(1) Existing law prohibits an entity from substantially diverting or obstructing the natural flow of, or substantially changing or using any material from the bed, channel, or bank of, any river, stream, or lake, or from depositing certain material where it may pass into any river, stream, or lake designated by the Department of Fish and Wildlife, without first notifying the department of that activity, and entering into a lake or streambed alteration agreement if required by the department to protect fish and wildlife resources. Under existing law, it is unlawful for any person to violate those notification and agreement provisions, and a person who violates them is also subject to a civil penalty of not more than $25,000 for each violation. For purposes of these provisions, existing law defines entity to mean any person, state or local governmental agency, or public
utility subject to the notification and agreement provisions.
This bill would make it unlawful for any entity to violate those provisions, thereby imposing a state-mandated local program by changing the definition of a crime. The bill would subject to that civil penalty any entity that violates those provisions.
Existing law authorizes the director of the department to establish a graduated schedule of fees to be charged to any entity subject to the notification and agreement provisions, and authorizes the adjustment of fees. Existing law imposes a $5,000 fee limit for any agreement.
This bill would instead authorize the department to establish that schedule of fees, and would require that the department adjust fees annually. The bill would modify that fee
limit to prohibit a fee from exceeding $5,000 for any single project.
(2) The California Endangered Species Act requires the Fish and Game Commission to establish a list of endangered species and a list of threatened species, and requires the Department of Fish and Wildlife to recommend, and the commission to adopt, criteria for determining if a species is endangered or threatened. The act prohibits the taking of an endangered, threatened, or candidate species, except as specified. Under the act, the department may authorize the take of listed species if the take is incidental to an otherwise lawful activity and the impacts are minimized and fully mitigated.
This bill would require the department to collect a permit application fee for processing applications for specified permits issued by the department to take a
species listed as candidate, threatened, or endangered, except as provided. The bill would require the department to assess the permit application fee according to a graduated fee schedule based on the cost of the project and whether the project uses a department-approved conservation or mitigation bank to fulfill mitigation obligations. The bill would create the Endangered Species Permitting Account and would require the permit application fees collected by the department to be deposited in the account and used upon appropriation to pay the department’s cost of processing permit applications, permit development, and compliance monitoring. The bill would make funds deposited in the account available to the department, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for those purposes and for administering and implementing the California Endangered Species Act.
Under existing law, a violation of the act is a misdemeanor subject to the punishment of a fine of not more than
$5,000 or imprisonment in the county jail for not more than one year, or both the fine and imprisonment.
This bill would increase the punishment of a violation of the prohibition against taking an endangered, threatened, or candidate species to a fine of not less than $25,000 or more than $50,000, imprisonment in the county jail for not more than one year, or by both that fine and imprisonment. The bill would require 1/2 of any fine or forfeiture imposed for a violation of the take prohibition or any other law of the act to be deposited in the county treasury of the county in which the violation occurred and would require the other 1/2 to be deposited in the Endangered Species Permitting Account.
(3) Existing law makes it unlawful to take any marine mammal, as defined, except as provided under specified federal laws.
This bill would make it unlawful to hold in captivity an orca, whether wild-caught or captive-bred, for any purpose, including for display, performance, or entertainment purposes; to breed or impregnate an orca held in captivity; to export, collect, or import the semen, other gametes, or embryos of an orca held in captivity for the purpose of artificial insemination; or to export, transport, move, or sell an orca located in the state to another state or country, except as provided.
The bill would provide that a person, corporation, or institution that intentionally or negligently violates these provisions is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine not to exceed $100,000. By creating a new
crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
(4) The California Seed Law regulates seed sold in California, and prohibits a city, county, or district from adopting or enforcing an ordinance that regulates plants, crops, or seeds without the consent of the Secretary of Food and Agriculture. The California Seed Law also requires the Department of Food and Agriculture to develop and maintain a list of invasive pests, as defined and which includes certain plants and seeds, that have a reasonable likelihood of entering California for which action by the state might be appropriate, as specified.
This bill would delete the provision prohibiting the adoption or enforcement of an ordinance that regulates plants, crops, or seeds without the secretary’s consent. The bill would also state that the declaration of a plant, seed, nursery stock, or crop as
invasive is a power reserved for the secretary.
