(a) Upon the request of the state board, the office, in
consultation with and with the participation of the state board,
shall evaluate the health effects of and prepare recommendations
regarding substances, other than pesticides in their pesticidal use,
which may be or are emitted into the ambient air of California and
that may be determined to be toxic air contaminants.
(b) In conducting this evaluation, the office shall consider all
available scientific data, including, but not limited to, relevant
data provided by the state board, the State Department of Health
Services, the Occupational Safety and Health Division of the
Department of Industrial Relations, the Department of Pesticide
Regulation, international and federal health agencies, private
industry, academic researchers, and public health and environmental
organizations. The evaluation shall be performed using current
principles, practices, and methods used by public health
professionals who are experienced practitioners in the fields of
epidemiology, human health effects assessment, risk assessment, and
toxicity.
(c) (1) The evaluation shall assess the availability and quality
of data on health effects, including potency, mode of action, and
other relevant biological factors, of the substance, and shall, to
the extent that information is available, assess all of the
following:
(A) Exposure patterns among infants and children that are likely
to result in disproportionately high exposure to ambient air
pollutants in comparison to the general population.
(B) Special susceptibility of infants and children to ambient air
pollutants in comparison to the general population.
(C) The effects on infants and children of exposure to toxic air
contaminants and other substances that have a common mechanism of
toxicity.
(D) The interaction of multiple air pollutants on infants and
children, including the interaction between criteria air pollutants
and toxic air contaminants.
(2) The evaluation shall also contain an estimate of the levels of
exposure that may cause or contribute to adverse health effects. If
it can be established that a threshold of adverse health effects
exists, the estimate shall include both of the following factors:
(A) The exposure level below which no adverse health effects are
anticipated.
(B) An ample margin of safety that accounts for the variable
effects that heterogeneous human populations exposed to the substance
under evaluation may experience, the uncertainties associated with
the applicability of the data to human beings, and the completeness
and quality of the information available on potential human exposure
to the substance. In cases in which there is no threshold of
significant adverse health effects, the office shall determine the
range of risk to humans resulting from current or anticipated
exposure to the substance.
(3) The scientific basis or scientific portion of the method used
by the office to assess the factors set forth in this subdivision
shall be reviewed in a manner consistent with this chapter by the
Scientific Review Panel on Toxic Air Contaminants established
pursuant to Article 5 (commencing with Section 39670). Any person may
submit any information for consideration by the panel, which may
receive oral testimony.
(d) The office shall submit its written evaluation and
recommendations to the state board within 90 days after receiving the
request of the state board pursuant to subdivision (a). The office
may, however, petition the state board for an extension of the
deadline, not to exceed 30 days, setting forth its statement of the
reasons that prevent the office from completing its evaluation and
recommendations within 90 days. Upon receipt of a request for
extension of, or noncompliance with, the deadline contained in this
section, the state board shall immediately transmit to the Assembly
Committee on Rules and the Senate Committee on Rules, for transmittal
to the appropriate standing, select, or joint committee of the
Legislature, a statement of reasons for extension of the deadline,
along with copies of the office's statement of reasons that prevent
it from completing its evaluation and recommendations in a timely
manner.
(e) (1) The state board or a district may request, and any person
shall provide, information on any substance that is or may be under
evaluation and that is manufactured, distributed, emitted, or used by
the person of whom the request is made, in order to carry out its
responsibilities pursuant to this chapter. To the extent practical,
the state board or a district may collect the information in
aggregate form or in any other manner designed to protect trade
secrets.
(2) Any person providing information pursuant to this subdivision
may, at the time of submission, identify a portion of the information
submitted to the state board or a district as a trade secret and
shall support the claim of a trade secret, upon the written request
of the state board or district board. Subject to Section 1060 of the
Evidence Code, information supplied that is a trade secret, as
specified in Section 6254.7 of the Government Code, and that is so
marked at the time of submission, shall not be released to any member
of the public. This section does not prohibit the exchange of
properly designated trade secrets between public agencies when those
trade secrets are relevant and necessary to the exercise of their
jurisdiction if the public agencies exchanging those trade secrets
preserve the protections afforded that information by this paragraph.
(3) Any information not identified as a trade secret shall be
available to the public unless exempted from disclosure by other
provisions of law. The fact that information is claimed to be a trade
secret is public information. Upon receipt of a request for the
release of information that has been claimed to be a trade secret,
the state board or district shall immediately notify the person who
submitted the information, and shall determine whether or not the
information claimed to be a trade secret is to be released to the
public. The state board or district board, as the case may be, shall
make its determination within 60 days after receiving the request for
disclosure, but not before 30 days following the notification of the
person who submitted the information. If the state board or district
decides to make the information public, it shall provide the person
who submitted the information 10 days' notice prior to public
disclosure of the information.
