BILL ANALYSIS
AB 2339
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 2339 (Sweeney)
As Amended April 23, 1998
Majority vote
ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY 5-1 APPROPRIATIONS 13-8
Ayes: Wayne, Bowen, Ducheny, Ayes: Migden, Baca, Cardenas,
Keeley, Knox Escutia, Hertzberg, Kuehl,
Machado, Papan, Shelley,
Strom-Martin, Cedillo,
Thomson, Washington
Nays: Prenter Nays: Ashburn, Ackerman, Aguiar,
Brewer, Granlund, Olberg,
Poochigian, Thompson
SUMMARY : Requires implementation of cleanup plans developed under
the Bay Protection and Toxic Cleanup ("Toxic Hot Spots") Program
and makes other changes to the program. Specifically, this bill :
1) Deletes an obsolete date (i.e., January 1994) for the
development of a data base of known and potential toxic hot
spots. Requires that the effort to develop the data base and
to monitor in order to adequately characterize toxic hot spots
be completed.
2) Requires Regional Water Resources Control Boards located in
coastal areas (regional boards) to direct parties responsible
for bay contamination to determine the geographical extent of
each toxic hot spot, and to recover any costs expended by the
regional boards to determine the extent of toxic hot spots from
responsible parties. The bill expresses legislative intent
that, if responsible parties cannot be identified, costs of
determining extent of toxic hot spots will be paid from the
state board's Cleanup and Abatement Account.
3) Requires the State Water Resources Control Board (state board)
and regional boards to hold open meetings and to comply with
the California Environmental Quality Act in completing and
submitting cleanup plans.
4) Requires the state board to implement the consolidated
statewide toxic hot spots cleanup plan for sites where
responsible parties can be identified with "all deliberate
speed." Where responsible parties cannot be identified, the
state board shall, by June 30, 1999, recommend a cleanup plan
and funding sources.
5) Expresses legislative intent that the costs of the Bay
Protection and Toxic Cleanup Program (BPTCP), other than
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cleanup capitalization costs, be paid from the Waste Discharge
Permit Fund, which contains revenues from annual fees levied on
holders of waste discharge requirements (i.e., permits to
discharge waste into water granted under the state's
Porter-Cologne Water Quality Law) to the extent that funds are
appropriated in the annual budget act.
EXISTING LAW :
1) Requires the state board and the regional boards, under BPTCP,
to develop and implement comprehensive program to identify,
characterize, and remediate areas of pollution, or "toxic hot
spots," in enclosed bays and estuaries. The state and regional
boards are also required to amend water quality control plans
and to implement strategies for the prevention of further toxic
hot spots.
2) Requires each regional board to have completed a toxic hot
spots cleanup plan by January of 1998, to include: a) a
priority ranking of hot spots; b) a characterization of the
pollutants present; c) an assessment of the sources of the
pollutants and of the actions required to cleanup the hot
spots; and d) a two year expenditure schedule. The plan must
also include an estimate of the costs that may be recoverable
from parties responsible for the hot spot pollution.
3) Requires the state board, by June 30, 1999, to submit to the
Legislature a consolidated statewide toxic hot spots cleanup
plan.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Committee on
Appropriations, moderate costs, about $500,000 to the regional
boards to determine the extent of toxic hot spots; some of these
funds are reimbursable from responsible parties. The bill will
also result in moderate costs, about $500,000 to the state board
to implement the consolidated cleanup plans, paid from waste
discharge permit fees.
COMMENTS : BPTCP, or more informally, the bay toxics "hot spots"
program, was enacted in 1989 to identify and characterize the
extent of toxic chemical pollutants in the state's enclosed bays
and estuaries, to determine the sources of the pollution and the
parties responsible for it, and to require the state and regional
water boards to develop cleanup plans.
Under existing law, regional boards were required to prepare
comprehensive cleanup plans by January 1, 1998. Although draft
plans were released by all the regional boards in December, these
plans have not yet been finalized. The state board must submit a
consolidated state plan to the Legislature by June 30, 1999.
Nothing in existing law directly requires implementation of the
plans prepared; the author wishes to "follow through" on
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implementation by the requirements in this bill.
Analysis prepared by : Sally Magnani Knox / aestm / (916) 319-3965
FN 038891