Hazardous materials: business plans.

(1) Existing law requires the Secretary for Environmental Protection to implement a unified hazardous waste and hazardous materials management regulatory program, including a statewide information management system for purposes of receiving data collected by unified program agencies. A city or local agency that meets specified requirements is authorized to apply to the secretary to implement the unified program and be certified as a certified unified program agency (CUPA) , and every county is required to apply to the secretary to be certified to implement the unified program. Existing law requires the unified program agency to implement and enforce provisions that require a business that handles a hazardous material, as defined, to establish and implement a business plan, including an inventory of specified information for response to a release or threatened release of a hazardous material. The annual inventory submittal is required to contain information on specified hazardous materials that are handled in quantities equal to or greater than certain quantities or as established by the governing body of the unified program agency by a local ordinance. A violation of the business plan requirements is a misdemeanor. This bill would instead require the secretary, in coordination with the Office of Emergency Services, to specify the hazardous materials inventory required to be submitted by handlers, including the data to be collected and submitted for hazardous materials. The bill would authorize the governing body of a unified program agency to adopt an ordinance that designates a material as a hazardous material, if a handler or the governing body of the unified program agency has a reasonable basis to believe that material injurious or harmful, as specified. The bill would revise the information required to be included in the business plan. (2) Existing law requires a unified program agency to exempt a business operating an unstaffed remote facility located in an isolated sparsely populated area from specified business plan requirements. Existing law allows a unified program agency to require an unstaffed remote facility to submit a hazardous materials business plan and inventory in accordance with requirements if the agency makes specified findings. This bill would instead require the unified program agency to exempt from specified requirements a business operating an unstaffed facility located at least one-half mile from the nearest occupied structure, unless required by a local ordinance. The bill would require the business to make a one-time business plan submittal that would not be required to include specified elements of the plan. The bill would repeal the authorization for the unified program agency to require an unstaffed remote facility to submit a plan and inventory. (3) Existing law requires a handler to electronically submit its business plan to the statewide information management system, to renew the plan at least once every 3 years to determine if a revision is needed, and to certify to the unified program agency that the review was made and that any necessary changes were made to the plan. A handler is also required to annually review the business plan information and resubmit or certify as correct the inventory information in the statewide environmental reporting system. This bill would instead require the handler to submit the business plan annually to the statewide information system by a date established by the unified program agency or by March 1, would instead require a business owner, business operator, or officially designated representative of the business to review and certify on or before that date that the information in the statewide information management system meets specified requirements, and would remove the requirement that the handler annually review and resubmit or certify as correct the inventory information in the statewide environmental reporting system. (4) Existing law requires the unified program agency to make the data elements and documents submitted by businesses available to the public in a specified manner. This bill would instead require the unified program agency to make the information in the statewide information management system available to the public. (5) Existing law requires the immediate report of any release or threatened release of a hazardous material to the unified program agency, and to the office, in accordance with the regulations adopted by the office. This bill would require the office to adopt regulations by January 1, 2016, to implement these requirements. (6) This bill would revise some definitions for purposes of these provisions relating to business plans of handlers of hazardous materials and would make other conforming changes. (7) The bill would impose a state-mandated local program by imposing new duties upon unified program agencies and by creating new crimes with regard to the submission of business plans. (8) 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 specified reasons. (9) The bill would incorporate changes to Section 25507 of the Health and Safety Code proposed by both this bill and AB 2748, which would only become operative if both bills are enacted and become effective on or before January 1, 2015, and this bill is enacted after AB 2748.