects of its programs, policies, and activities on
minority populations and low-income populations. The strategy
developed by the environmental agency shall do all of the following:
(1) Promote enforcement of all health and environmental statutes
in areas with minority populations and low-income populations.
(2) Ensure greater public participation in policymaking
activities.
(3) Improve research and data collection relating to the health
and living environment of minority populations and low-income
populations.
(4) Identify differential patterns of consumption of natural
resources among minority populations and low-income populations.
(d) Identify an internal administrative process for developing an
environmental strategy, and a list and schedule for implementation of
specific projects that can be promptly undertaken to address
particular concerns identified during the formation of the proposed
environmental justice strategy.
(e) Provide minority populations and low-income populations with
an opportunity to comment on the development and design of research
strategies undertaken pursuant to this chapter.
71079. Each environmental agency may translate public documents,
notices, and testimony at hearings relating to human health or the
environment for limited-English-speaking populations.
71080. Each environmental agency shall conduct its programs,
policies, and activities that substantially affect human health or
the environment in a manner that ensures that those programs,
policies, and activities are administered in a fair and consistent
manner that does not have the effect of excluding persons, including
minority and low-income populations, from any benefits derived from
those programs, policies, and activities, or subjecting those persons
to discrimination because of their race, culture, or income level.
71081. The chief administrative officer of each environmental
agency shall be responsible for ensuring compliance with this
chapter, and shall conduct internal reviews and take any other
measures that are necessary to monitor compliance with this chapter.
71082. Each environmental agency shall implement this chapter
consistent with, and to the extent permitted by, existing law.