The Planning and Zoning Law authorizes a state or local public agency to authorize a governmental entity, a special district, a nonprofit organization, a for-profit entity, a person, or another entity to hold title to and manage an interest in property held for mitigation purposes, subject to certain requirements. Existing law authorizes a governmental entity, special district, or nonprofit organization that holds the property as described above to hold an endowment conveyed for the property, except as specified. Existing law subjects the holder of an endowment to certain requirements, including that the holder certify to the project proponent or the holder of the mitigation property or a conservation easement and the local or state agency that required the endowment that it meets specified requirements. Existing law repeals these provisions on January 1, 2027. This bill would delete the above repeal date, thereby extending those provisions indefinitely. Existing law establishes the Department of Fish and Wildlife in the Natural Resources Agency. Under existing law, the department has jurisdiction over the conservation, protection, and management of fish, wildlife, native plants, and habitat necessary for biologically sustainable populations of those species. This bill would require the department, on or before July 1, 2030, and every 5 years thereafter, to post on its internet website a summary table providing information on the status of certain endowments held as described above, as specified. The bill would require the summary table to include specified information with respect to each such endowment, including, among other things, the name of the endowment holder.
Existing law generally designates the State Air Resources Board as the state agency with the primary responsibility for the control of vehicular air pollution, and air pollution control districts and air quality management districts with the primary responsibility for the control of air pollution from all sources other than vehicular sources. Existing law requires the state board to inventory sources of air pollution within the air basins of the state, determine the kinds and quantity of air pollutants, and monitor air pollutants in cooperation with districts and other agencies. This bill would require the state board to expand its incident air monitoring program, subject to an appropriation by the Legislature for those purposes, to provide support for a regional network of air quality incident response centers, including at least one air quality incident response and evaluation center located at the South Coast Air Quality Management District, in order to facilitate emergency air monitoring response at the local and regional level. The bill would require each air quality incident response center to be operated by the state board or an air district and would require the state board and each district that operates an air quality incident response center to coordinate to provide emergency air monitoring response for disasters or other crises impacting air quality and public health in the state. The bill would provide that funding made available by the Legislature for purposes of these provisions may be used for various purposes, including program funding to plan, create, equip, and maintain air quality incident response centers. To the extent that the bill would expand the duties of an air district, the 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, 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.
The California Beverage Container Recycling and Litter Reduction Act requires a distributor of beverage containers to pay to the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery a redemption payment for every beverage container sold or offered for sale, as provided. The act requires the department to deposit those amounts into the California Beverage Container Recycling Fund. The act requires the fund to be continuously appropriated to the department for specified purposes, including, among other things, to pay refund values, administrative fees, and processing payments associated with the collection and recycling of empty beverage containers. The act continuously appropriates up to $15,000,000 annually from the fund to the department for quality incentive payments for empty glass beverage containers to an operator of a curbside recycling program or other certified entity, as specified. This bill would authorize the department to make quality incentive payments from the fund for empty glass beverage containers that are substantially free from contamination and used for the manufacturing of glass products in the state that are not beverage containers, as specified. By authorizing a new use for continuously appropriated funds, the bill would make an appropriation.
The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 designates the State Air Resources Board as the state agency charged with monitoring and regulating sources of emissions of greenhouse gases. Existing law requires the state board to approve and begin implementing a comprehensive short-lived climate pollutant strategy, as specified, to achieve a reduction in the statewide emissions of methane by 40% below 2013 levels by 2030, and requires methane emissions reduction goals to include specified targets to reduce the landfill disposal of organics. The state board has implemented regulations pursuant to the act for the purpose of reducing methane emissions from municipal solid waste landfills. This bill would require the state board to post on its internet website temperature and monitoring data received by the state board regarding methane emissions from landfills.
Existing law, the Contractors State License Law, provides for the licensure and regulation of contractors by the Contractors State License Board. Existing law prohibits contractors from performing specified acts. Existing law requires the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery or another state agency tasked to manage contracts for wildfire debris cleanup and removal by the Office of Emergency Services to prequalify contractors to enter into contracts to perform prescribed wildfire debris cleanup and removal work in communities impacted by wildfires. Notwithstanding the prequalification requirement, this bill would prohibit a contractor from engaging in debris removal that includes hazardous materials on residential or commercial property that is damaged or destroyed by a natural disaster for which an emergency or major disaster is declared, unless the contractor has one of the specified licenses or classifications, as provided. The bill would require any licensee authorized to perform debris removal that includes hazardous materials under these provisions to have passed an approved hazardous substance certification examination and comply with hazardous waste operation and emergency response requirements, as specified.
Existing law, the California Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1973, exists for the purpose of assuring safe and healthful working conditions for all California workers by authorizing the enforcement of effective standards, assisting and encouraging employers to maintain safe and healthful working conditions, and providing for research, information, education, training, and enforcement in the field of occupational safety and health. Existing law establishes the Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board within the Department of Industrial Relations for the adoption of occupational safety and health standards and establishes the Division of Occupational Safety and Health in that department for the enforcement of those occupational safety and health standards, as prescribed. This bill would require the division, on or before January 1, 2030, to propose to the standards board, for its consideration and possible adoption, a standard that protects the health and safety of employees who risk high or prolonged exposure to transboundary pollution, as defined, in outdoor occupational environments, as specified. The bill would require the division to consider identifying an exposure threshold for hydrogen sulfide at which acute or chronic health effects occur to reference in the standards and may consider exposure thresholds for other relevant pollutants. The bill would authorize the division to develop the standard in consultation with other specified groups. The bill would authorize the standards board to adopt emergency regulations to implement these provisions.
