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SB-592 Methamphetamine: liable party: property owner reimbursement.(2007-2008)

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SB592:v98#DOCUMENT

Amended  IN  Senate  May 01, 2007

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2007–2008 REGULAR SESSION

Senate Bill
No. 592

Introduced  by  Senator Cogdill
 (Coauthor(s): Senator Cox)
 (Coauthor(s): Assembly Member Arambula, La Malfa, Maze)

February 22, 2007

An act to amend Sections 25354.5 and 25400.46 of amend Section 25400.46 of, and to add Section 25400.48 to, the Health and Safety Code, relating to methamphetamine cleanup.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


SB 592, as amended, Cogdill. Methamphetamine: liable party: property owner reimbursement.
The Methamphetamine Contaminated Property Cleanup Act of 2005 requires a local health officer to take specified actions after receiving notification from a law enforcement agency of potential contamination, or of known or suspected contamination, of property by methamphetamine laboratory activity. Under the act, if property is contaminated, the property owner is liable for the cost of remediating the property, including any decontamination or disposal expenses, and other related expenses. If a person who is not the owner of the property conducts methamphetamine laboratory activity on or at that property, that person is liable for those costs, and is required to reimburse the property owner.

Existing law requires the Department of Toxic Substances Control to take removal actions with respect to a hazardous substance that is an illegal controlled substance, a precursor of a controlled substance, or a material intended to be used in the unlawful manufacture of a controlled substance. The department is authorized to expend funds appropriated from the Illegal Drug Lab Cleanup Account in the General Fund for this purpose.

This bill would authorize an owner of real property to submit a claim for reimbursement of those costs to the department, if the owner is required to be reimbursed by a liable party for any costs the owner incurs for remediating the property, but is unable to obtain reimbursement from that liable party or is unable to identify a potentially responsible party for the contamination. The
The bill would authorize the department to pay a claim to that person for reimbursement of those costs from the Illegal Drug Lab Cleanup Account, upon appropriation by the Legislature, if the department determines the property owner is eligible for reimbursement of these costs. establish and administer a grant program to reimburse property owners that are unable to obtain that reimbursement. If the department elects to establish that grant program, the department would be required to adopt criteria for the awarding of these funds. The department would be prohibited from implementing the grant program until the department receives funding from the federal government to provide this reimbursement to those property owners. The department would be authorized to award a grant for reimbursement to a property owner, in accordance with the conditions attached to those federal funds, if the property owner meets the criteria adopted by the department.
Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: NO  

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:


SECTION 1.Section 25354.5 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to read:
25354.5.

(a)A state or local law enforcement officer or investigator or other law enforcement agency employee who, in the course of an official investigation or enforcement action regarding the manufacture of any illegal controlled substance, comes in contact with, or is aware of, the presence of a substance that the person suspects is a hazardous substance at a site where an illegal controlled substance is or was manufactured, shall notify the department for the purpose of taking removal action, as necessary, to prevent, minimize, or mitigate damage that might otherwise result from the release or threatened release of the hazardous substance, except for samples required under Section 11479.5 to be kept for evidentiary purposes.

(b)(1)Notwithstanding any other provision of law, upon receipt of a notification pursuant to subdivision (a), the department shall take removal action, as necessary, with respect to any hazardous substance that is an illegal controlled substance, a precursor of a controlled substance, a material intended to be used in the unlawful manufacture of a controlled substance and any container for such a material, a waste material from the unlawful manufacture of a controlled substance, or any other item contaminated with a hazardous substance used or intended to be used in the manufacture of a controlled substance. The department may expend funds appropriated from the Illegal Drug Lab Cleanup Account created pursuant to subdivision (f) to pay the costs of removal actions required by this section. The department may enter into oral contracts, not to exceed ten thousand dollars ($10,000) in obligation, when, in the judgment of the department, immediate corrective action to a hazardous substance subject to this section is necessary to remedy or prevent an emergency.

(2)The department shall, as soon as the information is available, report the location of any removal action that will be carried out pursuant to paragraph (1), and the time that the removal action will be carried out, to the local environmental health officer within whose jurisdiction the removal action will take place, if the local environmental officer does both of the following:

(A)Requests, in writing, that the department report this information to the local environmental health officer.

(B)Provides the department with a single 24-hour telephone number to which the information can be reported.

(c)(1)For purposes of Chapter 6.5 (commencing with Section 25100), Chapter 6.9.1 (commencing with Section 25400.10), or this chapter, any person who is found to have operated a site for the purpose of manufacturing an illegal controlled substance or a precursor of an illegal controlled substance is the generator of any hazardous substance at, or released from, the site that is subject to removal action pursuant to this section.

(2)During the removal action, for purposes of complying with the manifest requirements in Section 25160, the department, the county health department, the local environmental health officer, or their designee may sign the hazardous waste manifest as the generator of the hazardous waste. In carrying out that action, the department, the county health department, the local environmental health officer, or their designee shall be considered to have acted in furtherance of their statutory responsibilities to protect the public health and safety and the environment from the release, or threatened release, of hazardous substances, and the department, the county health department, the local environmental health officer, or their designee are not responsible parties for the release or threatened release of the hazardous substances.

