Bill Text: CA AB1330 | 2013-2014 | Regular Session | Amended

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Environmental justice.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2014-08-25 - Read second time. Ordered to third reading. Re-referred to Com. on RLS. pursuant to Senate Rule 29.10(c). [AB1330 Detail]

Download: California-2013-AB1330-Amended.html

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BILL NUMBER: AB 1330	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 9, 2013

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member John A. Pérez

                        FEBRUARY 22, 2013

   An act to  add Section 71117   amend Section
54954.3 of the Government Code, and to add Sections 71117 and 71119
 to the Public Resources Code, relating to environmental
justice.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 1330, as amended, John A. Pérez. Environmental justice. 
   (1) The Ralph M. Brown Act requires a local legislative body to
provide an opportunity for members of the public to directly address
the body concerning any item described in a notice of meeting. The
act authorizes the legislative body to adopt reasonable regulations
limiting the total amount of time allocated for public testimony for
each individual speaker.  
   This bill would, if a local legislative body limits the time for
public comment, prohibit the body from counting the time used by a
translator to translate comments from a non-English-speaking
commenter in determining whether the speaker has exceeded his or her
time limit unless simultaneous translation equipment is used to allow
the body to hear the translated public testimony simultaneously.
 
   Existing 
    (2)     Existing  law requires the
Secretary for Environmental Protection to convene a Working Group on
Environmental Justice to assist the secretary in developing, by July
1, 2002, an agencywide strategy for identifying and addressing gaps
in existing programs, policies, or activities of the agency's boards,
departments, and offices that may impede the achievement of
environmental justice.
   This bill would require the secretary, with the assistance of the
 Cal/EPA Interagency  Working Group on Environmental
Justice, to periodically revise and update the agencywide strategy to
identify and address any additional gaps. The bill would require the
secretary to submit to the Governor and the Legislature, by July 1,
2014, a report on the revision and update of the strategy. 
   (3) The bill would require each board, department, and office of
the California Environmental Protection Agency to maintain a publicly
available database on its Internet Web site of its ongoing
enforcement cases and compliance histories of its regulated entities.
The bill would require the California Environmental Protection
Agency to provide links to the databases on its Internet Web site.

   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  (a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
   (1) The Legislature, in 2001, enacted Senate Bill 828 of the
2001-02 Regular Session (Chapter 765 of the Statutes of 2001) to
require the California Environmental Protection Agency to convene a
Working Group on Environmental Justice to assist the agency in
developing an agencywide strategy for identifying and addressing gaps
in existing programs, policies, or activities that may impede the
achievement of environmental justice.
   (2) After the development of the strategy, Senate Bill 828
requires each board, department, and office within the agency, in
coordination with the Secretary for Environmental Protection and the
Director of the Office of Planning and Research, to review its
programs, policies, or activities that may impede the achievement of
environmental justice.
   (3) Senate Bill 828 also requires the secretary to submit, on a
triennial basis beginning on January 1, 2004, a report to the
Governor and the Legislature, on the implementation of  the 
above requirements.
   (4) In September of 2004, the agency submitted to the Governor and
the Legislature a report on actions taken to implement Senate Bill
828.
   (5) In October of 2004, the agency issued the Environmental
Justice Action Plan identifying opportunities for the agency and its
boards, departments, and offices to take the initial steps toward
addressing environmental justice issues.
   (6) Since 2004, the agency has not submitted a report to the
Governor or the Legislature on the implementation of the
Environmental Justice Action Plan.
   (7)  Additionally   Additionally, 
issues regarding environmental  justice,  
justice  not addressed by the  agency,  
agency  may have arisen since 2004.
   (b) It is the intent of the Legislature that the agency should
update the Environmental Justice Action Plan to address issues
regarding environmental justice that may  be  
have  arisen since 2004 that may have impeded the achievement of
environmental justice. 
   (c) It is further the intent of the Legislature to ensure
increased public participation from individuals in the environmental
justice community in the governmental decisionmaking process. 
   SEC. 2.    Section 54954.3 of the  
Government Code   is amended to read: 
   54954.3.  (a) Every agenda for regular meetings shall provide an
opportunity for members of the public to directly address the
legislative body on any item of interest to the public, before or
during the legislative body's consideration of the item, that is
within the subject matter jurisdiction of the legislative body,
provided that no action shall be taken on any item not appearing on
the agenda unless the action is otherwise authorized by subdivision
(b) of Section 54954.2. However, the agenda need not provide an
opportunity for members of the public to address the legislative body
on any item that has already been considered by a committee,
composed exclusively of members of the legislative body, at a public
meeting wherein all interested members of the public were afforded
the opportunity to address the committee on the item, before or
during the committee's consideration of the item, unless the item has
been substantially changed since the committee heard the item, as
determined by the legislative body. Every notice for a special
meeting shall provide an opportunity for members of the public to
directly address the legislative body concerning any item that has
been described in the notice for the meeting before or during
consideration of that item.
   (b) The legislative body of a local agency may adopt reasonable
regulations to ensure that the intent of subdivision (a) is carried
out, including, but not limited to, regulations limiting the total
amount of time allocated for public testimony on particular issues
and for each individual speaker. 
   (c) (1) To ensure that a non-English speaker who uses a translator
receives the same opportunity to directly address the legislative
body of a local agency as a speaker who does not use a translator,
notwithstanding subdivision (b), if that body limits time for public
comment, the time used by a translator to translate a non-English
speaker's comments into English shall not count toward the speaker's
allotted time.  
   (2) Paragraph (1) shall not apply if the legislative body of a
local agency utilizes simultaneous translation equipment in a manner
that allows that body to hear the translated public testimony
simultaneously.  
   (c) 
    (d)  The legislative body of a local agency shall not
prohibit public criticism of the policies, procedures, programs, or
services of the agency, or of the acts or omissions of the
legislative body. Nothing in this subdivision shall confer any
privilege or protection for expression beyond that otherwise provided
by law.
   SEC. 2.   SEC. 3.   Section 71117 is
added to the Public Resources Code, to read:
   71117.  (a) The Secretary for Environmental  Justice
  Protection  shall, with the assistance of the
 Cal/EPA Interagency  Working Group on Environmental
Justice, periodically revise and update the agencywide strategy
developed pursuant to Section 71113 to identify and address any
additional gaps in existing programs, policies, or activities that
 impedes   impede  the achievement of
environmental justice.
   (b) (1) On or before July 1, 2014, the secretary shall submit to
the Governor and the Legislature a report on the implementation of
this section.
   (2) The report required by paragraph (1) that is submitted to the
Legislature shall be submitted pursuant to Section 9795 of the
Government Code.
   (3) Pursuant to Section 10231.5 of the Government Code, this
subdivision is inoperative on July 1, 2018.
   SEC. 4.    Section 71119 is added to the  
Public Resources Code   , to read:  
   71119.  (a) Each board, department, and office of the California
Environmental Protection Agency shall maintain a public database on
its Internet Web site of its ongoing enforcement cases, to the extent
the information on the database would normally be available pursuant
to the California Public Records Act (Chapter 3.5 (commencing with
Section 6250) of Division 7 of Title 1 of the Government Code), and
compliance histories of its regulated entities that have committed
violations focusing on information related to how the entities
rectified the violation.
   (b) The California Environmental Protection Agency shall provide
links to the databases on its Internet Web site.