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Toxics Agency Overhaul Ordered by California Legislature

/in , , /by /Bloomberg Lawby Emily C. Dooley

California’s beleaguered toxics oversight agency could at last get an overhaul under a bill heading to the desk of Gov. Gavin Newsom.

In the final hours of the 2-year legislative session the Senate and Assembly on Monday approved AB 995, which would create an oversight board for the state Department of Toxic Substances Control, among other actions.

Other bills did not make it to final votes and died. They include:

  • AB 326 would have allowed for month-to-month memberships, rather than longer-term leases or purchase, of electric vehicles to expand access to clean cars.
  • AB 3074 would have required buildings in certain hazard areas have a five-foot zone around structures that are ember-resistant and that intense fuel reduction methods be applied between five and 30 feet around a building. This bill passed but was contingent on the passage of a wildfire resilience bill, SB 1348, which died.
  • SB 668 would have expanded the number of water suppliers that must have emergency preparedness plans and update them every five years.
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