Section 25360.3 Of Article 6. Recovery Actions From California Health And Safety Code >> Division 20. >> Chapter 6.8. >> Article 6.
25360.3
. (a) For the purposes of this section, the following terms
have the following meaning:
(1) "Easement" means a conservation easement, as defined in
Section 815.1 of the Civil Code.
(2) "Environmental assessment" means an investigation of real
property, conducted by an independent qualified environmental
consultant, to discover the presence or likely presence of a release
or a threat of a release of a hazardous substance at, on, to, or from
the real property. An environmental assessment shall include, but is
not limited to, an investigation of the historical use of the real
property, any prior releases, records, consultant reports and
regulatory agency correspondence, a visual survey of the real
property, and, if warranted, sampling and analytical testing.
(3) "Owner" means either of the following:
(A) An independent special district, as defined in Section 56044
of the Government Code.
(B) An entity or organization that holds an easement.
(4) "Property" means either of the following:
(A) Real property acquired by a special district by means of a
gift or donation for which an environmental assessment was completed
prior to the transfer or conveyance of the real property to the
special district.
(B) An easement for which an environmental assessment was
completed prior to the transfer or conveyance of the easement to an
entity or organization authorized to accept the easement pursuant to
Section 815.3 of the Civil Code.
(b) (1) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, if an
environmental assessment of property discovers no evidence of the
presence or likely presence of a release or a threat of a release of
a hazardous substance, and a hazardous substance release is
subsequently discovered on, to, or from that property, the owner of
that property is entitled to a rebuttable presumption, affecting the
burden of producing evidence, that the owner is not a liable person
or responsible party for purposes of this chapter. An owner is
entitled to this presumption whether the action is brought by the
state or by a private party seeking contribution or indemnification.
(2) In an action brought against an owner of property to recover
costs or expenditures incurred from the state account pursuant to
this chapter in response to a hazardous substance release, the
presumption may be rebutted if it is established by a preponderance
of the evidence that the facts upon which the department made the
certification pursuant to paragraph (1), (2), (3), or (4) of
subdivision (c) are true.
(c) An action for recovery of costs or expenditures incurred from
the state account pursuant to this chapter in response to a hazardous
substance release shall not be brought against an owner of property
unless the department first certifies that, as found by the
department, one of the following situations applies:
(1) The hazardous substance release occurred on or after the date
that the owner acquired the property.
(2) The hazardous substance release occurred before the date that
the owner acquired the property and, at the time of the acquisition,
the owner knew, or had reason to know, of the hazardous substance
release.
(3) The environmental assessment applicable to the property was
not properly carried out, was fraudulently completed, or involves the
negligent or intentional nondisclosure of information.
(4) The hazardous substance release was discovered on or after the
date of acquisition and the owner failed to exercise due care with
respect to the release, taking into consideration the characteristics
of the hazardous substance in light of all relevant facts and
circumstances.
(d) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, this
section governs liability pursuant to this chapter for an owner of
property, as defined in subdivision (a).
(e) This section is applicable only to property that is acquired
by the owner on or after January 1, 1995.