Today's Law As Amended


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AB-1590 Major coastal resorts: coastal development permits: audits: waste.(2023-2024)



As Amends the Law Today


SECTION 1.
 This act shall be known, and may be cited, as the Major Coastal Resorts Environmental Accountability Act.
SEC. 2.
 The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) The California coastal zone is a valuable natural and scenic resource. Protection of this resource, including its terrestrial and marine wildlife and ecosystems, and the health and welfare of its residents and workers, is a paramount concern to the state.
(b) Major coastal resorts, each of which hosts tens of thousands of guests per year and has a substantial land use footprint, including golf courses and other recreational amenities, can have significant environmental impacts on our sensitive coasts, including potential impacts to wildlife, ecosystems, and water quality.
(c) Some major coastal resorts discharge stormwater to the ocean or beach, yet lack sufficient ongoing monitoring to ensure water quality is not being degraded. Major coastal resorts often employ large volumes of chemical pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers, but their usage generally is not publicly disclosed, and some resorts lack any requirements to apply up-to-date, nonchemical pest and growth management strategies. Some major coastal resorts also engage in high-volume use of single-use plastics and other unsustainable materials, which are not always properly recycled, and any fugitive release of these plastic materials can impact proximate coastal resources.
(d) Although major coastal resorts are subject to environmental conditions and mitigation measures in their coastal development permits and California Environmental Quality Act documents, there is a need for coordinated and focused oversight to ensure compliance with those requirements. Regulatory agencies and the public often lack information as to whether major coastal resorts are abiding by applicable environmental protections and thus face obstacles in efforts to ensure compliance. In addition, to ensure compliance with applicable environmental protections, it is important for major coastal resorts to have sufficient species monitoring and maintenance plans.
(e) These environmental impacts and regulatory gaps are incompatible with the interests of the state and its residents and with the goal of the California Coastal Act of 1976 to protect, maintain, and, where feasible, enhance and restore the overall quality of the coastal zone environment and its natural and artificial resources.
(f) Legislation establishing a biannual compliance audit that centralizes review and validation of major coastal resorts’ environmental compliance in an overseeing agency, with some funding provided by the major coastal resorts, and imposing updated species monitoring, stormwater monitoring, pesticide use restrictions, and recycling requirements on major coastal resorts, is necessary and appropriate to ensure the accountability of major coastal resorts for their ecological impacts and compliance with environmental protections and to prevent and mitigate substantial adverse effects on important coastal resources.
(g) Whistleblower protections are necessary and appropriate to ensure major coastal resort employees are protected when disclosing information relevant to major coastal resorts’ compliance with environmental protections.

SEC. 3.

 Chapter 8.5 (commencing with Section 30750) is added to Division 20 of the Public Resources Code, to read:

