SEC. 2.
The Legislature finds and declares the following:(a) It is the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation to continue the work of the Vehicle Dismantling Industry Strike Team to address the problem of unlicensed automobile dismantling and to require state agencies to continue in their collaboration to combat unlicensed and unregulated automobile dismantling for the purposes of investigating environmental impacts, public health impacts, and tax evasion that is occurring as a result of this activity, and to implement strategies to bring
unlicensed automobile dismantlers into compliance through compliance assistance, education, training, and other methods.
(b) The Vehicle Dismantling Industry Strike Team was established in 2017, and was composed of the Department of Motor Vehicles, California Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Toxics Substances Control, State Water Resources Control Board, California Department of Tax and Fee Administration, State Air Resources Board, and CalRecycle.
(c) The Vehicle Dismantling Industry Strike Team found that unlicensed automobile dismantling occurs not just in private garages and industrial areas, but also in residential neighborhoods, near parks, schools, and vulnerable waterways.
(d) The Vehicle Dismantling Industry Strike Team found that unlicensed automobile dismantlers, unlike licensed automobile
dismantlers, harm the environment and public health, have unsafe workplaces, sell defective parts, create a strain on the economy due to millions of dollars lost in uncollected taxes and fees, pay salaries under the table, and put employees at risk by not providing workers’ compensation and insurance.
(e) The Vehicle Dismantling Industry Strike Team as of December 31, 2019, generated 1,105 cases that included identifying 824 unlicensed automobile dismantlers, issued 566 citations, and referred 202 cases to allied state environmental agencies and 81 cases to the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration for further investigation and enforcement.
(f) The Vehicle Dismantling Industry Strike Team’s January 21, 2020, report to the Legislature recommended the continuation of the coordinated enforcement and compliance activities of the strike Team.