LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1188, as amended, Ruskin. Hazardous materials: underground
storage tanks.
(1) Existing law requires the owner or operator of an underground
petroleum storage tank, or other responsible party, to take
corrective action, as defined, in response to an unauthorized release
of petroleum from the tank. A person required to perform corrective
action may apply to the State Water Resources Control Board for
payment of specified portions of the costs of corrective action.
Existing law requires the board to pay claims of owners and operators
in accordance with a specified order of priority. Existing law
establishes the Underground Storage Tank Cleanup Fund in the State
Treasury and authorizes the money in the fund to be used, upon
appropriation by the Legislature, to pay those claims, and, among
other things, for corrective actions undertaken by the board, a
California regional water quality control board, or a local agency,
and for the cleanup and oversight of unauthorized releases at
abandoned tank sites. Existing law imposes certain petroleum storage
fees upon the owner of an underground storage tank for which a permit
is required and requires those fees to be deposited in the fund.
This bill would temporarily increase a specified petroleum storage
fee by $0.006 per gallon of petroleum stored, between January 1,
2010, and December 31,
2012 2011 . By
operation of existing law, the revenue resulting from the increase
would be required to be deposited in the fund and be available, upon
appropriation, for expenditure for the purposes authorized under
existing law for money in the fund.
The bill would require the board, within 90 days of completion of
any independent program audit or fiscal audit of the fund, to post
the
result results of the program audit
or fiscal audit on its Internet Web site.
For a reimbursement request received by the board on or after
November 7, 2008, but before June 30, 2010, if costs submitted by a
claimant are approved by the board, but funding is not available for
payment to the claimant at the time of approval, the bill would
require the board to reimburse the claimant's carrying costs, as
defined, subject to specified limitations.
(2) Existing law establishes until July 1, 2014, the School
District Account in the Underground Storage Tank Cleanup Fund and
transfers in the 2009-10, 2010-11, and 2011-12 fiscal
year
years $10,000,000 per year from the fund to the
account for payment of claims filed by a school district that takes
corrective actions to clean up an unauthorized release from a
petroleum underground storage tank.
Existing law provides
that encumbered funds remaining in the account on July 1, 2012, be
liquidated on or before June 30, 2014. This bill would require that these annual transfers be made prior
to the allocation of the moneys in the fund for payment of claims by
other underground storage tank owners or operators.
The bill
would instead reallocate the encumbered funds remaining in the
account on July 1, 2012, back to the fund on or before June 30, 2014.
(3) Existing law provides for a grant and loan program for small
businesses to pay specified costs of complying with underground
petroleum storage tank regulations adopted by the board, and defines
terms for the purposes of that program. If a grant or loan from
specified moneys available for the grant and loan program is being
requested for purposes of complying with
the Enhanced
Vapor Recovery Phase II regulations, existing law requires the
applicant to have applied for or obtained a permit from an air
quality management district by April 1, 2009, and have obtained an
enforcement agreement or other binding obligation by June 30, 2009.
This bill would revise the definition of "project tank" to include
one or more tanks that are upgraded to comply with the Enhanced
Vapor Recovery Phase II regulations, and would require a grant
application to include a detailed description of the costs incurred
to perform the work and complete the Enhanced Vapor Recovery Phase II
upgrade, if applicable. If the board received an applicant's grant
application on or before April 1, 2009, the bill would authorize
grant funds to be used to reimburse up to 100% of the costs that the
applicant incurred after the board received the grant application to
comply with the Enhanced Vapor Recovery Phase II regulations.
(4) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately
as an urgency statute.
Comments/questions on AB 1188 (Ruskin): Hazardous materials: underground storage tanks.
