California 2017-2018 Regular Session Status: Enacted

AB 355 — Water pollution: enforcement.

Last action — Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 524, Statutes of 2017.

  1. ✓
    Introduced
  2. ✓
    In Committee
  3. ✓
    Passed Assembly
  4. ✓
    Passed Senate
  5. ✓
    To Executive
  6. 6
    Enacted

This bill has been enacted into law. Introduced February 08, 2017. Enacted.

Prognosis

Advancing 50% · moderate confidence

Where this bill stands today.

Odds of enactment

High

How often bills like it became law.

  • Enacted

    Current position in the legislative process.

  • 1 sponsor

    1 primary, 0 co-sponsors signed on.

Prognosis reads this bill's own signals — stage, sponsorship breadth, committee status, recorded votes and cross-state momentum. Odds come from a model trained on which bills have become law.

Summary

Under the Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act, the State Water Resources Control Board (state board) and the California regional water quality control boards (regional boards) are the principal state agencies with primary authority over water quality matters. The act authorizes a regional board to investigate the quality of state waters, and grants to a regional board certain authority in connection with those investigative functions. The act authorizes a regional board to administratively impose civil liability in connection with violations of certain water quality provisions, and authorizes the executive officer of a regional board to issue a complaint to any person on whom administrative civil liability may be imposed pursuant to the act. The state act, with certain exceptions, imposes a mandatory minimum penalty of $3,000 for serious violations, as defined, and for exceeding certain effluent limitations, failing to file a required report, or filing that report incomplete, if those violations occur 4 or more times in any period of 6 consecutive months. Existing law permits the state board or regional board, in lieu of assessing all or a portion of the mandatory minimum penalties against a publicly owned treatment works serving a small community, as defined, to elect to require the publicly owned treatment works to spend an equivalent amount towards completion of a compliance project proposed by the publicly owned treatment works if the state board or regional board makes certain findings. Existing law, for these purposes, defines "a publicly owned treatment works serving a small community" as a publicly owned treatment works serving a population of 10,000 persons or fewer or a rural county, with a financial hardship, as specified. This bill, for purposes of the exception, would instead define "publicly owned treatment works serving a small community" as a publicly owned treatment works serving a population of 20,000 persons or fewer or a rural county, with a financial hardship. Existing law requires the state board to continuously report and update information on its Internet Web site, but at a minimum annually on or before January 1, regarding its enforcement activities. This bill would instead require the state board to continuously report and update information on its Internet Web site and to annually report on its enforcement activities on or before December 31. Existing law provides for the regulation of underground storage tanks by the state board. Existing law imposes a civil or criminal penalty, as specified, for violations of specified provisions relating to underground storage tank systems, and requires that civil penalties or criminal fines be deposited into the State Water Pollution Cleanup and Abatement Account, to be available upon appropriation by the Legislature, for purposes of activities relating to water pollution or the cleaning up of waste or abating its effects on waters of the state. This bill would allow the state board to impose civil liability administratively for those violations pursuant to the administrative liability provisions of the Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act, to be deposited in the State Water Pollution Cleanup and Abatement Account. The bill would require the executive director of the state board to consult with the appropriate local agency before issuing a complaint.

Bill Text

Action History

  1. Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 524, Statutes of 2017.

  2. Approved by the Governor.

  3. Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 12 p.m.

  4. Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 74. Noes 1. Page 3393.).

  5. In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending.

  6. Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 39. Noes 0. Page 2851.).

  7. Read second time. Ordered to third reading.

  8. From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (September 1).

  9. In committee: Referred to APPR. suspense file.

  10. From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 6. Noes 0.) (June 21). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

  11. From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on EQ.

  12. In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author.

  13. Referred to Com. on EQ.

  14. In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment.

  15. Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 72. Noes 2. Page 1419.)

