Amended  IN  Assembly  March 24, 2022

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2021–2022 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill
No. 2550

Introduced by Assembly Member Arambula

February 17, 2022

An act to amend add Section 41504 of 41501 to the Health and Safety Code, relating to air pollution.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 2550, as amended, Arambula. State Air Resources Board: ambient air quality standards: programs, rules, and regulations. nonattainment districts.
Existing law generally designates local air districts with the primary responsibility for the control of air pollution from all sources other than vehicular sources. Existing law requires an air district to file with the state board, within 30 days any rule or regulation the air district board adopts, amends, or repeals. Existing law requires the state board, State Air Resources Board, to coordinate air pollution control activities throughout the state and to ensure that the entire state is, or will be, in compliance with state standards, to review a district’s attainment plan, and any revised plan, to determine whether the plan will achieve and maintain the state’s ambient air quality standards by the earliest practicable date, to review the rules, regulations, and programs submitted by an air district to determine whether they are sufficiently effective to achieve and maintain the state ambient air quality standards. standards, and to review the enforcement practices of a district to determine whether reasonable action is being taken to enforce the district’s programs, rules, and regulations. Existing law authorizes the state board, if, after a public hearing, it finds that a program or the rules and regulations of an air district will not likely achieve and maintain the state’s ambient air quality standards, to establish a program, or portion thereof, or rules and regulations it deems necessary to enable the air district to achieve and maintain ambient air quality standards.
This bill would make nonsubstantive changes to this latter provision. require the state board to provide technical support and guidance to a district that has failed or is unable to achieve by the applicable attainment date a national or state ambient air quality standard to assist the district to attain and maintain the ambient air quality standard. The bill would require the state board, after reviewing the attainment plan submitted by a district that has failed or is unable to achieve a national or state ambient air quality standard and the district’s rules, regulations, programs, and enforcement practices, to undertake certain activities, including coordinating with the district and community-based organizations in the district and conducting outreach to under-resourced communities in the district to identify gaps in the state implementation plan and the district’s attainment plan, rules, regulations, programs, and enforcement practices that impact the district’s ability to attain and maintain the national or state ambient air quality standard. The bill would require the state board to conduct at least one public hearing in the district regarding, and solicit public comment on, the state board’s review of the district’s attainment plan, rules, regulations, programs, and enforcement practices, and data regarding stationary sources in the district, including monitoring and enforcement of those sources, and the state board’s plan to coordinate with the district to provide additional monitoring and enforcement capacity, among other specified topics.
Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: NOYES   Local Program: NO  

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:


SECTION 1.

 The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) The United States Environmental Protection Agency is responsible for establishing national ambient air quality standards for a number of pollutants, including ozone and particulate matter below 10 microns (PM10) and below 2.5 microns (PM2.5) in size.
(b) Poor air quality is intimately linked with negative health impacts, including respiratory illness and premature deaths, with recent studies estimating air pollution as the cause of over 100,000 premature deaths in the United States in 2011.
(c) The distribution of premature deaths is not equal. Low-socioeconomic status communities are at higher risk than higher-income communities. Additionally, Hispanic, Asian, and Black individuals experience higher risk of premature death than White individuals.
(d) Specific to PM2.5, research has found that for elders enrolled in Medicare, it is estimated that reaching the World Health Organization’s standards, which are only slightly more stringent than the most recent national standards, would prevent nearly 140,000 early deaths of elderly individuals over the next decade. For the San Joaquin Valley, data suggests that PM2.5 exposure is responsible for 1,200 cases of premature death in the valley each year.
(e) However, the eight counties forming the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District continue to be in nonattainment of annual national PM2.5 air standards set in 1997, let alone more stringent national standards passed in 2006 and 2012.
(f) The United States Environmental Protection Agency also establishes timelines for attainment of national ambient air quality standards, and the San Joaquin Valley has consistently exceeded deadlines since the initial deadline for 1997 standards.
(g) In November 2021, a lawsuit was filed against the United States Environmental Protection Agency claiming prolonged inaction by the agency to address continued nonattainment of national ambient air quality standards in the San Joaquin Valley.
(h) If the United States Environmental Protection Agency imposes sanctions on the state as a result of litigation regarding nonattainment areas in the state, the agency may prohibit approval of state highway construction projects not directly linked to improving public safety or emissions reductions.
(i) Beyond the clear negative impacts to public health, continued nonattainment poses a risk to construction and economic growth in the San Joaquin Valley. To reduce the risk of premature deaths for hundreds of thousands of state residents and to remove the risk of federal sanctions, the state needs to enact legislation to ensure consistent progress and rapid attainment of national ambient air quality standards in the state.

SEC. 2.

 Section 41501 is added to the Health and Safety Code, to read:

41501.
 (a) The state board shall provide technical support and guidance to a district that has failed or is unable to achieve by the applicable attainment date a national ambient air quality standard required by the federal Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 7401 et seq.) or a state ambient air quality standard required by the state board to assist the district to attain and maintain the ambient air quality standard.
(b) After reviewing, consistent with Section 41500, the attainment plan submitted pursuant to Section 40911 by a district that has failed or is unable to achieve a national or state ambient air quality standard and the district’s rules, regulations, programs, and enforcement practices, the state board shall do all of the following:
(1) Coordinate with the district and community-based organizations in the district, and conduct outreach to under-resourced communities, as defined in subdivision (g) of Section 71130 of the Public Resources Code, in the district to identify gaps in the state implementation plan and the district’s attainment plan, rules, regulations, programs, and enforcement practices that impact the district’s ability to attain and maintain the national or state ambient air quality standard.
(2) Coordinate with the district to provide additional monitoring and enforcement capacity for stationary sources in the district, including, but not limited to, independently inspecting, or accompanying the district on inspections of, the largest stationary sources in the district.
(3) (A) Develop a program, or portion thereof, or rules or regulations that the state board deems necessary to enable the district to attain and maintain the national or state ambient air quality standard.
(B) Any program, or portion thereof, or rule or regulation established by the state board for the district shall have the same force and effect as a program, rule, or regulation adopted by the district and shall be enforced by the district.
(4) Conduct at least one public hearing in the district regarding, and solicit public comment on, all of the following:
(A) The state board’s review pursuant to this section of the district’s attainment plan, rules, regulations, programs, and enforcement practices.
(B) Gaps in the state implementation plan and the district’s attainment plan, rules, regulations, programs, and enforcement practices, either independently identified by the state board or identified pursuant to paragraph (1), that impact the district’s ability to attain and maintain the national or state ambient air quality standard.
(C) Data regarding stationary sources in the district, including monitoring and enforcement of those sources, and the state board’s plan to coordinate with the district to provide additional monitoring and enforcement capacity pursuant to paragraph (2).
(D) The programs, rules, or regulations that the state board developed pursuant to subparagraph (A) of paragraph (3) and that the state board deems necessary to enable the district to attain and maintain the national or state ambient air quality standard.
(E) Any other data, analysis, evaluation, or information relevant to the district’s ability to attain and maintain the national and state ambient air quality standard, including, but not limited to, the impact of nonattainment on public health in the district and in the state.

SECTION 1.Section 41504 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to read:
41504.

(a) If, after a public hearing, the state board finds that a program or the rules and regulations of a district will not likely achieve and maintain the state’s ambient air quality standards, the state board may establish a program, or portion thereof, or rules and regulations it deems necessary to enable the district to achieve and maintain the state’s ambient air quality standards.

(b) A program, or portion thereof, or rule or regulation established by the state board for a district pursuant to subdivision (a) shall have the same force and effect as a program, rule, or regulation adopted by the district and shall be enforced by the district.