(3)The officer, investigator, or agency employee specified in subdivision (a) is not a responsible party for the release or threatened release of any hazardous substances at, or released from, the site.

(d)The department may adopt regulations to implement this section in consultation with appropriate law enforcement and local environmental agencies.

(e)(1)The department shall develop sampling and analytical methods for the collection of methamphetamine residue.

(2)On or before October 1, 2007, the department, using guidance developed by the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, shall develop a health-based target remediation standard for methamphetamine.

(3)On or before October 1, 2008, the department shall, to the extent funding is available, develop health-based target remediation standards for iodine, methyl iodide, and phosphine.

(4)To the extent that funding is available, the department, using guidance developed by the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, may develop additional health-based target remediation standards for additional precursors and byproducts of methamphetamine.

(5)On or before October 1, 2009, the department shall adopt investigation and cleanup procedures for use in the remediation of sites contaminated by the illegal manufacturing of methamphetamine. The procedures shall assure that contamination by the illegal manufacturing of methamphetamine can be remediated to meet the standards adopted pursuant to paragraphs (2) to (4), inclusive, to protect the health and safety of all future occupants of the site.

(6)The department shall implement this subdivision in accordance with subdivision (d).

(f)The Illegal Drug Lab Cleanup Account is hereby created in the General Fund and the department may expend any money in the account, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to carry out the removal actions required by this section, to reimburse an eligible property owner for claims submitted pursuant to subdivision (d) of Section 25400.46, and to implement subdivision (e), including, but not limited to, funding any interagency agreement entered into with the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment to provide guidance services. The account shall be funded by moneys appropriated directly from the General Fund.

(g)The responsibilities assigned to the department by this section apply only to the extent that sufficient funding is made available for that purpose.

SEC. 2.SECTION 1.

 Section 25400.46 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to read:

25400.46.
 (a) A property owner who receives an order issued by a local health officer pursuant to Section 25400.22, or a property owner who owns property that is the subject of a notice posted pursuant to subdivision (i) of Section 25400.22, is liable for, and shall pay all of the following costs if it is determined that the property is contaminated:
(1) The cost of any testing.
(2) Any cost related to maintaining records with regard to the property.
(3) The cost of remediating the property, including any decontamination or disposal expenses.
(4) Any actual cost incurred by the local health officer or any other local or state agency resulting from the enforcement of this chapter and oversight of the implementation of the PSA work plan and the PSA report, with regard to that property.
(b) A person who conducts methamphetamine laboratory activity on or at property subject to subdivision (a), and who is not the owner of that property, is liable for, and shall reimburse the owner of the property for, any cost that property owner may incur pursuant to subdivision (a).
(c) The owner of a mobilehome, manufactured home, or recreational vehicle, in or about which a methamphetamine laboratory activity occurred, is liable for, and shall reimburse the owner of the real property on which the mobilehome, manufactured home, or recreational vehicle is located for, any cost the owner of the real property incurs pursuant to subdivision (a).
(d) If an owner of property is required to be reimbursed pursuant to subdivision (b) or (c) for any costs the owner incurs pursuant to subdivision (a), but is unable to obtain that reimbursement from the liable party, or is unable to identify a potentially responsible party for the contamination, the property owner may submit a claim for those costs to the department. The department may pay that claim from the Illegal Drug Lab Cleanup Account, upon appropriation by the Legislature, if the department determines the property owner is eligible for reimbursement of those costs. submit a claim for reimbursement from the department pursuant to Section 25400.48.

SEC. 2.

 Section 25400.48 is added to the Health and Safety Code, to read:

25400.48.
 (a) The department may establish and administer a grant program to reimburse property owners that are unable to obtain reimbursement from the liable party, as specified in subdivision (d) of Section 25400.46.
(b) If the department elects to establish a grant program pursuant to this section, the department shall adopt criteria for the awarding of these funds, which shall include all of the following requirements:
(1) The property that is the subject of the claim is not otherwise subject to a corrective action for a release of hazardous waste pursuant to Chapter 6.5 (commencing with Section 25100).
(2) The property owner, after a reasonable effort, is unable to identify a potentially responsible party for the contamination, or, after a reasonable effort, is unable to obtain reimbursement from the liable party.
(3) The property owner is not a potentially responsible party with regard to that contamination.
(c) The department shall not implement this section until the department receives funding from the federal government to provide reimbursement to property owners who are unable to obtain reimbursement from the liable party for the costs specified in subdivision (a) of Section 25400.46.
(d) The department may award a grant to a property owner for reimbursement of the costs specified in subdivision (a) of Section 25400.46, in accordance with the conditions attached to any funds obtained pursuant to subdivision (c), if the property owner meets the criteria adopted by the department pursuant to subdivision (b).