Hazardous substances: liability: responsible parties.

Existing law, the Carpenter-Presley-Tanner Hazardous Substance Account Act, imposes liability for hazardous substance removal or remedial actions. Existing law provides that a cost incurred by the Department of Toxic Substances Control or regional board in carrying out or overseeing a response or a corrective action under the act or under the hazardous waste control laws is recoverable pursuant to state or federal law by the Attorney General, upon the request of the department or regional board, from the liable person or persons. The act defines "responsible party" and "liable person" for its purposes to mean those persons described in a specified provision of the federal Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980, which includes persons who are, in specified ways, responsible for the disposal of hazardous substances. This bill would require that, for purposes of that definition, for a cause of action that accrued on or after January 1, 1982, "disposal," as it is used in that federal provision, includes emissions into the air.