California Assembly Bill AB1043 Amended / Bill

 BILL NUMBER: AB 1043AMENDED BILL TEXT AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 19, 2014 AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 19, 2014 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 16, 2013 INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Chau (Coauthor: Senator Hernandez) FEBRUARY 22, 2013 An act to amend Section 75101 of the Public Resources Code, relating to groundwater. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 1043, as amended, Chau. Safe Drinking Water, Water Quality and Supply, Flood Control, River and Coastal Protection Bond Act of 2006: groundwater contamination. The Safe Drinking Water, Water Quality and Supply, Flood Control, River and Coastal Protection Bond Act of 2006, an initiative statute approved by the voters as Proposition 84 at the November 7, 2006, statewide general election, makes approximately $5.4 billion in bond funds available for safe drinking water, water quality and supply, flood control, natural resource protection, and park improvements. The initiative bond act makes $60,000,000 available to the State  Department of Public Health   Water Resources Control Board  for the purpose of loans and grants for projects to prevent or reduce contamination of groundwater that serves as a source of drinking water and requires the department to require repayment for costs that are subsequently recovered from parties responsible for the contamination. Existing law requires the  department   State Department of Public Health  , in collaboration with the Department of Toxic Substances Control,  or DTSC,  and the  State Water Resources Control Board,   state board,  to develop and adopt regulations governing the repayment of costs that are subsequently recovered from parties responsible for the contamination of groundwater. This bill would eliminate the requirement to develop and adopt regulations and instead would require that costs subsequently recovered from a party responsible for the contamination, as defined, be repaid to the  State Department of Public Health   state board  and deposited, and separately accounted for, in the Groundwater Contamination Cleanup Project Fund, which this bill would create in the State Treasury. This bill would require moneys in the fund to be  continuously appropriated, without regard to fiscal years,   available, upon appropriation by the Legislature,  to the  Department of Toxic Substances Control   state board  for a grant to the grantee that received a grant to prevent or reduce contamination of groundwater pursuant to Proposition 84 and subsequently recovered costs from a responsible party and repaid those costs to the state. This bill would require the  Department of Toxic Substances Control   state board  to disburse the funds upon  receipt  the approval  of an expenditure plan  from   submitted by  the  grantee if the department reviews the plan and concurs that the proposed expenditures by the grantee are consistent with certain requirements.   grantee.  This bill would prohibit the total amount of a grant from the fund and a grant received to prevent or reduce contamination of groundwater pursuant to Proposition 84 from exceeding the grantee's total costs to cleanup contaminated groundwater or prevent the contamination of groundwater.  This bill would require moneys recovered from a responsible party in excess of the amount that may be awarded as a grant to be available from the fund to the state board, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for expenditure on orphan groundwater contamination cleanup projects and would require the board to consult with the Department of Toxic Substances Control when considering expenditures on orphan groundwater contamination cleanup projects.   Existing law, the Carpenter-Presley-Tanner Hazardous Substance Account Act, creates in the General Fund the Site Remediation Account, and authorizes the money in that account to be expended by DTSC, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for direct site remediation costs.   The bill would require moneys recovered from a responsible party in excess of the amount that may be awarded as a grant to be transferred to the Site Remediation Account, to be used for certain orphan groundwater contamination cleanup projects.  Vote:  2/3  majority  . Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. Section 75101 of the Public Resources Code is amended to read: 75101. (a) (1) Costs subsequently recovered from a party responsible for the contamination pursuant to Section 75025 shall be repaid to the  State Department of Public Health   st   ate board  and deposited in the Groundwater Contamination Cleanup Project Fund, which is hereby created in the State Treasury. Costs recovered shall be separately accounted for within the Groundwater Contamination Cleanup Project Fund. (2)  Notwithstanding Section 13340 of the Government Code, moneys   Moneys  in the Groundwater Contamination Cleanup Project Fund are  continuously appropriated, without regard to fiscal years,   available, upon appropriation by the Legislature,  to the  Department of Toxic Substances Control   state board  for the purpose of a grant to the grantee that received funds and subsequently recovered costs from a responsible party and repaid those costs to the state in the following priority order: (A) Projects and activities to clean up areas of groundwater contamination within the grantee's jurisdiction where the initial grant awarded pursuant to Section 75025 is insufficient to pay for the full costs of the cleanup. (B) Projects and activities to clean up additional areas of groundwater contamination within the grantee's jurisdiction. (3) (A) The total amount of the grant awarded pursuant to Section 75025 and the amount awarded pursuant to this subdivision shall not exceed the grantee's total costs to clean up contaminated groundwater or prevent the contamination of groundwater. (B) If costs recovered by the grantee and deposited in the Groundwater Contamination Cleanup Project Fund exceed the amount that may be awarded as a grant pursuant to the limit in subparagraph (A), the excess moneys shall be  transferred to the Site Remediation Account, established pursuant to Section 25337 of the Health and Safety Code. Recovered funds deposited into the account shall be used by the Department of Toxic Substances Control for orphan groundwater contamination cleanup projects at sites that are on the list maintained by the Department of Toxic Substances Control pursuant to Section 25356 of the Health and Safety Code or on the National Priorities List pursuant to the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (42 U.S.C. Sec. 9601 et seq.), as amended.   available to the state board, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for expenditure on orphan groundwater contamination cleanup projects. The state board shall consult with the Department of Toxic Substances Control when considering expenditures on orphan groundwater contamination cleanup projects.  (4) The grantee shall use an amount awarded pursuant to this subdivision for groundwater contamination cleanup activities for groundwater that is a primary source of drinking water, including, but not limited to, ongoing treatment and remediation activities in accordance with the purposes of Section 75025.  (5) The Department of Toxic Substances Control shall disburse the funds upon receipt of an expenditure plan from the grantee if the Department of Toxic Substances Control reviews the plan and concurs that the proposed expenditures by the grantee are consistent with paragraphs (2) to (4), inclusive.   (5) When seeking grant funds pursuant to paragraph (2), a grantee shall submit an expenditure plan to the state board for projects consistent with this subdivision. The state board shall review the submitted expenditure plan and consult with the Department of Toxic Substances Control for projects where the Department of Toxic Substances Control is the lead state agency. The state board shall notify the grantee if the expenditure plan is approved, and if approved, the state board shall disburse the funds.  (6) Grants awarded pursuant to this subdivision may be used for capital costs and treatment and remediation activities. (7) Commencing no later than July 1, 2015, and annually thereafter until the grantee's funds are expended, a grantee of funds awarded pursuant to this subdivision shall provide public notice, by posting a list on the grantee's Internet Web site, of projects and activities that receive grant funds pursuant to this subdivision and the amount of those funds. (8) As used in this subdivision, "costs subsequently recovered from a party responsible for the contamination" means the amount of any judgment or settlement received by a grantee of funds received pursuant to Section 75025 from a responsible party that is attributable to costs funded by the grant received pursuant to Section 75025, less all reasonable and necessary fees and expenses incurred by the grantee of funds received pursuant to Section 75025 to recover these funds. (b) For the purposes of implementing subdivision (a) of Section 75050, the Department of Fish and  Game,   Wildlife,  when funding a natural community conservation plan, shall fund only the development of a natural community conservation plan that is consistent with the Natural Community Conservation Planning Act (Chapter 10 (commencing with Section 2800) of Division 3 of the Fish and Game Code). (c) The San Francisco Bay Area Conservancy may use the funds made available pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 75060 to restore the salt ponds in the south San Francisco Bay and to create trails and visitor facilities for public use in that area.