California Health and Safety Code 25548 – (a) The Legislature hereby finds and declares all of the …
(a) The Legislature hereby finds and declares all of the following:
(1) There is uncertainty in the law of this state with regard to the liability of lenders for hazardous material contamination involving property that is owned or used by borrowers, whether or not the property is collateral for the loan or obligation.
Terms Used In California Health and Safety Code 25548
- Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
- Fiduciary: means a person who is acting in any of the following capacities:
California Health and Safety Code 25548.1
- Lender: includes either of the following persons:
California Health and Safety Code 25548.1
- Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
- property: includes any real or personal property in which the obligor has or had an ownership, leasehold, or possessory interest, whether or not it was the subject of a security interest for the loan or obligation. See California Health and Safety Code 25548.1
- Security interest: means an interest in a property created or established for the purpose of securing a loan or obligation. See California Health and Safety Code 25548.1
- State: means the State of California, unless applied to the different parts of the United States. See California Health and Safety Code 23
(2) There is also uncertainty in the law of this state with regard to the liability of trustees, executors, and other fiduciaries for hazardous material contamination involving property that is part of the fiduciary estate. Fiduciaries understand that the fiduciary estate may have that liability, but are concerned that a fiduciary may have independent personal liability, despite the absence of personal culpability for the contamination.
(3) The uncertainty as to liability or potential liability is attributable to the failure of existing law, except for the security interest exemption incorporated by reference in Section 78145, to recognize that usually the credit or fiduciary relationship is not sufficiently related to the hazardous material contamination to warrant, as a policy matter, the imposition of liability on lenders and fiduciaries.
(b) It is the intent of the Legislature, in enacting this chapter, to specify the type of lender and fiduciary conduct that will not incur liability for hazardous material contamination. However, the liability exemption has appropriate boundaries. For example, the exemption will not protect lenders or fiduciaries in transactions that are structured for the purpose of evading liability for hazardous material contamination if the lender or fiduciary is not acting within its respective capacity, or if the contamination is caused by the lender or fiduciary.
(c) This chapter does not apply to judicial actions filed, or administrative orders issued, before January l, 1997, or to proceedings to enforce judicial or administrative orders issued before January 1, 1997.
(Amended by Stats. 2022, Ch. 258, Sec. 100. (AB 2327) Effective January 1, 2023. Operative January 1, 2024, pursuant to Sec. 130 of Stats. 2022, Ch. 258.)