Underground storage tanks: hazardous substances: petroleum: groundwater and surface water contamination.

(1) Existing law provides for the regulation of underground storage tanks by the State Water Resources Control Board. Existing law requires underground storage tanks that are used to store hazardous substances and that are installed after January 1, 1984, to meet certain requirements, including that the primary containment be product tight and that the tank's secondary containment meet specified standards. However, in lieu of these generally applied requirements, existing law authorizes underground storage tanks for motor vehicle fuels installed before January 1, 1997, to be designed and constructed in accordance with alternative requirements. Existing law imposes various monitoring, inspection, replacement, and upgrading requirements on underground storage tanks installed on or before January 1, 1984, and used for the storage of hazardous substances. This bill would require the owners or operators of these 2 types of underground storage tanks to permanently close them by December 31, 2025, and would authorize the board to adopt regulations to require the owner or operator to permanently close such an underground storage tank before December 31, 2025, if the underground storage tank poses a high threat to water quality or public health. (2) Under existing law, the Barry Keene Underground Storage Tank Cleanup Trust Fund Act of 1989 (the act) , portions of which are repealed on January 1, 2016, every owner of an underground storage tank is required to pay a storage fee for each gallon of petroleum placed in the tank. The fees are required to be deposited in the Underground Storage Tank Cleanup Fund and the State Water Resources Control Board is authorized to expend the moneys in the fund, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for various purposes, including the payment of claims to aid owners and operators of petroleum underground storage tanks who take corrective action to clean up unauthorized releases from those tanks, up to $1,500,000 per occurrence for corrective actions undertaken by the board, a California regional water quality board, or a local agency, the cleanup and oversight of unauthorized releases at abandoned tank sites, and grants to small businesses to retrofit certain hazardous substance underground storage tanks. Existing law also specifies that certain associated rights, obligations, and authorities that apply prior to the January 1, 2016, repeal date do not terminate until the moneys in the fund are exhausted. Existing law establishes, until January 1, 2016, the School District Account in the Underground Storage Tank Cleanup Fund for the payment of claims filed by a school district that takes corrective action to clean up an unauthorized release from a petroleum underground storage tank. This bill would extend the operation of those portions of the act and the School District Account until January 1, 2026. By extending the operation of the act, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program by continuing the operation of certain crimes regarding the furnishing of information under penalty of perjury. The bill would require the board, until January 1, 2026, to establish the Expedited Claim Pilot Project to investigate and implement methods to improve claim processing procedures to reduce the overall cost for site cleanup and time to reach closure. The bill would, until January 1, 2026, establish the Expedited Claim Account in the Underground Storage Tank Cleanup Fund and would, upon appropriation by the Legislature, require the moneys in the account be expended for the implementation of the pilot program. The bill would, for the 2015–16 fiscal year, transfer $100,000,000 from the Underground Storage Tank Cleanup Fund to the Expedited Claim Account. The bill would require the board, in collaboration with specified entities, to conduct a study to determine the cost-effectiveness and feasibility of issuing bonds to satisfy obligations against the Underground Storage Tank Cleanup Fund and to post a report on the study, by March 1, 2018, on the board's Internet Web site. The bill would, as of the first day of the first calendar quarter commencing more than 90 days after the effective date of the bill, require payment of an additional $0.006 per gallon of petroleum stored in an underground storage tank until January 1, 2026. The bill would require $0.003 of that $0.006 to be expended only for transfer to the School District Account, for transfer to the Petroleum Underground Storage Tank Financing Account, as specified below, or for transfer to the Site Cleanup Subaccount, which the bill would establish in the State Treasury. The board would be authorized to expend the funds from that subaccount, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to pay for reasonable and necessary expenditures that the board, a regional board, or a local agency incurs to identify the source of surface or groundwater contamination, or to remediate, or to provide grants to remediate, the harm or threat of harm to human health, safety, and the environment caused by existing or threatened surface or groundwater contamination, as specified. The bill would require the board to specify the information to be included in a grant application and would authorize the board to adopt procedures to implement the grant program. The bill would decrease the amount that the board may pay from the Underground Storage Tank Cleanup Fund for corrective action costs to $1,000,000 per occurrence. (3) Existing law establishes the Underground Storage Tank Petroleum Contamination Orphan Site Cleanup Fund in the State Treasury, and authorizes the board to expend the moneys in the fund, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for the costs of response actions to remediate the harm caused by a petroleum contamination from an underground storage tank that meets specified requirements, including that the site meets the conditions of a brownfield, as defined. This bill would delete the requirement for the expenditure of funds from this fund that the site meet the conditions for a brownfield and would make other conforming changes. The bill would limit the amount of the grants the board may issue from that fund for an occurrence to $1,500,000 for applications filed before December 31, 2014, and $1,000,000 for applications filed after that date. (4) Existing law authorizes the board to pay claims from the Underground Storage Tank Cleanup Fund of up to $1,500,000 per occurrence, as defined, to aid owners and operators of petroleum underground storage tanks who take corrective action to clean up unauthorized releases from those tanks. The board is also required to pay a claim of up to $3,000 for regulatory technical assistance. Existing law requires the board to pay a claim for the costs of corrective action to a person who owns property on which is located a release from a petroleum underground storage tank that has been the subject of a corrective action, and for which additional corrective action is required because of additionally discovered contamination from the previous release, if the person who carried out the earlier and completed corrective action was eligible for, and applied for, reimbursement pursuant to specified provisions, only to the extent that the amount of reimbursement for the earlier corrective action did not exceed the amount of $1,500,000. Existing law prohibits the board from reimbursing a claim for corrective action costs that is received by the board more than 365 days after the date of issuance of a closure letter or after the issuance or activation of a letter of commitment, except as specified. This bill would decrease the maximum amount the board is authorized to pay for those corrective action claims filed on or after January 1, 2015, to $1,000,000 and would increase the limit for regulatory technical