Emergency Response

AB 380 (Dickinson) – To Enrollment

AB 380, by Assembly Member Roger Dickinson, passed the Legislature and is now awaiting the action by the Governor. This bill would require by 2015 a rail carrier to report specified information regarding the transportation of hazardous materials to the Office of Emergency Services (OES) on a quarterly basis. The bill would require a rail carrier to prospectively estimate and submit to OES notification of the weekly movements of trains through areas of the state. The bill would require a rail carrier to update that notification once every 6 months. In addition, the bill requires rail carriers to maintain a response management communications center to provide real-time information to authorized personal in the event of a critical incident. CSAC had taken a support position on SB 1319 (Pavley), a bill that would have provided funding and training to local emergency response personal in the event of an oil by rail emergency incident. However, we did not take a position on AB 380. 

Solid Waste

SB 270 (Padilla) – To Enrollment

SB 270, by Senator Alex Padilla, passed the Legislature and is now awaiting action by the Governor. This bill prohibits grocery stores from distributing lightweight, single-use plastic bags after January 2015. SB 270 also establishes requirements for reusable bags and prohibits stores from distributing reusable bags and recycled paper bags for less than $0.10 per bag. Eighty-seven cities and counties throughout California have adopted ordinances banning plastic bags, including San Francisco, San Jose, Long Beach, Los Angeles County, Santa Clara County, and Alameda County. Many of these local governments also require stores to charge a fee for a paper carryout bag, and a few have banned both single-use plastic and paper carryout bags. This bill does not pre-empt existing ordinances; however, it does provide uniformity moving forward by pre-empting any local ordinance adopted after September 1, 2014. The bill ran into obstacles the last month of session, with mounting opposition from the manufacturers and was one of the final bills to pass the Legislature last week. 

SRA Fee Fire Prevention Grants 

This year’s Budget Act included a one-time appropriation of $10M dollars for grants to local governments associated with the State Responsibility Area (SRA) fees. A total of $9.5M dollars are available for distribution this fiscal year. According to CAL Fire, the purpose of these grants is to encourage prudent fire prevention activities in SRA where the effects of the drought have increased the danger to life and property. The grants are aimed at reducing the threat of wildfire and the negative impacts on habitable structures in SRA should wildfire occur. Thus, it is expected that grants mostly will be focused on Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) areas. Eligible grantees are likely to include local government entities and NGO’s such as fire districts, community services districts, water districts, special districts, nonprofit organizations, Fire Safe Councils, and local Conservation Corps. Projects include, but are not limited to, those related to fuel hazard reduction, fire prevention education, and fire prevention training and planning on lands within the SRA. CAL Fire is in the process finalizing details and information for this program will be available on their website in the very near future. As the details are finalized, CAL Fire will also be hosting workshops and/or webinars throughout the state to assist applicants through the process.