Tweeks to solid waste facility permitting passed

The governor has signed into law AB 2679 (Ruskin) fine tuning California's regulation of solid waste facility enforcement and permitting, the California Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989. The act provides that local enforcement agencies perform specified functions with regard to the regulation of solid waste management, including the issuance and enforcement of solid waste facilities permits. The enforcement agency can issue an administrative order requiring the owner or operator of a solid waste facility to take corrective action and to issue a cease and desist order.

This bill changes the enforcement and penalty provisions of the act to include violations of the act regarding disposal sites. It revises the procedures for the imposition of civil penalties to authorize the board or an enforcement agency to issue an order imposing a civil penalty upon a person that violates the act, a regulation adopted pursuant to the act, or an order issued under the enforcement provisions of the act applicable to a solid waste facility or a disposal site, or the terms or conditions of a solid waste facilities permit. The bill requires the board or an enforcement agency before issuing an order, except as specified, to follow specified procedures regarding notification and meeting with the owner or operator to bring the facility or site into compliance.

Under existing law, a request for a hearing stays the effect of the order pending completion of all appeals, but a request for a hearing does not stay a provision of the order, or the order as a whole, when there is an imminent and substantial threat to public health and safety or the environment, as specified. This bill would instead allow the owner or operator of a permitted solid waste facility subject to an order, in the case of extraordinary circumstances, to petition the executive director of the board to stay the order, pending the completion of specified administrative appeals pursuant to a specified procedure and would authorize a person who is not the owner or operator of such a facility to petition the board, as specified.