Hazardous substances: contaminated property: fentanyl cleanup.

Existing law provides that a person who is found to have operated a site for the purpose of manufacturing an illegal controlled substance or the precursor of an illegal controlled substance is the generator of a hazardous substance at, or released from, the site that is subject to removal action by the Department of Toxic Substances Control. Existing law, the Methamphetamine Contaminated Property Cleanup Act of 2005, requires a local health officer to take specified actions after receiving notification from a law enforcement agency of potential contamination of, or of known or suspected contamination of, property by a methamphetamine laboratory activity, including, among other actions, posting a written notice in a prominent location on the premises of the property. The act requires a property owner who receives an order that the property owned by that person is contaminated by a methamphetamine laboratory activity, a property owner who owns property that is the subject of an order, and a person occupying the property to immediately vacate the affected unit. The act requires the property owner to retain a methamphetamine laboratory site remediation firm that is an authorized contractor meeting certain requirements, as described, to remediate the contamination caused by methamphetamine laboratory activity. A violation of certain provisions of the act is subject to specified civil penalties. This bill would rename the act the Methamphetamine or Fentanyl Contaminated Property Cleanup Act and would additionally apply all of its provisions to fentanyl contaminated property, including property owner site assessment, remediation, cleanup, and financial liability, civil penalties, and local health officer responsibilities. By imposing additional duties on local health officers, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The act, for purposes of determining whether a property contaminated by methamphetamine laboratory activity is safe for human occupancy, provides a specified standard for maximum methamphetamine levels and provides additional standards for maximum levels of lead and mercury if the methamphetamine laboratory activity included the use of lead or mercury compounds. The act makes these standards inoperative on the date that the Department of Toxic Substances Control, in consultation with the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, adopts a health-based target remediation standard for methamphetamine to determine when a property contaminated by methamphetamine laboratory activity only is safe for human occupancy. This bill would make those standards inoperative instead on the date that a state or federal agency adopts that standard. 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, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.