(5) Existing law imposes a uniform oil spill response fee on specified persons, except specified independent crude oil producers, owning petroleum products and on pipeline operators transporting petroleum products into the state by means of a pipeline operating across, under, or through the marine waters of the state, during any period that the Oil Spill Response Trust Fund contains less than a designated amount. Existing law, until June 30, 2017, provides that if a loan or other transfer of money from the fund to the General Fund pursuant to the Budget Act reduces the balance of the fund to less than or equal to 95% of the designated amount, the administrator for oil spill response is not required to resume collection of the oil spill response fee if the annual Budget Act requires the transfer or loan to be repaid to the fund with interest calculated at a rate earned by the
Pooled Money Investment Account and on or before June 30, 2017.
This bill would extend that date to June 30, 2019. The bill would additionally provide that if a loan or other transfer of money from the fund to a special fund pursuant to the Budget Act reduces the balance of the fund to less than or equal to 95% of the designated amount, the administrator is not required to resume collection of the oil spill response fee. The bill would make these provisions inoperative on July 1, 2019.
(6) Existing law establishes the California Environmental Protection Agency under the supervision of the Secretary for Environmental Protection, and requires the agency, among other things, to identify disadvantaged communities for certain investment opportunities based on geographic, socioeconomic, public health, and environmental hazard criteria, as
specified. Existing law requires the secretary’s deputy secretary for law enforcement and counsel to, in consultation with the Attorney General, establish a cross-media enforcement unit to assist boards, departments, offices, or other agencies that implement a law or regulation within the jurisdiction of the agency, as specified.
This bill would require each board, department, or office within the California Environmental Protection Agency to participate and have representatives in the cross-media enforcement unit. The bill would require the unit to undertake activities consistent with specified environmental justice policies and focus its activities in disadvantaged communities, as specified.
(7) Existing law requires the Department of Toxic Substances Control to adopt, and revise as necessary, regulations establishing management standards for treated
wood waste. Existing law makes these, and other requirements regarding treated wood waste, inoperative on December 31, 2020. Existing law requires the department, on or before January 1, 2018, to prepare, post on its Internet Web site, and provide to the appropriate policy committees of the Legislature, a comprehensive report with specified content on the compliance with, and implementation of, these laws relating to treated wood waste.
This bill would extend to July 1, 2018, the time by which the department is to prepare, post on its Internet Web site, and provide the appropriate policy committees of the Legislature the comprehensive report.
Existing law requires the department to suspend the permit of a hazardous waste facility for nonpayment of a specified facility fee or activity fee if the operator of the facility is subject to the fee and if the State Board of Equalization has certified that
certain circumstances exist.
This bill would allow the department, in addition to the State Board of Equalization, to certify the existence of those circumstances, and would include within the circumstances that the department or the State Board of Equalization has notified the facility’s operator of the delinquency and that the operator has exhausted certain administrative rights of appeal or dispute resolution procedures, as specified.
Existing law provides a person who applies for, or requests, specified hazardous waste permits, variances, or waste classification determinations with the option of paying a flat fee or entering into a reimbursement agreement to reimburse the department for costs incurred in processing the application or response to the request. Existing law authorizes a reimbursement agreement to include costs incurred by the department in reviewing and overseeing corrective action but prohibits the
department from assessing a fee or seeking reimbursement for reviewing and overseeing preliminary site assessment in conjunction with a hazardous waste facilities permit application.
This bill would eliminate the flat fee option. The bill would additionally require the reimbursement agreement to provide for the reimbursement of the costs incurred by the department in reviewing and overseeing corrective action and would require an applicant and the owner and the operator of the facility to pay these costs and to pay all costs incurred by the department to comply with the California Environmental Quality Act. The bill would repeal the prohibition on the department assessing a fee or seeking reimbursement for reviewing and overseeing a preliminary site assessment in conjunction with a hazardous waste facilities permit application. The bill would require at least 25% of the agreed-upon reimbursement to be made in advance, based
on the department’s total estimated costs of processing the application or response to the request. The bill would apply these revised fee provisions to applications and requests submitted to the department on or after April 1, 2016.
