Bill Text: CA SB579 | 2009-2010 | Regular Session | Amended

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

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Bill Title: Used oil.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Passed) 2010-09-29 - Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 504, Statutes of 2010. [SB579 Detail]

Download: California-2009-SB579-Amended.html

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BILL NUMBER: SB 579	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN SENATE  AUGUST 24, 2009

INTRODUCED BY   Senator Lowenthal

                        FEBRUARY 27, 2009

    An act to amend Sections 71200 and 71215 of the Public
Resources Code, relating to ballast water management, and declaring
the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately.   An
act to add and repeal Section 40440.13 of the Health and Safety Code,
relating to the South Coast Air Quality Management District, and dec
  laring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately.




	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 579, as amended, Lowenthal.  Public resources: ballast
water management.   South Coast Air Quality Management
District: CEQA.  
   (1) 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 (EIR) 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
exempts certain specified projects from its requirements.  
   Under existing law, every air pollution control district or air
quality management district in a federal nonattainment area for any
national ambient air quality standard is required to establish by
regulation, a system by which all reductions in emissions of air
contaminants that are to be used to offset certain future increases
in the emission of air contaminants are banked prior to use. The
South Coast Air Quality Management District (district) promulgated
various rules establishing offset exemptions, providing Priority
Reserve offset credits, and creating or tracking credits used for
offset exemption or Priority Reserve projects. In Natural Resources
Defense Council v. South Coast Air Quality Management District
(Super. Ct. Los Angeles County, 2007, No. BS 110792), the superior
court found the promulgation of certain of these district rules to be
in violation of CEQA.  
   This bill would require the district to allow certain sources of
air contaminants to continue to operate, and issue permits under
specified circumstances, notwithstanding this court decision, until a
final outcome has been reached in the case, including the exhaustion
of all appeals, or until the district completes the environmental
reviews required by the court decision. These provisions would be
repealed on May 1, 2012.  
   By imposing additional duties on a local air district, the bill
would impose a state-mandated local program.  
   (2) This bill would state the findings and declarations of the
Legislature concerning the need for special legislation.  
   (3) 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.  
   (4) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately
as an urgency statute.  
   The Marine Invasive Species Act generally applies to all vessels
carrying or capable of carrying ballast water into the coastal waters
of the state after operating outside of the coastal waters of the
state and to all ballast water and associated sediments taken on a
vessel. The State Lands Commission is required to establish
reasonable and appropriate fees, not exceeding $1,000 for each
voyage, to be used to carry out the provisions of the act. A fee
schedule established is required, among other things, to take into
account the impact of the fees on vessels from California operating
in Hawaii and Alaska trades.  
   This bill would require that a fee schedule established take into
account, among other things, the impact of fees on vessels from
California operating in the Hawaiian, Alaskan, or other domestic
noncontiguous trades. The bill would clarify that waters of the state
means surfaces waters within the boundaries of the state as
established by the California Constitution.  
   This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as
an urgency statute. 
   Vote: 2/3. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program:  no   yes  .


