Store Research
ASSEMBLY BILL 2700 (MCCARTHY – 1980)
CHAPTER 808, STATUTES OF 1980
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As enacted, Assembly Bill 2700 amended Health and Safety Code section 25187, added section 25187.5 to the Health and Safety Code, and amended Water Code section 13304, relating to hazardous waste control and cleanup. (See Exhibit #1f) Assembly member Leo T. McCarthy introduced the bill on March 3, 1980 as part of the Governor’s Toxic Initiative. (See Exhibits #1a and #13, document PE-1)
Assembly Bill 2700 was assigned to the Assembly Committee on Health and the Senate Committee on Health and Welfare where policy issues raised by the bill were considered. (See Exhibits #3 and #7) The fiscal ramifications of the bill were considered by the Assembly Committee on Ways and Means and the Senate Committee on Finance. (See Exhibits #2 and #5) Subsequent to legislative approval, Governor Edmund G. Brown, Jr., signed the bill on July 28, 1980, and it was recorded by the Secretary of State on that day as Chapter 808 of the Statutes of 1980. (See Exhibits #1f and #2)
The Enrolled Bill Memorandum to Governor dated July 17, 1980, provided the following summary of Assembly Bill 2700:
This bill would enable the Department of Health Services and regional water control boards to specifically order cleanup and abatement of hazardous waste by persons responsible as specified.
(See Exhibit #13, document PE-1)
Background information regarding the need for Assembly Bill 2700 was discussed in the analysis of the Assembly Committee on Health as follows:
Current law does not explicitly authorize the Department of Health Services to order that hazardous waste be cleaned up, or to expand funds for cleanup and sue for reimbursement. Authority of the regional water quality control boards to order cleanup or to expend funds for cleanup does not extend to cases where water quality is not threatened. There have been several cases where hazardous waste have been abandoned in warehouses or elsewhere on land, or soil has been contaminated by hazardous waste, so as to pose a hazard to persons who might contact the waste or to pose a fire hazard or explosion hazard, without also posing a threat to water quality which would put the situation within the jurisdiction of a regional water quality control board.
According to the Water Quality Control Board, current law does not allow enforcement actions in those situations where discharges are transitory or have broken flow path between the point of discharge and the point of pollution. Consequently, illicit discharges which have ceased prior to discovery as well as transitory discharges are not subject to any civil fine or criminal sanction.
(See Exhibit #3, pages 1 and 2)