The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires a lead agency, as defined, to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of, an environmental impact report on a project that it proposes to carry out or approve that may have a significant effect on the environment or to adopt a negative declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect. CEQA also requires a lead agency to prepare a mitigated negative declaration for a project that may have a significant effect on the environment if revisions in the project would avoid or mitigate that effect and there is no substantial evidence that the project, as revised, would have a significant effect on the environment. CEQA defines various terms, including "natural and protected lands" for its purposes. This bill would revise the definition of that term to include habitats for protected species identified as candidate, sensitive, or species of special status by state or federal agencies. CEQA exempts from its requirement projects that consist exclusively of a day care center that is not located in a residential area and projects that consist exclusively of an advanced manufacturing facility located on a site zoned exclusively for industrial uses. This bill would additionally exempt projects consisting exclusively of a family day care home, as defined. The bill would, for the exemption for the day care center and family day care home, instead require the projects for those facilities not be located in an area zoned for industrial use or within 3,200 feet of a facility that actively extracts or refines oil or natural gas in order for the exemption to apply. The bill would revise the exemption for advanced manufacturing facility projects to require those projects to be used exclusively for final tier manufacturing, as defined. The bill would require an applicant of an advanced manufacturing project that is exempted from CEQA under the bill's requirement to enter into a bona fide community benefits agreement, as provided, and to comply with certain labor requirements, as provided. The bill would require the lead agency, before determining that an advanced manufacturing project is exempt from CEQA, to hold at least one public hearing on the project and to ensure that the applicant complies with the requirement to enter into a bona fide community benefits agreement and the labor requirements. CEQA exempts from its requirements a rezoning that implements the schedule of actions contained in an approved housing element. CEQA specifies that this exemption does not apply to a rezoning that would allow for the construction of certain facilities, including oil and gas infrastructure. CEQA also specifies that this exemption does not apply rezoning that would allow for construction to occur within the boundaries of any natural and protected lands, except as provided. This bill would repeal the exception from the CEQA exemption for rezoning that would allow for oil and gas infrastructure. The bill would specify that the definition of "natural and protected land" does not include habitats for protected species that would be added to that definition by this bill for purposes the exception for rezoning that would allow for construction to occur within the boundaries of any natural and protected lands to the CEQA exemption. CEQA specifies, for a proposed housing development project that would otherwise be exempt from its requirements but for a single condition required for the exemption to apply, that the application of CEQA is limited to the effects upon the environment that are caused by that single condition. CEQA provides that this limited application of CEQA does not apply if the proposed housing project is located on natural and protected land, but does not include "natural and protected land" that is a site within a very high fire hazard severity zone or within the state responsibility area, except as provided. This bill would additionally specify that "natural and protected land" does not include habitats for protected species that would be added to that definition by this bill. Because the bill would imposes additional duties on a lead agency, 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 a specified reason.
Existing regulations require each public agency that is responsible for household hazardous waste management to complete and submit a "Form 303 Household Hazardous Waste Collection Report" (Form 303) electronically to the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery each year. Existing regulations require the reporting timeframe to be July 1 of the previous fiscal year through June 30 of that fiscal year, with the information required to be submitted to the state by October 1 of the following fiscal year. Existing law requires a public agency, or its contractor, operating a household hazardous waste collection facility to, on or before October 1 of each year, submit a copy of the completed Form 303 to the officer or agency authorized to implement and enforce specified hazardous materials laws. Existing law requires that the completed Form 303 also be submitted to the Department of Toxic Substances Control until specified regulations adopted by the Secretary for Environmental Protection are effective and other conditions are met. This bill would require that Form 303 to instead report information for the prior calendar year. The bill would require a copy of the completed Form 303 to instead be submitted to the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, and would require the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery to provide a copy of the completed form to the Department of Toxic Substances Control upon request.
Existing law generally designates the State Air Resources Board as the state agency with the primary responsibility for the control of vehicular air pollution, and designates air pollution control districts and air quality management districts with the primary responsibility for the control of air pollution from all sources other than vehicular sources. Existing law requires the state board to inventory sources of air pollution within the air basins of the state, determine the kinds and quantity of air pollutants, and monitor air pollutants in cooperation with districts and other agencies. Existing law requires the state board to adopt standards of ambient air quality for each air basin in consideration of the public health, safety, and welfare, including, but not limited to, health, illness, irritation to the senses, aesthetic value, interference with visibility, and effects on the economy. Existing law authorizes these standards to vary from one air basin to another. This bill would require the state board, in consultation with specified entities, to develop, as provided, a response framework that establishes best practices and guidance for addressing fugitive and natural sources of hydrogen sulfide gas and for community preparation and response to hydrogen sulfide exposure events originating from these sources. The bill would require the state board, in developing the response framework, to conduct at least 3 public workshops, including at least one located in the Tijuana River Valley region, at least one located in the Salton Sea region, and at least one selected in consultation with a community that has experienced significant hydrogen sulfide exposure. The bill would require the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment to update the acute and chronic reference exposure levels for hydrogen sulfide and to develop additional health guidance values for hydrogen sulfide, if the need is identified by the state board, in consultation with the office, during development of the response framework.
The California Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989, which is administered by the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, establishes an integrated waste management program. The act requires the department to initiate a program for the cleanup of solid waste disposal sites and for cleanup of solid waste at codisposal sites where no responsible party is available to pay for timely remediation, and where cleanup is needed to protect public health and safety or the environment. This bill would authorize the department, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to develop regulations and expend funds to remove and dispose of recreational vehicles, as defined, to develop enforcement strategies, and to develop local enforcement teams and illegal dumping enforcement officers, as specified.
