Bill Text: CA AB1645 | 2017-2018 | Regular Session | Amended

California Assembly Bill 1645 (Prior Session Legislation)

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

Bill Title: Hydrogen fluoride: report.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Failed) 2018-02-01 - From committee: Filed with the Chief Clerk pursuant to Joint Rule 56. [AB1645 Detail]

Download: California-2017-AB1645-Amended.html

Amended IN Assembly March 28, 2017

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2017–2018 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill

No. 1645

Introduced by Assembly Member Muratsuchi

February 17, 2017

~~An act to amend Section 5 of the Public Utilities Code, relating to public utilities.~~ An act to add Article 11.3 (commencing with Section 25240) to Chapter 6.5 of Division 20 of the Health and Safety Code, relating to hydrogen fluoride.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

AB 1645, as amended, Muratsuchi. ~~Public utilities.~~ Hydrogen fluoride: notice of use: substitution.

(1) Existing law generally regulates the management of hazardous waste. A violation of the hazardous waste control laws is a crime.
This bill would require a business that, at any time, handles, maintains, or stores more than 250 gallons of hydrogen fluoride or hydrofluoric acid to, if possible, convert to a known, significantly less hazardous substitute by January 1, 2020. If that conversion is not possible and the business is located within 2 miles of a residential dwelling, the bill would require the business to cease handling, maintaining, or storing hydrogen fluoride and hydrofluoric acid by January 1, 2020. Because a violation of these requirements would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
(2) 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 law requires that, unless the provision or the context otherwise requires, specified definitions, rules of construction, and other general provisions govern the construction of the Public Utilities Code.
~~This bill would make a nonsubstantive change to that provision.~~

Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: NOYES Local Program: NOYES

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.
(a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(1) Modified hydrofluoric acid, a solution of hydrogen fluoride and water, is used by two refineries in California to manufacture high octane fuel.
(2) According to the United States Chemical Safety Board, “Hydrofluoric acid is one of the most hazardous and deadly chemicals used in petroleum refining.”
(3) In February 2015, an explosion at the Exxon Mobil Torrance refinery blanketed nearby neighborhoods with catalyst dust and felt like a 1.7 magnitude earthquake. The explosion barely missed the Torrance refinery’s storage of modified hydrofluoric acid.
(4) Investigations have shown that since 1979 there have been more than 80 incidents at the Torrance refinery involving hydrofluoric acid.
(5) According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Hydrogen fluoride gas, even at low levels, can irritate the eyes, nose, and respiratory tract. Breathing in hydrogen fluoride at high levels or in combination with skin contact can cause death from an irregular heartbeat or from fluid buildup in the lungs.”
(6) People who survive after being severely injured by breathing in hydrogen fluoride may suffer lingering chronic lung disease or prolonged or permanent visual defects, blindness, or the total destruction of the eye.
(7) Residents in southern California have tried to ban the use of hydrofluoric acid at refineries for more than 25 years.
(8) Previous attempts to ban hydrofluoric acid at refineries in California have ended in litigation. Notably, in 1991, Ultramar, the then-operator of the Wilmington refinery sued the South Coast Air Quality Management District after the district adopted a rule phasing out the use of hydrofluoric acid.
(9) Today, 616,000 residents in California live within 3.5 miles of refineries that combined store more than 60,000 lbs of modified hydrofluoric acid.
(10) Article I of the California Constitution declares, “All people are by nature free and independent and have inalienable rights. Among these are enjoying and defending life and liberty, acquiring, possessing, and protecting property, and pursuing and obtaining safety, happiness, and privacy.”
(11) Even in its modified form, hydrofluoric acid could kill more than 500,000 Californians at any moment, causing a threat to property and safety.
(b) It is the intent of the Legislature to balance the needs of public safety with preserving refinery jobs.

SEC. 2.

Article 11.3 (commencing with Section 25240) is added to Chapter 6.5 of Division 20 of the Health and Safety Code, to read:

Article 11.3. Hydrogen Fluoride
25240.
(a) A business that, at any time, handles, maintains, or stores more than 250 gallons of hydrogen fluoride, including hydrofluoric acid, shall, if possible, convert to a known, significantly less hazardous substitute by January 1, 2020.
(b) If it is not possible for a business to convert to a known, significantly less hazardous substitute, as specified in subdivision (a), and the business is located within two miles of a residential dwelling, the business shall cease handling, maintaining, or storing hydrogen fluoride and hydrofluoric acid by January 1, 2020.

SEC. 3.
No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution.

SECTION 1.Section 5 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read:
5.
Unless the provision or the context requires otherwise, the definitions, rules of construction, and other general provisions contained in Sections 1 to 22, inclusive, and the definitions in the Public Utilities Act (Chapter 1 (commencing with Section 201) of Part 1 of Division 1), shall govern the construction of this code.