  16. Read second time. Ordered to third reading.

  17. From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 16. Noes 0.) (April 26).

  18. From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 6. Noes 0.) (April 4). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

  19. Re-referred to Com. on E.S. & T.M.

  20. From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on E.S. & T.M. Read second time and amended.

  21. Re-referred to Com. on E.S. & T.M.

  22. From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on E.S. & T.M. Read second time and amended.

  23. Referred to Com. on E.S. & T.M.

  24. From printer. May be heard in committee March 11.

  25. Read first time. To print.

Sponsors

  • Chu · Primary

Sponsorship breakdown

Export CSV (upgrade) →

1 sponsors · 0 co-sponsors · 121 not signed on

Sponsors (1)

  • Chu

Co-sponsors (0)

None.

Not signed on (121)

121 members have not signed on to this bill.

Show all 121 →

"Not signed on" means a member has not sponsored or co-sponsored this bill — it does not imply opposition. Members flagged Voted No have a recorded No vote on this bill.

Whip count is in markup. Polling the chamber and every recorded vote this session. Only the first open is slow. It’s instant for you after this. Calling the roll · Tallying · Engrossing

Subjects

environment
Cross-referencing the record. Reading this bill against every other bill in the corpus by meaning, not keywords. Only the first open is slow. It’s instant for you after this. Matching · Ranking · Engrossing

Frequently asked questions

What does AB 355 do?
Under the Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act, the State Water Resources Control Board (state board) and the California regional water quality control boards (regional boards) are the principal state agencies with primary authority over water quality matters. The act authorizes a regional board to investigate the quality of state waters, and grants to a regional board certain authority in connection with those investigative functions. The act authorizes a regional board to administratively impose civil liability in connection with violations of certain water quality provisions, and authorizes the executive officer of a regional board to issue a complaint to any person on whom administrative civil liability may be imposed pursuant to the act. The state act, with certain exceptions, imposes a mandatory minimum penalty of $3,000 for serious violations, as defined, and for exceeding certain effluent limitations, failing to file a required report, or filing that report incomplete, if those violations occur 4 or more times in any period of 6 consecutive months. Existing law permits the state board or regional board, in lieu of assessing all or a portion of the mandatory minimum penalties against a publicly owned treatment works serving a small community, as defined, to elect to require the publicly owned treatment works to spend an equivalent amount towards completion of a compliance project proposed by the publicly owned treatment works if the state board or regional board makes certain findings. Existing law, for these purposes, defines "a publicly owned treatment works serving a small community" as a publicly owned treatment works serving a population of 10,000 persons or fewer or a rural county, with a financial hardship, as specified. This bill, for purposes of the exception, would instead define "publicly owned treatment works serving a small community" as a publicly owned treatment works serving a population of 20,000 persons or fewer or a rural county, with a financial hardship. Existing law requires the state board to continuously report and update information on its Internet Web site, but at a minimum annually on or before January 1, regarding its enforcement activities. This bill would instead require the state board to continuously report and update information on its Internet Web site and to annually report on its enforcement activities on or before December 31. Existing law provides for the regulation of underground storage tanks by the state board. Existing law imposes a civil or criminal penalty, as specified, for violations of specified provisions relating to underground storage tank systems, and requires that civil penalties or criminal fines be deposited into the State Water Pollution Cleanup and Abatement Account, to be available upon appropriation by the Legislature, for purposes of activities relating to water pollution or the cleaning up of waste or abating its effects on waters of the state. This bill would allow the state board to impose civil liability administratively for those violations pursuant to the administrative liability provisions of the Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act, to be deposited in the State Water Pollution Cleanup and Abatement Account. The bill would require the executive director of the state board to consult with the appropriate local agency before issuing a complaint.
Who sponsors AB 355?
AB 355 is sponsored by Chu.
What is the current status of AB 355?
This bill has been enacted into law. Introduced February 08, 2017. Enacted.
Where can I track AB 355?
Track AB 355 free on One Click Politics — get push/email alerts when it moves.

Make your voice heard on AB 355

Find the representatives who decide this bill and tell them where you stand — for yourself, or mobilize your whole list in one click with One Click Politics advocacy software.

Find my representatives → Run a campaign

Stay ahead of AB 355

Last checked for changes 2 months ago · updated continuously

One Click Politics tracks every bill in Congress and all 50 states.

Track this bill →