With just a handful of days left in this year’s legislative session, both the Senate and the Assembly are contemplating final approval of hundreds of bills. Here are some of the top environmental and public health bills that we’re tracking:
SB 51 (Ducheny): Establishes the Salton Sea Restoration Council as a state entity within the Natural Resources Agency to implement preferred alternatives outlined in the Salton Sea Ecosystem Restoration Program.
SB 434 (Pavley): Improve air quality and reduce noise from motorcycles by enforcing existing federal requirements that motorcycles must display a label demonstrating compliance with noise standards.
SB 565 (Pavley): Address the current problem of illegal water diversions by allowing the State Water Resources Control Board to request annual statements of water diversion and use from major water diverters, and would update the existing statutory cap on civil liabilities for unauthorized water diversions.
SB 722 (Simitian, Kehoe and Steinberg): Bill creates a clear, enforceable 33% renewables portfolio standard (RPS) for all utilities.
SB 797 (Pavley and Liu): Protects children’s health by prohibiting the toxic chemical and synthetic estrogen bisphenol A (BPA) in baby bottle, sippy cups, infant formula cans and baby food jars and also ensures that the replacement chemical is not carcinogenic or a reproductive toxin.
SB 918 (Pavley): [PCL Co-sponsoring]: Increases water recycling in the state by directing the California Department of Public Health to complete public safety standards for using recycled water to recharge groundwater basins and augment surface storage and ensures the development of a safe, cost-effective, and drought-proof source of new water for the state.
SB 1142 (Wiggins): Creates a second track within the Department of Conservation’s California Farmland Conservancy Program to fund agricultural easements that can provide secondary conservation benefits such as flood protection and habitat preservation.
SB 1365 (Corbett): Allows the Department of Toxics Substances to test for lead and to enforce the federal Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act to ensure public safety.
SB 1433 (Leno): Adjusts ceilings for air pollution violations with inflation so the real value of statutory air penalties does not further decline. The ceiling for the most commonly used category (strict liability) has not been increased since 1982.
AB 1963 (Nava): Improves the pesticide poisoning prevention program to protect farm workers who handle pesticides. By simply having laboratories send test results electronically to the Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR), state officials will have the necessary information to monitor the existing pesticide poisoning prevention program and protect farm workers.
AB 1998 (Brownley): Reduces a significant source of waste and ocean pollution by prohibiting grocery stores from distributing single-use bags.
AB 2289 (Eng): Enacts critical updates to California’s Smog Check program that will save money for consumers and the state and boost the emission benefits of the smog check program, removing 70 tons of pollution per day.
AB 2595 (Huffman): Improves compliance with critical water quality laws that protect California’s waterways by linking compliance with polluted agricultural runoff requirements to the issuance of operator identification numbers needed for pesticide use.