BILL NUMBER: SB 89 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 14, 1999
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 Section 21182 to
the Public Resources Code, relating to environmental protection.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 89, as amended, Escutia. Environmental quality: minority and
low-income populations.
Existing law , known as the California Environmental Quality
Act, requires the California Environmental Protection
Agency, Office of Planning and Research to prepare,
and the Secretary of the Resources Agency , and the
State Department of Health Services to implement, administer, and
enforce various environmental laws and regulations in this state
to certify and adopt, guidelines for use in
implementing the act .
This bill would require the Secretary for Environmental
Protection Office of Planning and Research ,
not later than April 1 on or before January
15 , 2000, to convene a Working Group on Environmental Justice,
comprised of representatives from each environmental
state 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
This provision would become operative only if SB 115 is enacted at
the 1999-2000 Regular Session, becomes effective on or before January
1, 2000, and adds a prescribed provision to the Public Resources
Code .
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
(f) Each state agency shall make achieving environmental justice
part of its mission by identifying and addressing , 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
SEC. 2. Section 21182 is added to Division 13.1 of the Public
Resources Code, to read:
21182. (a) On or before January 15, 2000, the Office of Planning
and Research shall convene a Working Group on Environmental Justice
to assist the office in developing the agencywide strategy required
pursuant to Section 21181.
(b) The working group shall be composed of the secretaries of each
state agency and the Attorney General, or their designees.
(c) On or before June 1, 2000, the working group shall:
(1) Examine existing data and studies on environmental justice.
(2) Recommend criteria for identifying disproportionately high and
adverse human health or environmental effects on minority
populations and low-income populations.
(3) Recommend procedures for coordinating and providing guidance
to each state agency in implementing an agencywide environmental
justice strategy.
(4) Recommend procedures for collecting, maintaining, analyzing,
and coordinating information relating to an environmental justice
strategy.
(5) Recommend procedures to ensure that public documents, notices,
and public hearings relating to human health or the environment are
concise, understandable, and readily accessible to the public. The
recommendation shall include guidance for determining when it is
appropriate for a state agency to translate crucial public documents,
notices, and hearings relating to human health or the environment
for limited-English-speaking populations.
(6) Hold public meetings, as appropriate, to receive public
comments regarding recommendations required pursuant to this section.
(7) Make recommendations on other matters needed to assist the
office in developing an agencywide environmental justice strategy, as
requested by the director of the office.
(d) To ensure consistency in state and federal environmental
justice strategies, the working group shall rely on procedures
utilized to implement federal Executive Order 12898 in meeting the
requirements of subdivision (c).
SEC. 3. Section 2 of this act shall become operative only if
Senate Bill 115 is enacted at the 1999-2000 Regular Session, becomes
effective on or before January 1, 2000, and adds a Division 13.1
(commencing with Section 21180) to the Public Resources Code.
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.