BILL NUMBER: SB 1408	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Senator Alarcon

                        FEBRUARY 1, 2000

   An act to add and repeal Article 7 (commencing with Section 65055)
to Chapter 1.5 of Division 1 of Title 7 of the Government Code,
relating to the environment.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 1408, as introduced, Alarcon.  Environmental Justice Technical
Assistance Grant Demonstration Project.
   Under existing law, the Office of Planning and Research is the
coordinating agency in state government for environmental justice
programs.
   This bill would enact the Environmental Justice Technical
Assistance Grant Demonstration Program.  The bill would require the
office, from funds appropriated to it for that purpose, to allocate
grants in amounts up to $25,000 to community-based nonprofit
organizations in communities with low-income populations or minority
populations to obtain technical assistance in connection with the
organization's participation in a decision to issue a permit by any
board, department, or office within the California Environmental
Protection Agency, or in a decision to issue a permit by the State
Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission.
   This bill would require the office to submit an evaluation of the
program to the Legislature no later than June 30, 2004.  The
provisions enacted by the bill would become inoperative on June 30,
2004, and would be repealed on January 1, 2005.
   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.  (a) The Legislature finds and declares as follows:
   (a) Many communities with low-income and minority populations are
subject to disproportionately high and adverse human health or
environmental effects.
   (b) One of the causes of this historical inequality of
environmental burdens is the lack of financial and other resources in
communities with low-income and minority populations to obtain
technical assistance with complicated state permitting processes.
   (c) Without that technical assistance, communities with low-income
and minority populations are at a disadvantage in terms of
effectively voicing their concerns about a project.
   (d) The provision of technical assistance grants to
community-based organizations in communities with low-income and
minority populations will facilitate greater participation by those
communities in permitting decisions and reduce the risk that already
overburdened communities will be subject to additional environmental
degradations.
  SEC. 2.  Article 7 (commencing with Section 65055) is added to
Chapter 1.5 of Division 1 of Title 7 of the Government Code, to read:


      Article 7.  Environmental Justice Technical Assistance Grant
Demonstration Program

   65055.  From funds appropriated to it for that purpose, the office
shall allocate grants in amounts up to twenty-five thousand dollars
($25,000) to community-based nonprofit organizations in communities
with low-income populations or minority populations to obtain
technical assistance in connection with the organization's
participation in a decision to issue a permit by any board,
department, or office within the California Environmental Protection
Agency, or in a decision to issue a permit by the State Energy
Resources Conservation and Development Commission.
   65056.  The office shall submit an evaluation of the program
authorized by this article to the Legislature no later than June 30,
2004.
   65057.  This article shall become inoperative on June 30, 2004,
and as of January 1, 2005, is repealed, unless a later enacted
statute, that becomes effective on or before January 1, 2005, deletes
or extends the dates on which it becomes inoperative and is
repealed.