CHAPTER  8.5. Major Coastal Resorts
30750.
 For purposes of this chapter, the following terms apply:
(a) “Fertilizing material” shall have the same meaning as in Section 14533 of the Food and Agricultural Code.
(b) “Major coastal resort” means a resort or hotel that meets all of the following:
(1) Is composed of more than 300 guest rooms or units.
(2) Includes or operates a golf course on the premises.
(3) Is located in whole or in part in the coastal zone.
(4) Is either of the following:
(A) Located, in any part, within 100 meters of the mean high tide line of the sea.
(B) Includes, is adjacent to, or is within 400 meters of, any part of any of the following:
(i) An environmentally sensitive area.
(ii) A sensitive coastal resource area.
(iii) An area otherwise protected or preserved under state, federal, or local law, including, but not limited to, marine managed areas and marine protected areas as defined under Section 36602.
(iv) The habitat of a species protected under state, federal, or local law, including, but not limited to, species that are identified as endangered, threatened, rare, species of concern, or species of special concern by a state or federal agency, and special status species tracked by the Department of Fish and Wildlife’s California Natural Diversity Database.
(c) “Pesticide” means a conventional pesticide with all active ingredients other than biological pesticides and antimicrobial pesticides, with conventional active ingredients generally produced synthetically, including synthetic chemicals that prevent, mitigate, destroy, or repel any pest or that act as a plant growth regulator, desiccant, defoliant, or nitrogen stabilizer, and shall include insecticides, herbicides, rodenticides, fungicides, and growth regulators.
30750.1.
 (a) Every two years, the commission shall, with the assistance of a qualified consultant identified pursuant to subdivision (b), prepare an audit of each major coastal resort’s compliance with all of the following:
(1) The major coastal resort’s coastal development permit.
(2) Any applicable local government permit conditions that implement a certified local coastal program.
(3) Any applicable mitigation measures and reporting or monitoring program under the California Environmental Quality Act (Division 13 (commencing with Section 21000)) that pertains to or affects coastal zone resources.
(4) Chapter 6.2 (commencing with Section 42380) of Part 3 of Division 30.
(b) The commission shall compile and keep updated a list of consultants qualified to assist with auditing major coastal resorts’ compliance. A major coastal resort may select from the list the consultant who will assist in reviewing the resort’s compliance and preparing its audit. The consultant shall report to and assist the commission in investigating and preparing the audit. The commission shall have final approval authority over the audit and report described in subdivision (d). The major coastal resort shall provide for the qualified consultant’s compensation for the audit at the consultant’s normal rate of pay, which the major coastal resort shall pay directly to the consultant.
(c) At the time the commission commences an audit, the commission shall provide notice to the public and invite public comments on the audit and investigation.
(d) (1) The commission shall document the audit’s investigation and findings regarding a major coastal resort’s compliance in a public report that shall be posted on the commission’s internet website.
(2) The report shall include both of the following:
(A) A summary documenting the implementation of the major coastal resort’s turf, landscape, and pest management plan, if any, over the preceding two years.
(B) Disclosure of the types, quantity, and frequency of the pesticides and fertilizing material that the major coastal resort has used.
(e) The commission shall decide whether to pursue enforcement under Chapter 9 (commencing with Section 30800) of any violations identified in the audit and shall make that decision available to the public.
30750.2.
 (a) Any coastal development permit pertaining to a major coastal resort approved after January 1, 2024, shall include, in addition to any other permitting requirements, the following requirements:
(1) (A) A plan for complying with any coastal development permit conditions or mitigation measures regarding biological resources and for continued monitoring of relevant biological resources to ensure that the conditions and mitigation measures are satisfactorily protecting those resources.
(B) The plan shall include, as appropriate, all of the following:
(i) Performance criteria for evaluating the success of conditions or mitigation measures in protecting, restoring, or creating biological resources.
(ii) The maintenance measures necessary to implement the conditions or mitigation measures.
(iii) Qualitative monitoring or surveys of relevant species and habitat.
(iv) Quantitative monitoring or surveys, with randomly selected transects, of relevant species and habitat.
(2) Ongoing monitoring and reporting of the major coastal resort’s stormwater discharges in the coastal zone, if any, sufficient to evaluate the contents of the discharges for pollutants or waste and ensure the quality of waters of the state is not being degraded. That monitoring and reporting shall be imposed in coordination with the State Water Resources Control Board or relevant regional water quality control board. For purposes of this paragraph, “waste” shall have the same meaning as in Section 13050 of the Water Code.
(3) Verification from the major coastal resort that the either of the following applies:
(A) The major coastal resort has been issued, or is in the process of being issued, waste discharge requirements or a waiver under the Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act (Division 7 (commencing with Section 13000) of the Water Code) or a national pollutant discharge elimination system permit under the federal Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. Sec. 1251 et seq.) for the resort’s stormwater discharges in the coastal zone, if any.
(B) Waste discharge requirements or a national pollutant discharge elimination system permit are not required for the major coastal resort’s stormwater discharges in the coastal zone under state or federal law.
(4) A turf, landscape, and pest management plan that follows state-of-the-art environmental methods, such as integrated pest management and nonchemical strategies, to address pests, weeds, and plant growth.
(b) Any coastal development permit for a major coastal resort in existence as of January 1, 2024, shall be amended, when the permit is renewed or updated, to include the requirements in subdivision (a).
(c) The legitimate costs that a local government incurs to implement subdivision (b) shall be eligible for reimbursement pursuant to Section 30353, if such costs have not been provided in an implementation grant issued pursuant to Section 30351.
30750.3.
 The use of any nonorganic pesticide or fertilizing material at, or on any part of, any major coastal resort is prohibited.
30750.4.
 (a) A major coastal resort, or person acting on behalf of a major coastal resort, shall not discriminate or retaliate against any employee or applicant for employment for engaging in either of the following:
(1) Participating in an audit, investigation, or report pursuant to Section 30750.1.
(2) Disclosing information, or because the major coastal resort believes the employee or applicant for employment disclosed or may disclose information, to the commission, a consultant acting under Section 30750.1, another government or law enforcement agency, a person with authority over the employee or applicant for employment, or another person who has the authority to investigate, discover, or correct a violation or noncompliance, the media, a nonprofit organization, or a state or local government, if the employee or applicant for employment has reasonable cause to believe that the information discloses a violation of or noncompliance with a coastal development permit, local government permit conditions that implement a certified local coastal program, Section 30750.3, or mitigation measures or a reporting or monitoring program under the California Environmental Quality Act (Division 13 (commencing with Section 21000)) pertaining to or affecting coastal zone resources.
(b) This section may be enforced to the same extent, and pursuant to the same procedures and for the same remedies, as Section 1102.5 of the Labor Code.
(c) In addition to any other remedies, a person discriminated or retaliated against in the terms and conditions of employment or in hiring in violation of subdivision (a) is entitled to recover an additional sum payable as liquidated damages in the amount of five hundred dollars ($500), per employee or applicant for employment, for each day the rights of an employee or applicant for employment under subdivision (a) are violated and continuing until such time as the violation is cured.

