South Coast Air Quality Management District

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Legislative Committee

SYNOPSIS: 

The Legislative Committee considered agenda items including recommended positions on the following bills for which the Board will consider adopting positions:
ACR 133 (Torlakson) – Traffic Congestion
SB 1298 (Bowen/Peace) – Distributed Generation
SB 1345 (Peace) – Solar Energy Systems
SB 2191 (Soto) – Truck Traffic Congestion
HR 1966 (Millender-McDonald) – Asthma Awareness, Education & and Treatment Act of 1999
HR 4501 (Bilbray) – Gridlock Mitigation and Commuter Flexibility Act of 2000

RECOMMENDED ACTION:

Approve the legislative positions recommended below.

Beatrice J.S. LaPisto-Kirtley, Chair
Legislative Committee

Attendance

The Legislative Committee met on August 11, 2000. Present were Committee Chair Beatrice LaPisto-Kirtley, Vice Chair Jane Carney, and Committee members Michael Antonovich and Cynthia Verdugo-Peralta. Pursuant to the Procedures for Standing Committees of the Governing Board, adopted March 8, 1996, Norma Glover, AQMD Vice-Chair, was appointed as an ad hoc member of the Legislative Committee for the August 11, 2000 meeting only. Committee member Roy Wilson was unable to participate. (Attachment 1)

Washington Update

Peter Robertson, AQMD Washington Legislative Representative, provided the Committee with an update on activities in Washington. Congress is on recess and will return on September 4, at which time they will address a number of appropriations bills that must be passed. Legislation is pending in the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee that would limit or ban the use of MTBE. Senator Robert Smith, who chairs that committee, introduced legislation in July that would require the ban of MTBE by the Administrator of U.S. EPA and allow states to opt out of the oxygenate requirement. Other legislation pending in the House of Representatives would provide a tax credit for the purchase of environmentally-sensitive dry cleaning equipment that would not include the use of perchloroethylene. Provisions of this bill may be amended into an omnibus tax bill.

The effort to gain funding for the Clean Air Technology Transfer Proposal remains the primary issue. Work continues with members of the California Congressional delegation from the South Coast district to ensure that the Proposal is one of those projects that receives favorable consideration in the VA HUD appropriations bill.

Norma Glover suggested Mr. Robertson meet with staff to Congressman Christopher Cox to make certain that the Clean Air Technology Transfer Proposal remains at the forefront. Dr. Barry Wallerstein stated that Board Member Ron Loveridge will contact Congressman Jerry Lewis and that it would be appropriate for Mr. Robertson to meet with Mayor Loveridge prior to that contact.

Sacramento Legislative Update

Allan Lind, AQMD Sacramento Legislative Representative, briefed the Committee on recent activities in Sacramento. (Attachment 2) Governor Davis signed the FY 2000-2001 budget, which contained all the major items that the Legislative Committee has been working toward. The most gratifying accomplishment of the budget is the approval of the subvention funding, which contained an additional $7.5 million statewide. The total subvention for FY 2000-01 is now $15 million, of which approximately $6 million will come to the AQMD. The Budget also contains funding for an alternative fuels program and the Governor’s Traffic Congestion Relief Package, which provides substantial funding for alternative fuel buses for Los Angeles and Orange County.

Two of the bills the AQMD is following have been successfully amended. AB 1775 (Lowenthal), which deals with the petroleum coke dust issue at the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, and AB 1877 (Maldonado), which deals with air pollution control equipment that appears to be failing the warranty offered by the manufacturers.

Recommended Positions on Bills

Staff provided analyses and recommendations on six bills and provided a brief description of each bill. (Attachment 3)
 

• ACR 133 (Torlakson), requests the California Highway Patrol (CHP) to organize a Traffic Relief Panel, with specified members, for the purpose of conducting town hall meetings in order to identify problems and solutions to local traffic congestion in areas suffering from acute traffic congestion. The bill was introduced at the request of the CHP in order to create a forum for state and local officials, and private sector representatives, to meet and identify opportunities to address local traffic congestion through better traffic management. The proposed panel will include a representative from an air district. The Legislative Committee concurred with staff's recommendation to Support ACR 133.
  
  
• SB 1298 (Bowen), requires the ARB and Energy Commission to develop a certification program for verifying that distributed generators meet the applicable BACT emissions performance standards established by the ARB. Provisions in SB 1298 could weaken the District’s BACT determinations if the certification program were extended to non-exempt equipment, could hinder the ability of the AQMD to continue to establish more stringent emission standards than those set by the ARB, and are unclear as to the mechanism for districts to prevent the siting or operation of non-compliant equipment within an air district if the equipment is exempt from air district permitting.
  
  Dr. Wallerstein explained that the basic concern with SB 1298 is that it could result in a rollback of our local requirements and that we would like to preserve the Board's ability to set appropriate standards for this Basin. The Legislative Committee concurred with staff's recommendation to Oppose SB 1298 unless amended to clarify that the provisions of this bill are limited to distributed generation equipment exempt from AQMD permitting and do not reduce the permitting authority of the AQMD in regulating distributed generation technologies. Also, the bill does not contain provisions to ensure that the proposed certification program will take into consideration toxics and localized risk, particularly if the intent is to expand the use of these distributed generation technologies. It is important, especially with the certification of diesel-fired internal combustion units, to include this consideration into the provisions of the bill. If amended, the Committee agreed that they could support the legislation.
  
  
• SB 1345 (Peace), establishes a grant program to offset a portion of the costs of solar and distributed generation systems. SB 1345 was introduced to encourage installation of residential, small commercial and industrial solar and distributed generation systems. The Legislative Committee concurred with staff's recommendation to Support SB 1345.
  
  
• SB 2191 (Soto), requires Caltrans to convene a statewide Advisory Committee on Solutions to Truck Traffic Congestion to review, confer and conduct public forums in the urban areas to develop short- and long-term strategies to reduce truck traffic congestion during commute hours. SB 2191 will convene public forums to look at strategies to alleviate truck traffic congestion only, and is limited to identifying congestion relief solutions but not air quality issues related to the operation of heavy-duty vehicles. The Legislative Committee concurred with staff's recommendation to Support SB 2191 and suggest to the author that the bill be amended to add an air quality representative to the advisory committee.
  
  
• HR 1966 (Millender-McDonald), authorizes the Secretary of Health and Human Services to carry out programs regarding the prevention and management of asthma, allergies and related respiratory problems and to establish a tax credit regarding pest control services for multi-family residential housing in low-income communities. The Legislative Committee concurred with staff's recommendation to Support HR 1966.
  
  
• HR 4501 (Bilbray), amends the federal Clean Air Act to require states to revise their State Implementation Plan (SIP) for ozone nonattainment areas to reduce ozone concentrations and fuel consumption associated with automobile commuting by removing state constraints against employers offering flextime to their employees. Congressman Bilbray (San Diego) introduced HR 4501 after hearing from employers in his district regarding problems in maintaining employee schedules after the passage of AB 60 (Knox) in 1999. Ms. Carney stated that
  AB 60 was a very controversial bill regarding the 8-hour workday and wanted to ensure that HR 4501 did not diminish the integrity of AB 60. Staff responded that this bill is only intended to offer employers and employees flexibility in weekly work schedules. The Legislative Committee concurred with staff's recommendation to Support HR 4501.

Other Business/Public Comment

None

Ethnic Community Advisory Group

Attached for information is the Ethnic Community Advisory Group minutes for the
May 15, 2000, June 14, 2000, and July 12, 2000, meetings. (Attachment 4-6) Also attached is the current membership roster for the Advisory Group. (Attachment 7)

Attachments

1. Attendance Roster
2. Legislative Status Report
3. Recommended Positions on Bills
4. Ethnic Community Advisory Group Minutes (May 15, 2000)
5. Ethnic Community Advisory Group Minutes (June 14, 2000)
6. Ethnic Community Advisory Group Minutes (July 12, 2000)
7. Ethnic Community Advisory Group Membership Roster

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