assistance to $5,000, plus the amount for submission of documents using an approved electronic data system. The bill would require the board to pay a claim for the costs of corrective action to a person who owns property on which is located a release from a petroleum underground storage tank that has been removed if the site has been the subject of a corrective action, additional corrective action is required because of additionally discovered contamination from the previous release, the person who owns the property meets specified requirements and is required to perform corrective action pursuant to those provisions because of additionally discovered contamination, and the person who carried out the earlier and completed corrective action did not apply for reimbursement, as prescribed. The bill would authorize the board to reimburse a claim for corrective action costs that is received by the board more than 2 years after the date the cost was incurred or more than 2 years after the date of issuance or activation of a letter of commitment, in certain circumstances, as specified. (5) Existing law specifies that the costs incurred and payable from the fund for corrective action and other expenses are to be recovered by the Attorney General, upon the request of the board, from the owner or operator of the underground storage tank or from any other responsible party. This bill would instead authorize the board to recover those costs. (6) Existing law requires the board to post on its Internet Web site the results of any program audit or fiscal audit within 90 days after its completion. The bill would require the board, by December 31, 2019, and at least once every 5 years thereafter, to commission an independent program audit and fiscal audit of the fund. The bill would require the audit to include a review of projected expenses and revenue for the 5 years subsequent to the date of the audit and proposals for the appropriate amount of the petroleum storage fee for that 5-year period. The bill would require the board, by June 1, 2016, to conduct an analysis on whether the priority ranking criteria for the payment of claims to small businesses should be revised and to post the results on the board's Internet Web site within 90 days after completing the analysis. (7) The act requires an owner or operator of an underground storage tank to furnish, under penalty of perjury, any information on fees, financial responsibility, unauthorized releases, or corrective action as a local agency, regional board, or the state board may require. The bill would subject to a civil penalty a person who fails or refuses to furnish that information or furnishes false information. The bill would authorize the executive director of the board to permanently disqualify a person convicted of making a false statement to the board, or found civilly liable for specified conduct relating to any claim, from receiving any moneys from the fund, if the executive director makes one of a specified set of findings with regard to claimants, contractors, or consultants. The bill would also impose a civil penalty upon a person that makes a misrepresentation in a claim submitted to the fund. The bill would require the Attorney General, upon the request of the board, to bring an action in superior court to impose these civil penalties and would authorize the executive director of the board to impose these civil penalties administratively. The bill would also provide that a person who knowingly makes or causes to be made a false statement, material misrepresentation, or false certification in support of a claim is punishable by a criminal fine or imprisonment, or by both that fine and imprisonment. By creating a new crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would authorize the board to review the imposition of civil penalties by the executive director in a specified manner. The bill would require that these fines and civil penalties be deposited into the fund. The bill would authorize the board to expend the moneys in the fund, upon appropriation, to pay for the expenditures of the board associated with investigation and enforcement under the act. The bill would also make conforming changes with regard to this enforcement. The bill would also make conforming changes with regard to the amounts deposited in the fund, the purposes for which the money in the fund would be expended, and the continued existence, after the repeal of portions of the act on January 1, 2026, of certain authority in the act to take specified legal actions. The bill would prohibit the board from accepting claim applications for reimbursement for corrective action costs or compensation of 3rd parties that are submitted to the fund after January 1, 2025, unless the board makes a specified finding, and would prohibit the board from accepting requests for reimbursement for those purposes after July 1, 2025. (8) Existing law requires owners and operators of underground storage tanks systems containing hazardous substances to maintain evidence of financial responsibility. Existing law also requires petroleum underground storage tanks to establish and maintain specified evidence of financial responsibility for taking corrective action and compensating 3rd parties for bodily injury and property damage arising from operating the tank, except that certain owners or operators eligible for payment of a claim from the fund are deemed in compliance with those financial responsibility requirements. This bill would allow all claimants to use the fund to establish and maintain evidence of financial responsibility for purposes of the requirements imposed upon petroleum underground storage tanks but would prohibit, on and after January 1, 2025, an owner or operator of a tank for which a permit is in effect from using the fund as a mechanism to demonstrate compliance with certain financial responsibility requirements and specified federal statutory requirements. (9) Existing law, until January 1, 2022, requires the board to conduct a loan program to assist small businesses to upgrade, replace, or remove tanks used for the purpose of storing petroleum to meet applicable local, state, or federal standards and to conduct a grant program to assist small businesses to comply with certain requirements imposed on those tanks with regard to specified testing and containment systems and enhanced leak detection. Existing law provides that the maximum amount that the board may grant an applicant is $50,000. Existing law transfers specified funds from the Underground Storage Tank Cleanup Fund to the Petroleum Underground Storage Tank Financing Account and appropriates those funds for the purpose of making those grants and loans. This bill would expand the purposes for which the board may issue those grants and loans to include the upgrade, removal, or replacement of those tanks to meet specified requirements with regard to the permanent closure of underground storage tanks and would increase the maximum amount that the board may grant an applicant to $70,000, thereby making an appropriation. The bill would also authorize the board to make a grant of up to $140,000 for the removal and replacement of tanks located at a fueling station that meets specified requirements. The bill would authorize the board to waive certain permitting and other requirements for a grant applicant that is ineligible for a loan pursuant to the program and will remove a tank without replacing it. (10) 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. (11) The bill would incorporate changes to Sections 25299.50 and 25299.51 of the Health and Safety Code proposed by SB 1458, which would become operative if both bills amend those code sections and this bill is enacted after SB 1458, in which case those provisions, as amended by SB 1458, would become operative when that bill becomes operative. (12) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.