SEC. 4.

 Chapter 6.2 (commencing with Section 42380) is added to Part 3 of Division 30 of the Public Resources Code, to read:

CHAPTER  6.2. Major Coastal Resorts
42380.
 For purposes of this chapter, the following terms apply:
(a) “Major coastal resort” shall have the same meaning as in Section 30750.
(b) “Organic waste” shall have the same meaning as in Section 42649.8.
42380.1.
 A major coastal resort shall not provide to guests any of the following:
(a) Single-use plastic bottled beverages.
(b) Nonrecyclable single-use coffee pods.
(c) Plastic straws.
(d) Single-use plastic bags as part of a retail sale transaction.
(e) Any expanded polystyrene products.
42380.2.
 A major coastal resort shall do all of the following:
(a) Provide at least one recycling bin or container in each guest room, and in each individual unit of other guest lodging, such as a cabin or villa. The recycling bin or container shall meet all of the following requirements:
(1) Is in the same area as a bin or container for nonrecyclable trash.
(2) Is visible and easily accessible.
(3) Is clearly marked with educational signage indicating what is appropriate to place in the recycling bin or container in accordance with state law and the local jurisdiction’s solid waste ordinances and practices.
(b) Source separate recyclable materials, organic waste, and other solid waste.
(c) Subscribe to a recycling service that includes collection and recycling of the recyclable materials, and subscribe to either an organic recycling service that includes collection and recycling of the organic waste or recycle the organic waste on site.
42380.3.
 A major coastal resort shall maintain records of its operations to comply with the requirements of this chapter. Records of past operations shall be preserved for three years.
42380.4.
 A major coastal resort in violation of any requirement of this chapter is liable for a civil penalty of five hundred dollars ($500) per each day the violation continues. Any person, including the Attorney General or a district attorney, county counsel, or city attorney, may bring an action for the recovery of civil penalties under this section.
SEC. 5.
  If the Commission on State Mandates determines that this act contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to local agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Government Code.