Existing law authorizes the Department of Toxic Substances Control to undertake response or corrective actions under the hazardous waste control laws or the Carpenter-Presley-Tanner Hazardous Substance Account Act in response to a release or threatened release of hazardous substances.

This bill would require the department, where feasible, to at least partially incorporate fixed-price contracting for contracts for the cleanup of hazardous substances released into the environment carried out by the department. The bill would require the department to establish performance milestones for cleanups of hazardous substances released into the environment carried out or overseen by the department to ensure that the cleanups are performed at the appropriate pace and to post on its internet website information regarding those cleanups, including specified information for each cleanup.

This bill would require moneys recovered by the state from responsible parties relating to the former Exide Technologies lead-acid battery recycling facility in the City of Vernon to be used to repay the General Fund and the Lead-Acid Battery Cleanup Fund for loans made for the oversight or performance of closure activities and response and corrective actions to protect public health and the environment from hazardous substances or hazardous waste at or near the former Exide Technologies facility, and to repay other sources of state funding for costs incurred for that same purpose. The bill would also require moneys recovered by the state to be used to repay the Lead-Acid Battery Cleanup Fund for repayments to the General Fund.