(f) The office and the state board shall give priority to the
evaluation and regulation of substances based on factors related to
the risk of harm to public health, amount or potential amount of
emissions, manner of, and exposure to, usage of the substance in
California, persistence in the atmosphere, and ambient concentrations
in the community. In determining the importance of these factors,
the office and the state board shall consider all of the following
information, to the extent that it is available:
(1) Research and monitoring data collected by the state board and
the districts pursuant to Sections 39607, 39617.5, 39701, and 40715,
and by the United States Environmental Protection Agency pursuant to
paragraph (2) of subsection (k) of Section 112 of the federal act (42
U.S.C. Sec. 7412(k)(2)).
(2) Emissions inventory data reported for substances subject to
Part 6 (commencing with Section 44300) and the risk assessments
prepared for those substances.
(3) Toxic chemical release data reported to the state emergency
response commission pursuant to Section 313 of the Emergency Planning
and Community Right-To-Know Act of 1986 (42 U.S.C. Sec. 11023) and
Section 6607 of the Pollution Prevention Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. Sec.
13106).
(4) Information on estimated actual exposures to substances based
on geographic and demographic data and on data derived from
analytical methods that measure the dispersion and concentrations of
substances in ambient air.
(a) In evaluating the level of potential human exposure to
toxic air contaminants, the state board shall assess that exposure
in indoor environments as well as in ambient air conditions.
(b) The state board shall consult with the State Department of
Health Services, pursuant to the program on indoor environmental
quality established under Chapter 7 (commencing with Section 105400)
of Part 5 of Division 103, concerning what potential toxic air
contaminants may be found in the indoor environment and on the best
methodology for measuring exposure to these contaminants.
(c) When the state board identifies toxic air pollutants that have
been found in any indoor environment, the state board shall refer
all available data on that exposure and the suspected source of the
pollutant to the State Department of Health Services, the Division of
Occupational Safety and Health of the Department of Industrial
Relations, the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development
Commission, the Department of Housing and Community Development, and
the Department of Consumer Affairs.
(d) In assessing human exposure to toxic air contaminants in
indoor environments pursuant to this section, the state board shall
identify the relative contribution to total exposure to the
contaminant from indoor concentrations, taking into account both
ambient and indoor air environments.
(a) (1) Upon receipt of the evaluation and recommendations
prepared pursuant to Section 39660, the state board, in consultation
with, and with the participation of, the office, shall prepare a
report in a form that may serve as the basis for regulatory action
regarding a particular substance pursuant to subdivisions (b) and (c)
of Section 39662.
(2) The report shall include and be developed in consideration of
the evaluation and recommendations of the office.
(b) The report, together with the scientific data on which the
report is based, shall, with the exception of trade secrets, be made
available to the public and shall be formally reviewed by the
scientific review panel established pursuant to Section 39670. The
panel shall review the scientific procedures and methods used to
support the data, the data itself, and the conclusions and
assessments on which the report is based. Any person may submit any
information for consideration by the panel, which may, at its
discretion, receive oral testimony. The panel shall submit its
written findings to the state board within 45 days after receiving
the report. The panel may, however, petition the state board for an
extension of the deadline, which may not exceed 15 working days.
(c) If the scientific review panel determines that the health
effects report is not based upon sound scientific knowledge, methods,
or practices, the report shall be returned to the state board, and
the state board, in consultation with, and with the participation of,
the office, shall prepare revisions to the report, which shall be
resubmitted within 30 days following receipt of the panel's
determination to the scientific review panel, which shall review the
report in conformance with subdivision (b) prior to a formal proposal
by the state board pursuant to Section 39662.
(a) Within 10 working days following receipt of the findings
of the scientific review panel pursuant to subdivision (c) of
Section 39661, the state board shall prepare a hearing notice and a
proposed regulation which shall include the proposed determination as
to whether a substance is a toxic air contaminant.
(b) After conducting a public hearing pursuant to Chapter 3.5
(commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of
the Government Code, the state board shall list, by regulation,
substances determined to be toxic air contaminants.
(c) If a substance is determined to be a toxic air contaminant,
the regulation shall specify a threshold exposure level, if any,
below which no significant adverse health effects are anticipated,
and an ample margin of safety which accounts for the factors
described in subdivision (c) of Section 39660.
(d) In evaluating the nature of the adverse health effect and the
range of risk to humans from exposure to a substance, the state board
shall utilize scientific criteria which are protective of public
health, consistent with current scientific data.
(e) Any person may petition the state board to review a
determination made pursuant to this section. The petition shall
specify the additional scientific evidence regarding the health
effects of a substance which was not available at the time the
original determination was made and any other evidence which would
justify a revised determination.