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

   SECTION 1.    The Legislature finds and declares all
of the following:  
   (a) As a result of the superior court decision in Natural
Resources Defense Council v. South Coast Air Quality Management
District (Super. Ct. Los Angeles County, 2007, No. BS 110792) holding
the South Coast Air Quality Management District (district) violated
the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA)
(Division 13 (commencing with Section 21000) of the Public Resources
Code) in the promulgation of certain district rules, the district is
unable to issue over a thousand pending permits that rely on the
district's internal offset bank to offset emissions.  
   (b) The district may also have to set aside several thousand
permits that were previously issued in reliance on the district's
internal offset bank.  
   (c) Prompt legislative action is necessary as an interim measure
until the case described in subdivision (a) has concluded through the
judicial system; otherwise projects will be stopped from going
forward or frozen in place, representing significant losses to the
economy and the loss of numerous well-paying jobs. 
   SEC. 2.    Section 40440.13 is added to the 
 Health and Safety Code   , to read:  
   40440.13.  (a) Notwithstanding the decision of the court in
Natural Resources Defense Council v. South Coast Air Quality
Management District (Super. Ct. Los Angeles County, 2007, No. BS
110792), the south coast district shall do both of the following:
   (1) Allow sources of air contaminants that are operating under a
permit issued in reliance on south coast district Rule 1304 as
amended on June 14, 1996, or Rule 1309.1 as amended May 3, 2002, to
continue to operate.
   (2) Issue permits in reliance on south coast district Rule 1304 as
amended on June 14, 1996, or Rule 1309.1 as amended May 3, 2002.
   (b) Nothing in this section affects the adoption, readoption, or
amendment, or environmental review, of south coast district Rule
1315.
   (c) The south coast district shall keep track of offsets or
credits relating to permits described in paragraphs (1) and (2) of
subdivision (a), and shall make this information available to the
public. The south coast district shall ensure internal offset or
credit accounts created or maintained by the south coast district
account for all of the offsets or credits relating to permits
described in paragraphs (1) and (2) of subdivision (a), and shall
ensure that the internal accounts are consistent with the federal
Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 7401 et seq.).
   (d) This section shall become inoperative upon any of the
following:
   (1) A final outcome has been reached in the case described in
subdivision (a), including the exhaustion of all appeals.
   (2) The south coast district completes all environmental reviews
required by the court decision described in subdivision (a).
   (e) This section shall remain in effect only until May 1, 2012,
and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted statute, that
is enacted before May 1, 2012, deletes or extends that date. 
   SEC. 3.    The Legislature finds and declares that a
special law is necessary and that a general law cannot be made
applicable within the meaning of Section 16 of Article IV of the
California Constitution because of unique circumstances concerning
the South Coast Air Quality Management District. 
   SEC. 4.    No reimbursement is required by this act
pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
Constitution because a local agency or school district has the
authority to levy service charges, fees, or assessments sufficient to
pay for the program or level of service mandated by this act, within
the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government Code. 
   SEC. 5.    This act is an urgency statute necessary
for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety
within the meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go
into immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:
 
   Due to the court decision in Natural Resources Defense Council v.
South Coast Air Quality Management District (Super. Ct. Los Angeles
County, 2007, No. BS 110792), the South Coast Air Quality Management
District is unable to issue over a thousand pending permits that are
either exempt from offset requirements or qualified to use offset
credits from the district's Priority Reserve and is required to set
aside thousands of permits already issued. Therefore, in order to
allow the district to issue permits in an expeditious manner as an
urgent interim measure until final disposition by the judicial
system, it is necessary that this act take effect immediately. 

