Section 25299.38 Of Article 4. Corrective Action From California Health And Safety Code >> Division 20. >> Chapter 6.75. >> Article 4.
25299.38
. (a) The local agency, the board, or the regional board
shall advise and work with the owner, operator, or other responsible
party on the opportunity to seek preapproval of corrective action
costs pursuant to Section 2811.4 of Title 23 of the California Code
of Regulations or any successor regulation. Regional board staff and
local agency staff shall work with the responsible party and fund
staff to obtain preapproval for the responsible party. The fund staff
shall grant or deny a request for preapproval within 30 calendar
days after the date a request is received. If fund staff denies a
request for preapproval or fails to act within 30 calendar days after
receiving the request, an owner, operator, or other responsible
party who has prepared a work plan that has been reviewed and
accepted pursuant to paragraph (3) of subdivision (c) of Section
25296.10, and is denied preapproval of corrective action costs for
one or more of the actions required by the work plan, may petition
the board for review of the request for preapproval. The board shall
review the petition pursuant to Section 25299.56, and for that
purpose the petition for review of a request for preapproval of
corrective action costs shall be reviewed by the board in the same
manner as a petition for review of an unpaid claim.
(b) If the board receives a petition for review pursuant to
subdivision (a), the board shall review the request for preapproval
and grant or deny the request pursuant to this subdivision and
subdivision (c). The board shall deny the request for preapproval if
the board makes one of the following findings:
(1) The petitioner is not eligible to file a claim pursuant to
Article 6 (commencing with Section 25299.50).
(2) The petitioner failed to submit one or more of the documents
required by the regulations adopted by the board governing
preapproval.
(3) The petitioner failed to obtain three bids or estimates for
corrective action costs and, under the circumstances pertaining to
the corrective action, there is no valid reason to waive the
three-bid requirement pursuant to the regulations adopted by the
board.
(c) If the board does not deny the request for preapproval
pursuant to subdivision (b), the board shall grant the request for
preapproval. However, the board may modify the request by denying
preapproval of corrective action costs or reducing the preapproval
amount of those costs for any action required by the work plan, if
the board finds that the fund staff has demonstrated either of the
following:
(1) The amount of corrective action reimbursement requested for
the action is not reasonable. In determining if the fund staff has
demonstrated that the amount of reimbursement requested for an action
is not reasonable, the board shall use, when available, recent
experience with bids or estimates for similar actions.
(2) The action required in the work plan is, in all likelihood,
not necessary for the corrective action to comply with the
requirements of subdivisions (a) and (b) of Section 25296.10 and the
corrective action regulations adopted pursuant to Section 25299.3.