(a) There is hereby imposed a fee on manufacturers and other persons formerly, presently, or both formerly and presently engaged in the stream of commerce of lead or products containing lead, or who are otherwise responsible for identifiable sources of lead that have significantly contributed historically, currently contribute, or both have significantly contributed historically and contribute currently to environmental lead contamination.

(b) The department shall, by regulation, establish specific fees to be assessed on manufacturers and other parties formerly, presently, or both formerly and presently engaged in the stream of commerce of lead or products containing lead, or who are otherwise responsible for identifiable sources of lead that, as determined by the department, have significantly contributed historically, currently contribute, or both have significantly contributed historically and contribute currently to environmental lead contamination.

To the maximum extent practicable, the fees shall be assessed on the basis of the following criteria:

(1) A person‘s past and present responsibility for environmental lead contamination.

(2) A person’s “market share” responsibility for environmental lead contamination.

This section shall not apply to, and no fee shall be assessed upon, any retailer of lead or products containing lead.

(c) The fee shall be assessed and collected annually by the State Board of Equalization. The annual fee assessment in subdivision (a) shall be adjusted by the department to reflect both of the following:

(1) The increase in the annual average of the California Consumer Price Index, as recorded by the California Department of Industrial Relations, for the most recent year available.

(2) The increase or decrease in the number of children in California who are receiving services pursuant to this chapter.

This adjustment of fees shall not be subject to the requirements of Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code.

(d) (1) A fee shall not be assessed upon a person if that person can demonstrate, as determined by the department, that his or her industry did not contribute in any manner, as described in this section, to environmental lead contamination.

(2) A fee shall not be assessed upon a party if that party demonstrates, as determined by the department, that the lead, or the product containing lead, with which it is currently, or was historically, associated does not currently, or did not historically, result in quantifiably persistent environmental lead contamination.

(e) The fee imposed pursuant to this section shall be administered and collected by the State Board of Equalization in accordance with Part 22 (commencing with Section 43001) of Division 2 of the Revenue and Taxation Code. The fees shall be deposited in the Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Fund, which is hereby created in the State Treasury. Moneys in the fund shall be expended for the purposes of this chapter, including the State Board of Equalization’s costs of collection and administration of fees, upon appropriation by the Legislature. All interest earned on the moneys that have been deposited into the Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Fund shall be retained in that fund.

(f) The fees collected pursuant to this section and the earnings therefrom shall be used solely for the purposes of implementing this chapter. The department shall not collect fees pursuant to this section in excess of the amount reasonably anticipated by the department to fully implement this chapter. The department shall not spend more than it collects from the fees and the earnings in implementing this chapter. In no fiscal year shall the department collect more than sixteen million dollars ($16,000,000) in fees, as adjusted for inflation pursuant to subdivision (b).

(g) It is the intent of the Legislature, in subsequent legislation, to appropriate and deposit into the Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Fund the sum of one hundred twenty-eight thousand dollars ($128,000) from the General Fund on July 1, 1992, to the Controller for allocation as loans as follows:

(1) Seventy-eight thousand dollars ($78,000) to the department, for the purposes of adopting regulations to establish the fee schedule authorized by this section. The State Board of Equalization shall repay the amount of this appropriation, on or before June 30, 1993, with interest at the pooled money investment rate, from fees collected pursuant to this section.

(2) Fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) to the State Board of Equalization, for the purposes of implementing this section. The State Board of Equalization shall repay the amount of this appropriation on or before June 30, 1993, with interest at the pooled money investment rate, from fees collected pursuant to this section.

(h) Regulations adopted for fee assessment and collection pursuant to this section shall be exempt from review by the Office of Administrative Law.

(Amended by Stats. 2017, Ch. 507, Sec. 5. (AB 1316) Effective January 1, 2018.)