  SECTION 1.    Section 71200 of the Public
Resources Code is amended to read:
   71200.  Unless the context otherwise requires, the following
definitions govern the construction of this division:
   (a) "Ballast tank" means a tank or hold on a vessel used for
carrying ballast water, whether or not the tank or hold was designed
for that purpose.
   (b) "Ballast water" means water and suspended matter taken on
board a vessel to control or maintain trim, draft, stability, or
stresses of the vessel, without regard to the manner in which it is
carried.
   (c) "Board" means the State Water Resources Control Board.
   (d) "Coastal waters" means estuarine and ocean waters within 200
nautical miles of land or less than 2,000 meters (6,560 feet, 1,093
fathoms) deep, and rivers, lakes, or other water bodies navigably
connected to the ocean.
   (e) "Commission" means the State Lands Commission.
   (f) "EEZ" means exclusive economic zone, which extends from the
baseline of the territorial sea of the United States seaward 200
nautical miles.
   (g) "Exchange" means to replace the water in a ballast tank using
either of the following methods:
   (1) "Flow through exchange," which means to flush out ballast
water by pumping three full volumes of mid-ocean water through the
tank, continuously displacing water from the tank, to minimize the
number of original coastal organisms remaining in the tank.
   (2) "Empty/refill exchange," which means to pump out, until the
tank is empty or as close to 100 percent empty as is safe to do so,
the ballast water taken on in ports, or estuarine or territorial
waters, then to refill the tank with mid-ocean waters.
   (h) "Hull fouling" means the attachment or association of marine
organisms to the submerged portion of a vessel or its appurtenances,
including, but not limited to, sea chests, propellers, anchors, and
associated chains.
   (i) "Mid-ocean waters" means waters that are more than 200
nautical miles from land and at least 2,000 meters (6,560 feet, 1,093
fathoms) deep.
   (j) "Nonindigenous species" means any species, including, but not
limited to, the seeds, eggs, spores, or other biological material
capable of reproducing that species, or any other viable biological
material that enters an ecosystem beyond its historic range,
including any of those organisms transferred from one country into
another.
   (k) "Pacific Coast Region" means all coastal waters on the Pacific
Coast of North America east of 154 degrees W longitude and north of
25 degrees N latitude, exclusive of the Gulf of California. The
commission may modify these boundaries through regulation if the
proponent for the boundary modification presents substantial
scientific evidence that the proposed modification is equally or more
effective at preventing the introduction of nonindigenous species
through vessel vectors as the boundaries described herein.
   (l) "Person" means an individual, trust, firm, joint stock
company, business concern, or corporation, including, but not limited
to, a government corporation, partnership, limited liability
company, or association. "Person" also means a city, county, city and
county, district, commission, the state, or a department, agency, or
political subdivision of the state, an interstate body, or the
United States and its agencies and instrumentalities, to the extent
permitted by law.
   (m) "Sediments" means matter settled out of ballast water within a
vessel.
   (n) "Submerged portion of a vessel" means all parts of a vessel's
hull and structures that are submerged in water when the vessel is
loaded to the deepest permissible legal draft.
   (o) "Waters of the state" means surface waters, including saline
waters, that are within the boundaries of the state as established by
Section 2 of Article III of the California Constitution.
   (p) "Vessel" means a vessel of 300 gross registered tons or more.
   (q) "Voyage" means any transit by a vessel destined for a
California port or place from a port or place outside of the coastal
waters of the state.  
  SEC. 2.    Section 71215 of the Public Resources
Code is amended to read:
   71215.  (a) (1) The Marine Invasive Species Control Fund is hereby
created. The money in the fund, upon appropriation by the
Legislature, shall be used solely to carry out this division.
   (2) All money accruing to the Exotic Species Control Fund shall be
transferred to the Marine Invasive Species Control Fund.
   (b) (1) The commission shall administer the fund in accordance
with this chapter.
   (2) The commission shall establish, through regulation, a
reasonable and appropriate fee solely for the purposes of carrying
out this division. The fee may not exceed one thousand dollars
($1,000) for each voyage, as described in subdivision (c). This
amount may be adjusted for inflation every two years.
   (3) In establishing fees, the commission shall consult with a
technical advisory group made up of interested persons, including,
but not limited to, shipping and port representatives.
   (4) The commission may establish lower levels of fees and the
maximum amount of fees for individual shipping companies or vessels.
   (5) A fee schedule established, including the level of fees and
the maximum amount of fees, shall take into account the impact of the
fees on vessels operating from California in the Hawaiian, Alaskan,
or other domestic noncontiguous trades, the frequency of calls by
particular vessels to California ports within a year, the ballast
water practices of the vessels, and other relevant considerations.
   (c) The State Board of Equalization, in accordance with Part 22.5
(commencing with Section 44000) of Division 2 of the Revenue and
Taxation Code, shall collect the fee from the owner or operator of
each vessel that arrives at a California port or place from a port or
place outside of California. That fee may not be assessed on a
vessel arriving at a California port or place if that vessel comes
directly from another California port or place and during that
transit has not first arrived at a port or place outside California
or moved outside the EEZ prior to arrival at the subsequent
California port or place.
   (d) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, all fees imposed
pursuant to this section shall be deposited into the Marine Invasive
Species Control Fund.
   (e) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, all penalties and
payments collected for violations of any requirements of this
division shall be deposited into the Marine Invasive Species Control
Fund.  
  SEC. 3.    This act is an urgency statute
necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health,
or safety within the meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and
shall go into immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity
are:
   In order to clarify state law regarding the boundaries of waters
of the state, and thereby minimize unnecessary and costly litigation
that may adversely impact California's state waters, it is necessary
for this act to take effect immediately.