Bill Text: CA AB2117 | 2011-2012 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Waste discharge requirements: stormwater.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 2-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2012-05-25 - In committee: Set, second hearing. Held under submission. [AB2117 Detail]
Download: California-2011-AB2117-Amended.html
BILL NUMBER: AB 2117 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 1, 2012
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 11, 2012
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Members Gorell and Achadjian
FEBRUARY 23, 2012
An act to add Sections Section
13377.5 and 13378.5 to the Water Code, relating to
water quality.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2117, as amended, Gorell. Waste discharge requirements:
stormwater.
Under existing law, the State Water Resources Control Board (state
board) and the California regional water quality control boards
prescribe waste discharge requirements for the discharge of
stormwater in accordance with the federal national pollutant
discharge elimination system (NPDES) permit program. Existing law
requires the state board or the regional boards to issue waste
discharge requirements which apply and ensure compliance with all
applicable provisions of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act and
any more stringent effluent standards or limitations necessary to
implement water quality control plans, or for the protection of
beneficial uses, or to prevent nuisance.
This bill would prohibit implementation of any new
stormwater effluent standards or limitations more stringent than the
provisions of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act until January
1, 2017. This bill would require the state board, in
consultation with affected stakeholders, to prepare a comprehensive
statewide stormwater plan, as prescribed, if
and submit the plan to the Legislature, by January 1, 2015, subject
to agreement by the United States Environmental Protection
Agency agrees to provide grant money to cover the
costs and to submit the plan to the Legislature by January 1,
2016 of preparing the plan .
Existing law requires waste discharge requirements be adopted only
after notice and any necessary hearing.
This bill would permit state board and regional board staff and
members to discuss pending stormwater waste discharge requirements
with affected parties so long as the discussion is publicly
disclosed.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares
the following:
(a) While stormwater represents a significant threat to the water
quality of California's rivers, lakes, and oceans, the current storm
water program is not addressing the full spectrum of pollutants and
does not represent a holistic approach to the issue.
(b) California's stormwater program has focused on end-of-pipe
regulation instead of a more balanced focus on area sources. This
focus on end-of-pipe regulation has resulted in a new round of
proposed waste discharge requirements with extremely high
implementation costs that do not represent an effective use of
resources by the wide range of individuals subject to stormwater
waste discharge requirement already suffering from the down economy.
At a time when local governments are laying off police and fire
personnel, school districts are closing schools, university tuition
is skyrocketing, and businesses are stagnating, individuals are
facing ten-fold increases in stormwater waste discharge requirement
costs with individual cities facing multimillion dollar yearly
implementation costs. The state's highway program would be severely
impacted as well, creating profound long-term implications for the
economy. Repeated testimony continues to state that there is minimal
water quality improvement from these costs.
(c) California's stormwater still does not integrate the
substantial contribution of area sources that remain beyond the reach
and control of individuals subject to stormwater waste discharge
requirements, including, but not limited to, the storm water
contributions from automotive brake pads. Despite the fact that
landmark legislation, SB 346, Chapter 307 of the Statutes of 2010,
was passed to substantially reduce copper and other toxic
constituents in brake pads over the next 20 years, California's
stormwater program does not factor in the need and progress to be
made from these reductions. Instead, the program continues to expect
individuals to somehow reduce pollutants, like automotive brake pads,
over which the individual has no control and at a cost that could be
in the billions of dollars and affect the basic core missions of
California's institutions and businesses.
(d) Stormwater represents a valuable potential water source for
capture and use yet the current program, by placing sole emphasis on
the constituent levels, may actually hinder the long-term prospects
of stormwater reuse through public perception that stormwater is too
polluted to ever reuse.
(e) It is necessary to limit the expansion of the stormwater waste
discharge requirements program beyond current federal requirements
while the State Water Quality Control Board and stakeholders consider
holistic changes necessary for the long-term solution to this
problem.
(f) The Legislature finds that the United States Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) has actively supported California's
stormwater program including proposed standards and requirements in
excess of federal requirements as well as financial grants. The
Legislature finds that to the extent that this program is derived
from federal requirements and the EPA encourages California to
innovate in stormwater management, the EPA should provide funds for
comprehensive stormwater planning.
SEC. 2. SECTION 1. Section 13377.5
is added to the Water Code, to read:
13377.5. (a) Notwithstanding any other law, until January 1,
2017, the state board or any regional board shall not implement new
stormwater effluent standards or limitations more stringent than the
provisions of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act.
(b) (1)
13377.5. (a) The state board, in
consultation with affected stakeholders, shall prepare a
comprehensive statewide stormwater plan and submit it to the
Legislature by January 1, 2016 2015 .
This plan shall consider the full spectrum of stormwater
constituents and contain recommendations for necessary legislation to
establish broad mechanisms to ensure that individuals subject to
stormwater waste discharge requirements do not have responsibility to
remove constituents from their stormwater discharge that they did
not create and have no control over. This plan shall also consider
the costs and benefits of stormwater capture and reuse compared to
the costs and benefits of stormwater discharge regulation.
(b) A plan to be submitted pursuant to subdivision (a) shall
include recommendations for implementation of the federal
requirements for the control of stormwater discharges of municipal
separate storm sewer systems under Phase II regulations. With respect
to those regulations, the plan shall do all of the following:
(1) Identify cost-effective activities to comply with the
permitting and stormwater management program requirements under Phase
II regulations of the federal Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. Sec. 1342,
40 C.F.R. 122.32, 123.35).
(2) Review the effectiveness of best management practices and
numerical standards for water contaminates.
(3) Review regulatory actions by state agencies to reduce the
sources of stormwater contamination.
(4) Review available data on pollution prevention measures to
reduce sources of stormwater contamination.
(5) Review available actions to increase the capture of stormwater
for beneficial reuse.
(c) A plan to be submitted pursuant to subdivision (a) shall
include recommendations for regulatory and legislative actions needed
to ensure water quality protection.
(2)
(d) (1) The requirement for
submitting a report plan imposed under
paragraph (1) subdivision (a) is
inoperative on January 1, 2020 2019 ,
pursuant to Section 10231.5 of the Government Code.
(3)
(2) A report plan to be
submitted pursuant to paragraph (1)
subdivision (a) shall be submitted in compliance with Section
9795 of the Government Code.
(4)
(e) The requirement to prepare a plan pursuant to this
subdivision shall be subject to an agreement by the United States
Environmental Protection Agency to provide grant money to cover the
cost of preparing the plan.
SEC. 3. Section 13378.5 is added to the Water
Code, to read:
13378.5. Notwithstanding any other law, the staff and members of
the state board or a regional board may discuss pending storm water
waste discharge requirements with affected parties so long as the
discussion is publicly disclosed.
