BILL NUMBER: SB 89 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE JANUARY 14, 2000
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 14, 1999
INTRODUCED BY Senator Escutia
DECEMBER 7, 1998
An act to add Section 21182 to the Public Resources Code,
relating to environmental protection. An act to amend
Section 72001 of, and to add Sections 72002, 72003, and 72004 to,
the Public Resources Code, relating to environmental justice.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 89, as amended, Escutia. Environmental quality: minority and
low-income populations.
Existing law establishes the Office of Planning and Research as
the coordinating agency in state government for environmental justice
programs. Existing law defines "environmental justice" to mean the
fair treatment of people of all races, cultures, and incomes with
respect to the development, adoption, implementation and enforcement
of environmental laws and policies.
This bill would require the Secretary for Environmental
Protection, on or before January 15, 2001, to convene a Working Group
on Environmental Justice, composed of representatives from state and
local government, as prescribed. The bill would make the existing
definition of "environmental justice" applicable to its provisions
and would require the working group to take various actions relating
to the developmental and implementation of environmental justice
strategies.
The bill would require the secretary, on or before January 15,
2001, to convene a technical advisory committee to assist the working
group by providing recommendations and information to, and serving
as a resource for, the working group. The bill would also require
the secretary, not later than January, 1 2006, and every 3 years
thereafter, to prepare and submit to the Governor and the Legislature
a report on the implementation of the body of law of which this bill
would be a part.
Existing law, known as the California Environmental Quality Act,
requires the Office of Planning and Research to prepare, and the
Secretary of the Resources Agency to certify and adopt, guidelines
for use in implementing the act.
This bill would require the Office of Planning and Research, on or
before January 15, 2000, to convene a Working Group on Environmental
Justice, comprised of representatives from each 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. 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
SECTION 1. Section 72001 of the Public Resources Code is amended
to read:
72001. (a) On or before January 1, 2001, the
California Environmental Protection Agency shall develop a model
environmental justice mission statement for boards, departments, and
offices within the agency. For
(b) For purposes of this section
part , environmental justice has the same meaning as defined in
subdivision (c) of Section 65040.12 of the Government Code.
SEC. 2. Section 72002 is added to the Public Resources Code, to
read:
72002. (a) On or before January 15, 2001, the Secretary for
Environmental Protection shall convene a Working Group on
Environmental Justice to assist the California Environmental
Protection Agency in developing an agencywide strategy for
identifying and addressing any gaps in existing programs, policies,
or activities that may impede the achievement of environmental
justice.
(b) The working group shall be composed of the Attorney General,
the Director of Planning and Research, and any other appropriate
state agency representatives, as determined by the Secretary for
Environmental Protection, and representatives of local governments.
(c) On or before January 1, 2002, the working group shall do all
of the following:
(1) Examine existing data and studies on environmental justice.
(2) Recommend criteria to state agencies for identifying and
addressing any gaps in existing programs, policies, or activities
that may impede the achievement of environmental justice.
(3) Recommend procedures and provide guidance to each state agency
for the coordination and implementation of intraagency and
agencywide environmental justice strategies.
(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
agency in developing an agencywide environmental justice strategy.
SEC. 3. Section 72003 is added to the Public Resources Code, to
read:
72003. The Secretary for Environmental Protection shall, on or
before January 15, 2001, convene a technical advisory group to assist
the working group described in Section 72002 by providing
recommendations and information to, and serving as a resource for,
the working group. The technical advisory group shall be composed of
representatives from local and regional land use planning agencies,
air pollution control districts, certified unified program agencies
(CUPAs), the public, and the business community. The technical
advisory group may form subcommittees to address specific types of
environmental program areas.
SEC. 4. Section 72004 is added to the Public Resources Code, to
read:
72004. The Secretary for Environmental Protection shall, not
later than January 1, 2006, and every three years, thereafter,
prepare and submit to the Governor and the Legislature a report on
the implementation of this part. 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) 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. 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.