Under existing law, if a facility’s permit or interim status document sets forth the facility’s allowable capacity for treatment or storage, the annual facility fee is based upon that capacity, and the department may require the facility to submit an application to modify the permit to provide for an allowable capacity. Under existing law, if a facility’s permit or interim status document does not set forth its type, that type is presumed for purposes of setting fees, and the department is authorized to require the facility to submit an application to modify the permit or interim status document to provide for a facility type. Existing law exempts these applications from the requirement to either pay a flat fee or enter into a
reimbursement agreement.
This bill would subject these applications for modification to the above-described reimbursement requirement.
Existing law requires specified fees, including the flat fee and the fee paid under the reimbursement agreement, as applicable, to be administered and collected by the State Board of Equalization in accordance with the Hazardous Substance Tax Law.
This bill would provide that the fees, as revised above, shall instead be administered and collected by the department.
This bill would make conforming changes and delete obsolete provisions pertaining to the state’s hazardous waste programs.
Existing law requires the department to adopt
regulations to establish a process for evaluating chemicals of concern in consumer products, and their potential alternatives, to determine how best to limit exposure or to reduce the level of hazard posed by a chemical of concern. Existing law requires the regulations adopted to specify the range of regulatory responses that the department may take following the completion of the alternatives analysis. Under its regulatory authority, the department has adopted the 2015–17 Priority Product Work Plan, which describes categories from which the department will select priority products for which safer alternatives are to be evaluated.
This bill would require the department to revise the 2015–17 Priority Product Work Plan to include lead acid batteries for consideration and evaluation as potential priority products.
(8) Existing law requires the State Air Resources Board to adopt and
implement motor vehicle emission standards and to establish criteria for the evaluation of the effectiveness of motor vehicle pollution control devices. Existing law prohibits the disconnection, modification, or alteration of required motor vehicle pollution control devices, except with respect to an alteration, modification, or modifying device, apparatus, or mechanism that is covered by a resolution of the state board that makes specified findings. Existing law also allows aftermarket and performance parts to be sold and installed on motorcycles, concurrent with a motorcycle’s transfer to an ultimate purchaser, pursuant to a valid executive order of the state board.
This bill would authorize the state board to enter into agreements with private entities and receive, on behalf of the state, contributions from private sources in the form of equipment or money in order to expedite the processing of the above-referenced resolutions and executive orders, and associated
applications.
(9) Existing law, the Environmental Laboratory Accreditation Act, requires certain laboratories that conduct analyses of environmental samples for regulatory purposes to obtain a certificate of accreditation from the State Water Resources Control Board. The act requires an accredited laboratory to report, in a timely fashion and in accordance with the request for analysis, the full and complete results of all detected contaminants and pollutants to the person or entity that submitted the material for testing. The act authorizes the board to adopt regulations to establish reporting requirements, establish the accreditation procedures, recognize the accreditation of laboratories located outside California, and collect laboratory accreditation fees. The act requires that fees collected for laboratory accreditation be adjusted annually, as specified. The act requires fees and civil penalties collected under the
act to be deposited in the Environmental Laboratory Improvement Fund and that moneys in the fund be available for expenditure by the board, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for the purposes of the act.
This bill would require the board to adopt, by emergency regulations, a schedule of fees to recover costs incurred for the accreditation of environmental laboratories in an amount sufficient to recover all reasonable regulatory costs incurred for the purposes of the act, as prescribed. This bill would require the board to review and revise the fees, as necessary, each fiscal year.
Existing law, until January 1, 2017, requires, among other things, any laboratory that performs cholinesterase testing on human blood for an employer to enable the employer to satisfy his or her responsibilities for medical supervision of his or her employees who regularly handle pesticides pursuant to specified
regulations or to respond to alleged exposure to cholinesterase inhibitors or known exposure to the inhibitors that resulted in illness to electronically report specified information in its possession on every person tested to the Department of Pesticide Regulation, which would be required to share the information in an electronic format with the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment and the State Department of Public Health on an ongoing basis, as specified.
This bill would extend the repeal date of these provisions to January 1, 2019.
(10) Existing law, the California Safe Drinking Water Act, provides for the operation of public water systems and imposes on the State Water Resources Control Board various duties and responsibilities for the regulation and control of drinking water in the state. The act, on and after July 1, 2016, requires the board to adopt, by
regulation, a fee schedule, to be paid annually by each public water system for the purpose of reimbursing the board for specified activities. The act requires funds received by the board for the purposes of the act to be deposited into the Safe Drinking Water Account and provides that the moneys in the account are available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for the administration of the act. The act prohibits the total amount of funds received for state operations program costs to administer the act for fiscal year 2016–17 from exceeding $30,450,000.
