Gasoline: underground storage tanks.

(1) Existing law provides for the regulation of underground storage tanks by the State Water Resources Control Board. Existing law requires the board to take specified actions with regard to unauthorized releases from petroleum underground storage tanks, including, among other things, adopting regulations requiring the owners of those tanks to undertake certain actions. Existing law provides for a grant and loan program for small businesses to pay specified costs of complying with the underground storage tank regulations adopted by the board. Existing law contains various eligibility criteria for grant funds, including a requirement that the grant applicant, the applicant's family, or an affiliated entity, has owned and operated the project tank since January 1, 1997. This bill would delete that ownership requirement from the grant eligibility criteria. (2) Under existing law, the grant and loan program is funded through the Petroleum Underground Storage Tank Financing Account. Existing law allows not more than 33% of the available funds to be used for the purpose of providing grants. Existing law requires the interest and other increments resulting from the investment of the funds in the account to be placed in a separate subaccount to be expended for the administration of the program. This bill would make a one time transfer of $8,000,000 from the administrative subaccount to be appropriated for the purpose of making grants and loans in the 2008–09 and 2009–10 fiscal years. The bill would establish specified criteria for the grants and loans awarded from funds made pursuant to this transfer. (3) Existing law, the Barry Keene Underground Storage Tank Cleanup Trust Fund Act of 1989, provides for the establishment of an Underground Storage Tank Cleanup Fund to pay for various costs of corrective action and abatement for the unauthorized release of hazardous materials from underground storage tanks. The provisions of this act will expire January 1, 2016. Under existing law, upon the expiration of the Petroleum Underground Storage Tank Financing Account on January 1, 2011, the funds remaining in that account revert to the Underground Storage Tank Cleanup Fund. The grant and loan program provisions would be repealed on January 1, 2011. This bill would extend the repeal date of the grant and loan program as well as the Petroleum Underground Storage Tank Financing Account to January 1, 2016. Additionally, it would make provisions for the payment of loans and grants, conditions of which were effective prior to January 1, 2016, from the Underground Storage Tank Cleanup Fund and the Petroleum Underground Storage Tank Financing Account, as specified. (4) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.