(a) Beginning January 1, 2022, the board shall conduct no fewer than six public meetings per year, at least three of which shall be held outside the greater Sacramento area. For those meetings held outside the greater Sacramento area, the board shall meet in different geographic areas within the state to facilitate the participation by the businesses and sites regulated by the department, as well as members of the communities impacted by the businesses and sites regulated by the department.

(b) The board shall do all of the following:

(1) Set fees pursuant to Sections 25205.2.1, 25205.5.01, and 25205.6.1.

(2) Hear and decide appeals of hazardous waste facility permit decisions.

(3) Provide opportunities for public hearings on individual permitted or remediation sites.

(4) Review and consider for approval the director‘s annual priorities for each program under the department and, after consulting with the director, adopt clear performance metrics for the department and each of the department’s programs. The board’s responsibilities under this paragraph shall be conducted at a public hearing. The director shall provide annual updates on progress toward meeting the priorities and performance metrics.

(5) Conduct an analysis of the fee structure supporting the department’s activities funded by the Hazardous Waste Control Account, the Hazardous Waste Facilities Account, and the Toxic Substances Control Account and, to the extent necessary, develop recommendations for funding the department’s activities that accomplish all of the following:

(A) Provides for protection for public health and safety and the environment.

(B) Provides adequate funding to ensure the timely remediation of contaminated sites, including the remediation of orphan sites.

(C) Provides adequate funding for the enforcement of this chapter and Part 2 (commencing with Section 78000) of Division 45.

(D) Provides adequate funding for the programs and regulatory efforts that protect consumers from potentially harmful chemicals in products or workplaces.

(E) Provides for a reasonable distribution of costs among the businesses that contribute to the need for management of hazardous waste in the state.

(F) Provides a level of funding that will enable the department and the board to implement and carry out their duties and responsibilities, including the department’s performance metrics approved by the board pursuant to this section.

(G) Considers increasing fee rates, decreasing fee rates, consolidating fees, eliminating fees, or creating new fees, as appropriate, as well as the option to identify any other funding sources that may be appropriate for use by the department in performing its duties and responsibilities. The board may consider where tiered rates may be appropriate to align the department’s regulatory costs with different volumes or types of hazardous waste.

(H) Considers the creation of graduated fee rates that could be used to encourage or discourage waste generation or specific higher risk or hazard waste management activities.

(I) Considers additional funding amounts that may be needed for the department to implement the responsibilities identified in Article 11.8 (commencing with Section 25244) and Article 11.9 (commencing with Section 25244.12), in whole or in part.

(J) Considers additional funding amounts that may be needed for the department to implement programs that further support the collection and appropriate management of hazardous wastes that may pose a higher risk of being illegally disposed.

(6) Conduct an analysis of the department’s programs, the relationship between those programs and related programs in other regulatory agencies, including, but not limited to, the State Water Resources Control Board, the California regional water quality control boards, and the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, and, to the extent necessary, develop recommendations to improve coordination between programs, and to reduce or eliminate duplication or overlap.

(7) Develop, in consultation with the director and with consideration of available resources, a multiyear schedule for the discussion of long-term goals for the following departmental activities:

(A) The department’s processing of hazardous waste facility permits and proposals to improve the efficiency of the permitting process, the relationship between the efficiency of the process and the time needed to review permit applications and reach permit decisions, and the amount of reimbursement required of permit applicants in the course of the permitting process.

(B) The department’s duties and responsibilities in law and proposals to improve the department’s ability to meet those duties and responsibilities.

(C) The site mitigation program and proposals for the prioritization of the cleanup of contaminated properties.

(D) The department’s implementation of its enforcement activities.

(Amended by Stats. 2022, Ch. 258, Sec. 36. (AB 2327) Effective January 1, 2023. Operative January 1, 2024, pursuant to Sec. 130 of Stats. 2022, Ch. 258.)