This bill would raise that limit to $38,907,000.
Existing law requires the board to conduct research, studies, and demonstration projects relating to the provision of a dependable, safe supply of drinking water, to adopt regulations to implement the act, and to enforce provisions of the federal Safe Drinking Water Act. Existing law authorizes the
board to order physical or operational consolidation with a receiving water system where a public water system, or a state small water system within a disadvantaged community, consistently fails to provide an adequate supply of safe drinking water. Existing law defines a disadvantaged community for the purpose of these provisions as a community with an annual median household income that is less than 80% of the statewide annual median income and that is in an unincorporated area or is served by a mutual water company.
This bill would revise the definition of disadvantaged community to include a community with an annual median household income that is less than 80% of the statewide annual median income that is served by a small public water system, as defined.
(11) Existing law authorizes the Department of Water Resources, subject to available funding and in coordination with the
Department of Fish and Wildlife, to undertake specified restoration efforts at the Salton Sea.
This bill would authorize the Department of Water Resources to use design-build procurement for projects at the Salton Sea.
Existing law requires either the Director of General Services or the Secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to notify the State Public Works Board regarding the method to be used for selecting a design-build entity, prior to advertising design-build project.
This bill would, for purposes of projects at the Salton Sea, instead require the Director of Water Resources to notify the California Water Commission regarding the method to be used for selecting a design-build entry, prior to advertising design-build project.
(12) Existing law creates the Timber Regulation and Forest
Restoration Fund in the State Treasury and requires that specified revenues received from a lumber or engineered wood products assessment, less amounts deducted for refunds and reimbursements, be deposited in the fund and, upon appropriation by the Legislature, used for specified purposes relating to forest management and restoration, in accordance with specified priorities.
This bill would authorize the Natural Resources Agency to use moneys in the fund, upon appropriation by the Legislature and only after certain of those specified priorities are funded, to provide a reasonable per diem for attendance at a meeting of the advisory body for the state’s forest practice program by a member of the body who is not an employee of a government agency.
(13) Existing law establishes the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development
Commission (Energy Commission) in the Natural Resources Agency, and specifies the powers and duties of the Energy Commission with respect to energy resources in the state. Existing law requires the Public Utilities Commission to adopt rules and procedures governing the operation, maintenance, repair, and replacement of gas pipeline facilities that it regulates and that are intrastate transmission and distribution lines to, among other things, reduce emissions of natural gas from those facilities to the maximum extent feasible to advance the state’s goals in reducing emissions of greenhouse gases.
This bill would require the Energy Commission, by September 15, 2017, and in consultation with certain entities, to report to the respective budget committees of each house of the Legislature on the resources needed to develop a plan for tracking natural gas, and a recommendation for developing the plan, considering cost-effectiveness and efficacy. The bill would require
the State Air Resources Board, in consultation with the Energy Commission, to develop a model of fugitive and vented emissions of methane from natural gas infrastructure, as specified.
(14) Existing law authorizes the issuance of environmental license plates, also referred to as personalized license plates, upon application of the registered owner or lessee of a vehicle. Existing law imposes a fee, in addition to the regular registration fee, of $48 for the issuance of, and $38 for the renewal, retention, transfer, or duplication of, environmental license plates. Existing law requires that all revenue derived from these fees be deposited in the California Environmental License Plate Fund to be used, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for specified trust purposes.
This bill would, commencing January 1, 2017, increase to $43 the fee for the renewal, retention, transfer, or
duplication of environmental license plates. The bill would, commencing July 1, 2017, increase to $53 the fee for the issuance of environmental license plates.
(15) Under existing law, the State Water Resources Control Board administers a water rights program pursuant to which the board grants permits and licenses to appropriate water. Existing law allows a person to apply for, and the board to issue, a temporary permit for diversion and use of water, subject to certain restrictions. Existing law allows a permittee or licensee who has an urgent need to change a point of diversion, place of use, or purpose of use to petition for, and the board to issue, a temporary change order, subject to certain restrictions. Existing law provides that the authorization for a temporary permit or a temporary change order automatically expires 180 days after the date the authorization takes effect and that the 180-day period does not include
any time required for monitoring, reporting, or mitigation before or after the authorization to divert or use water under the temporary permit or temporary change order.
