Business plans: combustible metals.

Existing law requires the Secretary for Environmental Protection to implement a unified hazardous waste and hazardous materials management regulatory program. As part of that program, existing law requires a business that handles a hazardous material or a mixture containing a hazardous material at any one time during the reporting year in quantities equal to, or greater than, 55 gallons for materials that are liquids, 500 pounds for solids, or 200 cubic feet for compressed gas to establish and implement a business plan for emergency response to a release, or threatened release, of the hazardous material. These business plan requirements are enforced primarily by local agencies certified or designated by the department for purposes of enforcement of the unified program. A person who knowingly violates business plan requirements is guilty of a misdemeanor. This bill would also require businesses that handle combustible metals or metal alloys, as described, in specified quantities, to establish and implement a business plan of this type. By imposing additional duties on local agencies enforcing the business plan requirements, and because a violation of this requirement would be a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. 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.