BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 89|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SB 89
Author: Escutia (D)
Amended: 1/26/00
Vote: 21
SENATE ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY COMMITTEE : 7-0, 4/5/99
AYES: Sher, Alpert, Chesbro, Hayden, McPherson, O'Connell,
Solis
NOT VOTING: Alarcon, Rainey, Wright
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 8-4, 1/26/00
AYES: Johnston, Alpert, Bowen, Burton, Escutia, Karnette,
McPherson, Vasconcellos
NOES: Johnson, Kelley, Leslie, Mountjoy
SUBJECT : Environmental justice
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill requires the Secretary for
Environmental Protection, by January 15, 2001, to convene a
Working Group on Environmental Justice. The bill makes the
existing definition of "environmental justice" applicable
to its provisions and requires the working group to take
various actions relating to the development and
implementation of environmental justice strategies related
to the mission of the California Environmental Protection
Agency. The secretary is required 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 secretary is
CONTINUED
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required, by January 1, 2006, and every three years after,
to prepare and submit a report.
ANALYSIS : Existing law establishes the Office of
Planning and Research (OPR) 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:
1.Requires the Secretary for Environmental Protection, by
January 15, 2001 to 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.
2.Specifies that the working group shall be composed of
various representatives of groups or entities concerned
with achieving environmental justice, as determined by
the Secretary for Environmental Protection, including
representatives of local governments.
3.Requires the working group, by January 1, 2002, to
undertake certain duties, including:
A. Examine existing data and studies on environmental
justice.
B. Recommend criteria to the California Environmental
Protection Agency for identifying and addressing any
gaps in existing programs, policies, or activities
that may impede the achievement of environmental
justice.
C. Recommend procedures and provide guidance to the
California Environmental Protection Agency for the
coordination and implementation of intraagency
environmental justice strategies.
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D. Recommend procedures for collecting, maintaining,
analyzing, and coordinating information relating to an
environmental justice strategy.
E. 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,
including guidance for determining when it is
appropriate for the California Environmental
Protection Agency to translate such material.
F. Hold public meetings to receive comments regarding
the recommendations.
G. Make recommendations on other matters needed to
assist the agency in developing an intraagency
environmental justice strategy.
4.Requires the Secretary for Environmental Protection, by
January 15, 2001, to convene a technical advisory group
to assist the working group.
5.Specifies that 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.
6.Requires the Secretary for the California Environmental
Protection Agency, by January 1, 2006, and every three
years, thereafter, to prepare and submit a report to the
Legislature on the implementation of these provisions.
Comments
Purpose of Bill . Environmental justice refers to the fair
treatment of people of all races, cultures, and income with
respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement
of environmental laws, regulations, and policies. On
February 11, 1994, President Clinton signed Executive Order
12898 regarding "federal actions to address environmental
justice in minority populations and low-income
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populations." The executive order directs federal agencies
to address human health and environmental issues in
low-income communities and minority communities, and
followed a 1992 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
report indicating that "communities of color and low-income
populations experience higher than average exposures to
selected air pollutants, hazardous waste facilities, and
other forms of environmental pollution."
This bill requires a working group to undertake certain
responsibilities relating to environmental justice.
According to the author, "California has yet to address the
need to remedy the unfair treatment suffered by minority
and low-income communities with respect to exposure to
environmental hazards and enforcement of environmental
laws. SB 89 is the first step to solidifying California's
commitments to establishing and maintaining environmental
justice."
Examples of environmental justice matters . There are a
number of factors to be considered in identifying an
environmental justice problem. Factors that could be
considered include, for example, a concentration of
environmental hazards in an affected area because of the
lack of public participation, a lack of adequate protection
under health and environmental laws, or unusual
vulnerability of a community to hazards. Examples of
environmental justice problems could include inadequate
stormwater protection in a predominately minority populated
section of a city compared to systems in other parts of the
city, siting a landfill in a community with an
overconcentration of other hazards such as Superfund sites,
placement of a highway through a low-income and minority
community, and unsafe stormwater discharges harming fish
that are part of the subsistence diet of Native Americans.
Related Legislation
SB 115 (Solis), Chapter 690, Statutes of 1999, establishes
the OPR as the lead agency in state government for
environmental justice programs.
Prior Legislation
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Previous attempts to address environmental justice issues
in California include AB 937 (Roybal-Allard) of 1991
(vetoed), AB 3024 (Roybal-Allard) of 1992 (vetoed), and AB
2212 (Lee) of 1994 (refused passage on Senate Floor).
These bills required the submittal of "project site
demographics" ( e.g. population breakdown by race and
ethnicity; percent of persons under age 5, over age 65, and
below the poverty level) for a "potentially high-impact
development project" ( e.g. , hazardous waste, solid waste),
and prohibited an application for such a facility from
being accepted as complete, deemed complete, or approved
without this information.
Four bills addressed environmental justice issues during
the 1997-98 session. SB 451 (Watson) required the general
plan land use element to include policies for the equitable
distribution of solid, hazardous, and liquid waste
facilities that avoid disproportionate effects on
low-income communities and minority communities, and
feasible implementation measures to achieve these policies.
SB 906 (Lee) required a hazardous waste management plan to
include demographic information within a 10-mile radius of
each hazardous waste facility and to include procedures for
considering environmental equity issues. SB 1113 (Solis)
was similar to this year's SB 115. AB 2237 (Escutia)
required "environmental agencies" to consider new selection
criteria ( e.g. , adverse human health or environmental
effects faced by an applicant's community, as compared to
other applicants' communities; amount of funding
commensurate with those effects) for some agency grant and
loan programs. SB 451, SB 1113, and AB 2237 were vetoed.
Senator Watson canceled an Environmental Quality Committee
hearing on SB 906.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 1999-2000 2000-01
2001-02 Fund
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Working Group on Unknown, probably $225 to $300,
General/
Environmental potentially more, one time, to
develop Various
Justice strategy
The extent to which the working group will develop new
information or use existing information is unknown. Based
on the workload involved in other similar studies, it is
estimated that three to four personnel years (PY) to
compile the recommendations and ensure that the strategy
has the utility to guide CalEPA in addressing environmental
justice issues. However, given that the first report is
not due for five years, some of these costs will be
absorbable during that period. It is estimated that one PY
will be needed on a nearly full-time basis to provide
support and to prepare the report. Each CalEPA department,
board, or office will incur some of these costs to varying
degrees.
SUPPORT : (Verified 1/26/00)
California League of Conservation Voters
NOTE: The following groups were in support of the April
14, 1999, amended version.
American Lung Association
California Air Pollution Control Officer's Association
California Association of Real Estate Brokers
California Cardiovascular Disease Prevention Coalition (if
amended)
California Council for Environmental and Economic Balance
(if amended)
California Nurses Association
City of Commerce
City of Los Angeles (if amended)
Clean Water Action
Communities for a Better Environment
East Bay Municipal Utility District
Monterey Bay Unified Air Pollution District (if amended)
National Organization for Women, California
Residents for a Better Alhambra
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Sierra Club
South Coast Air Quality Management District
OPPOSITION : (Verified 1/26/00)
California Chamber of Commerce
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the League of
Conservation Voters:
"The bill creates the tools necessary for CalEPA to meet
its environmental justice mission, by requiring the agency
to create a Working Group on Environmental Justice. The
Working Group will help CalEPA determine how it can best
resolve program and policy gaps that must be filled in
order to achieve environmental justice."
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : Unavailable at time of this
writing.
CP:cm 1/26/00 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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