This bill would provide that if the temporary permit or temporary change order authorizes diversion to storage, the 180-day period is a limitation on the authorization to divert and not a limitation on the authorization for beneficial use of water diverted to storage.
Under existing law, the board and the California regional water quality control boards prescribe waste discharge requirements in accordance with the federal national pollutant discharge elimination system permit program established by the federal Clean Water Act, and the Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act (the act). The act establishes 9 regions, each governed by a California regional water quality control board comprised of 7 members appointed by the Governor, with
prescribed experience or associations. Existing law requires that each member of a regional board receive $100 for each day that member is engaged in the performance of official duties, except that a member is not entitled to compensation if the member otherwise receives compensation from other sources for performing those duties. Existing law prohibits the total compensation received by members of each regional board from exceeding, in any one fiscal year, the sum of $13,500.
This bill would require that each member of a regional board receive $250 for each day during which that member is engaged in the performance of official duties, without regard to compensation from other sources, and would specify that the performance of official duties includes reviewing agenda materials for no more than one day in preparation for each regional board meeting. This bill would prohibit the total compensation received by members of all
of the regional boards from exceeding the sum of $378,250 in any one fiscal year.
(16) Existing law, the Water Quality, Supply, and Infrastructure Improvement Act of 2014, approved by the voters as Proposition 1 at the November 4, 2014, statewide general election, authorizes the issuance of general obligation bonds in the amount of $7,545,000,000 to finance a water quality, supply, and infrastructure improvement program. The act requires each state agency that receives an appropriation from the funding made available by the act to administer a competitive grant or loan program under the act’s provisions to develop and adopt project solicitation and evaluation guidelines before disbursing the grants or loans. The act requires the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency to publish and post on the Natural Resources Agency’s Internet Web site specified information in order to facilitate oversight of funding and projects. The
act requires each state agency that receives an appropriation of funding made available by the act to be responsible for establishing metrics of success and reporting the status of projects and all uses of the funding on the state’s bond accountability Internet Web site. Existing law requires each state agency that receives an appropriation of funding made available by the act to evaluate the outcomes of projects, report this evaluation on the state’s bond accountability Internet Web site, and to hold a grantee of funds accountable for completing projects funded by the act on time and within scope.
This bill, on or before January 10, 2017, and annually on or before each January 10 thereafter, would require the Natural Resources Agency to submit to the relevant fiscal and policy committees of the Legislature and to the Legislative Analyst’s Office a report that contains certain information relating to the act for the
previous fiscal year. The bill would repeal this reporting requirement on January 1, 2022.
Existing law, the California Emergency Services Act, sets forth the emergency powers of the Governor under its provisions and empowers the Governor to proclaim a state of emergency for certain conditions, including drought. During a state of emergency, existing law authorizes the Governor to suspend any regulatory statute, or statute prescribing the procedure for conduct of state business, or the orders, rules, or regulations of any state agency where the Governor determines and declares that strict compliance with any statute, order, rule, or regulation would in any way prevent, hinder, or delay the mitigation of the effects of the emergency. Pursuant to this authority, the Governor proclaimed a state of emergency, and a continued state of emergency, due to drought conditions and suspended certain statutes.
This bill would require the Natural Resources Agency, on or before January 1, 2020, to submit to the relevant fiscal and policy committees of the Legislature and to the Legislative Analyst’s Office a report summarizing lessons learned from the state’s response to the drought and would require the report to compile information from various state entities responsible for drought response activities.
(17) Existing law appropriates $3,750,000 on an annual basis from fee revenue in the Water Rights Fund to the State Water Resources Control Board for the purpose of funding 25 permanent water enforcement right positions.
This bill would limit that appropriation in a specific manner.
(18) This bill would appropriate $230,000 from the Timber Regulation and Forest
Restoration Fund to the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency to provide public process and scientific expertise and per diem payments to nongovernmental participants of Timber Regulation and Forest Restoration Program working groups.
(19) This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 1602 of the Fish and Game Code proposed by AB 1609 and SB 837, that would become operative if this bill and one or both of those bills are enacted and this bill is chaptered last.
(20) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
(21) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill.