BOARD MEETING DATE: April 6, 2007
AGENDA NO. 29

REPORT:

Legislative Committee

SYNOPSIS:

The Legislative Committee held its regular meeting on Friday, March 9, 2007.  The Legislative Committee considered agenda items including the following state legislation for which the Board will consider a position:

Bill/Title	Recommended Position
AB 218 (Saldana) Vehicles: Fees	Support
AB 255 (DeLeon) Air Pollution: Clean Air and Energy Independence Fund: Smog Abatement Fee	Watch
AB 616 (Jones) Smog Check: Annual Inspection	Watch
AB 723 (DeVore) California Environmental Quality Act	Oppose
AB 934 (Duvall) State Air Resources Board: Air Districts: Mobile Nonvehicular Regulation	Oppose
SB 587 (Runner) Air Quality: Permit Requirement: Exemptions	Oppose
SB 974 (Lowenthal) Ports: Congestion Relief: Environmental Mitigation: Regulator Fee	Support with amendments

RECOMMENDED ACTION:

Receive and file this report, and adopt positions on the bills specified in this letter.

Jane Carney, Chair
Legislative Committee

Attendance [Attachment 1]

The Legislative Committee met on March 9, 2007.  Present was Committee Chair Jane Carney.  Present by videoconference were Committee Members Roy Wilson, Michael Antonovich, and Jan Perry. 

Recommended Positions on Bills in the State Legislature [Attachment 2]

Mr. Abarca reported that we are at the beginning of a two-year session and at this time many of the bills that have been introduced so far are spot bills with mere declaration of intent.  He also reported that staff is visiting various legislators’ offices offering them AQMD’s assistance in answering questions, clarifying issues, and/or providing technical assistance. 

Staff provided a brief presentation on the following bills for which the committee made a recommendation:

AB 218 (Saldana) Vehicles: Fees
Dr. Chung Liu, Deputy Executive Officer, provided the presentation on AB 218, as introduced February 22, 2007.  Please refer to Attachment 2, AB 218 for AQMD staff analysis.  Dr. Liu reported that staff is recommending a support position.  The Legislative Committee unanimously approved staff’s recommendation to SUPPORTAB 218.

AB 255 (De Leon) Air Pollution: Clean Air and Energy Independence Fund: Smog Abatement Fee
Dr. Liu provided the presentation on AB 255 as introduced February 5, 2007.  Please refer to Attachment 2, AB 255 for AQMD staff analysis.  Dr. Liu reported that staff is recommending a watch position.   The Legislative Committee unanimously approved staff’s recommendation to WATCHAB 255.

AB 616 (Jones) Smog Check: Annual Inspection
Dr. Liu provided the presentation on AB 616 as introduced February 21, 2007.  Please refer to Attachment 2, AB 616 for AQMD staff analysis.  Dr. Liu reported that staff is recommending a watch position.  Dr. Barry Wallerstein, Executive Officer, commented that this bill is sponsored by the Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District, and that Assembly Member Jones is a former member of their board.  He also said that staff believes that the bill will ultimately be in a form that they can support, but at this time, staff would like an opportunity to work with the author to understand the bill better.  Staff is recommending a watch position.  The Legislative Committee unanimously approved staff’s recommendation to WATCHAB 616.

AB 723 (DeVore) California Environmental Quality Act
Jill Whynot, Planning and Rules Manager, provided the presentation on AB 723, as introduced February 22, 2007.  Please refer to Attachment 2, AB 723 for AQMD staff analysis.  Ms. Whynot reported that staff is recommending an oppose position.  The Legislative Committee unanimously approved staff’s recommendation to OPPOSE AB 723.

AB 934 (Duvall) State Air Resources Board Air Districts: Mobile Nonvehicular
Dr. Liu provided the presentation on AB 934 as introduced February 22, 2007.  Please refer to Attachment 2, AB 934 for AQMD staff analysis.  Dr. Liu reported that staff is recommending an oppose position.  The Legislative Committee unanimously approved staff’s recommendation to OPPOSE AB 934.

SB 587 (Runner) Air Quality: Permit Requirement: Exemption
Jill Whynot provided the presentation on SB 587 as introduced February 22, 2007.  Please refer to Attachment 2, AB 587 for AQMD staff analysis. Ms. Whynot said that this bill would exempt from local permitting requirements equipment or operations using UV/EB products, under certain broad criteria.  This bill would also prevent local air pollution control districts from deciding what equipment requires an air permit.  Staff recommended an oppose position.

Dr. Wallerstein said that this issue has been raised before and that the Board has requested that staff work with the affected parties and return with appropriate rule amendments. 

Rita Loof, Director of Environmental Affairs for RadTech, said that her trade association is sponsoring this legislation, and that this bill is a cut-and-paste version of AQMD’s Rule 219.  She did not believe that this bill was a detriment to air quality because she feels that it encourages the conversion from high VOC materials to materials that will meet and exceed the District’s limits.  She also said that this was a paperwork reduction measure and that they are not asking for an exemption for toxic materials which is addressed in AQMD Rule 1401.  She requested that the committee take a watch position.

John Billheimer of Enviro-Reality, said that this bill was not necessary and that bills that come from the legislature should related to broad principles and programs; He said that this level of detail should be kept at the local district. 

The Legislative Committee unanimously approved staff’s recommendation to OPPOSE SB 587.

SB 974 (Lowenthal) Ports: Congestion Relief: Environmental Mitigation: Regulator Fee
Peter Greenwald, Senior Policy Advisor provided the presentation on SB 974 as introduced February 23, 2007.  Please refer to Attachment 2, AB 974 for AQMD staff analysis.  Mr. Greenwald reported that staff is recommending a support in concept position. 

Dr. Wallerstein said that staff is suggesting a 7-member committee type of approach for the mitigation monies received similar to the MSRC model, so that AQMD will have better input in terms of expenditures of these funds.  Board member Wilson said that an MSRC approach does a better job of addressing our issues.  Chair Carney expressed concern about creating another committee with members who may not have previous experience with the CARB’s or the Ports plans for cleanup.  Dr. Wallerstein suggested, and Chair Carney agreed, with tying the implementation of this bill with the 2007 AQMP, which includes the other plans.  After a brief discussion, the committee agreed with staff’s recommended amendments to the bill, but requested that the distributions from the Southern California Port Mitigation Relief Fund should be directed by a 4-member committee, consisting of a Board-level or Commission-level member from each of the following: Port of LA, Port of Long Beach, CARB, and AQMD.  The Legislative Committee recommended to SUPPORTAB 974 WITH AMENDMENTS.

Update on Sacramento Legislative Issues [Attachment 3]

Mr. Abarca reported that the attached list is a general update with a list of over 208 bills.  Staff has divided the bills into categories to identify trends in legislation introduced in Sacramento.  At this time, the majority of bills are in alternative and renewable fuels and energy.  Staff will continue to monitor the bills and report back to the Legislative Committee. 

In addition, Mr. Abarca reported that AB 233 (Jones) and AB 391 (Lieu) have been reintroduced from the last legislative session. 

AB 233 (Jones) is a reintroduction of SB 1205 (Escutia) which would increase the maximum penalties for various violations and enact criminal and civil penalties for additional violations which result from the substantial risk of actual injury.  It would also require CARB to post certain information on air quality violations.  The Governing Board opposed this bill last legislative session, upon determining that it would take penalty monies away from local districts and impose an inappropriate penalty structure. 

AB 391 (Lieu) is a reintroduction of AB 2015 (Lieu) which would increase the number of members to the AQMD Governing Board from 12 to 13, by adding one new member appointed by the Mayor of the City of Los Angeles from among the members of the Los Angeles City Council.  The bill would also add the cities of Calabasas and Malibu to the list of cities included in the western region of the County of Los Angeles, and exclude Los Angeles from the list.  Mr. Abarca said that staff has meet with staff members of Assemblymember’s Lieu office, in Sacramento.  He also said that this bill will be agendized for further discussion at the upcoming Governing Board retreat.

Will Gonzalez, AQMD legislative consultant, reported that approximately 5 informational hearings have been held on the implementation Proposition 1B bonds.  With regard to AB 32 implementation, several legislators including Senator Perata are working on a set of bills aimed at early action.  In addition, he reported that environmental groups have created a new organization, “Climate Solutions Now,” and they have held workshops in Sacramento to discuss early actions that could be implemented immediately. 

Regarding the Governor’s pension reform committee, he reported that appointments to the committee have been made, and they will soon be meeting and that he will be tracking their actions, and report back to the committee. 

Senator Richard Polanco, AQMD consultant, reported that authors have been identified for AQMD sponsored bills, and that he and staff have started their visits to the various legislators over the past several weeks.

Update on WashingtonD.C. Legislative Issues [Attachment 4]

Andrew Kauders reported that Board Members (Roy Wilson, Tonia Reyes Uranga, and Jane Carney) and staff (Barry Wallerstein, Peter Greenwald, and Oscar Abarca), visited Washington, DC and met with various members of Congress.  The meetings focused on appropriations, climate change, and tax credits.  The Capitol continues to be focused on greenhouse gas issues. 

Mark Kadesh also added that he felt that there had been positive reception by the members of Congress.  He said that Senator Boxer and Congresswoman Solis have both raised AQMD’s issues with U.S. EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson on U.S. EPA’s Clean Diesel Locomotive and Marine draft rule. 

Other Business:      None

Public Comments: 

Claudette Moody, representing the South Bay Cities COG, reiterated their support for AB 391 (Lieu), and their appreciation that this bill will be discussed at the Governing Board retreat. 

Terry Dipple, Executive Director of the Las Virgines/Malibu COG, stated that AQMD has not been proactive in working with the cities he represents (Augora Hills, Malibu, Calabasas, West Lake Village and Hidden Hills) in sponsoring clean-up legislation to address the issue of these cities being placed in different districts of the AQMD (western and eastern cities) though they are geographically aligned.  He said that they were approached by the South Bay Cities COG in order to provide geographic representation for the Los Angeles County cities, and to better align the cities he represents.

Oscar Abarca stated that AQMD did, in fact, offer a proposal last year that would have geographically aligned the cities Mr. Dipple represents, but at that time, the proposal was not accepted by the author of AB 2015 (Lieu).

Attachment (EXE 1.3MB)
1.  Attendance Roster
2.  Recommended Position on Bills in the State Legislature
3.  State Bills of Interest
4.  Federal Bills of Interest