California Health and Safety Code 25245 – (a) The department shall adopt, and revise when appropriate, …
(a) The department shall adopt, and revise when appropriate, standards and regulations which shall do both of the following:
(1) Specify the financial assurances to be provided by the owner or operator of a hazardous waste facility that are necessary to respond adequately to damage claims arising out of the operation of that type of facility and to provide for the cost of closure and subsequent maintenance of the facility, including, but not limited to, the monitoring of groundwater and other aspects of the environment after closure. If the facility is required to obtain a permit under the federal act, the financial assurance shall be a trust fund, surety bond, letter of credit, insurance, or any other mechanism authorized under the federal act and the regulations adopted pursuant to the federal act. If the facility is not required to obtain a permit under the federal act, the financial assurance may include any other equivalent financial arrangement acceptable to the department.
Terms Used In California Health and Safety Code 25245
- Bankruptcy: Refers to statutes and judicial proceedings involving persons or businesses that cannot pay their debts and seek the assistance of the court in getting a fresh start. Under the protection of the bankruptcy court, debtors may discharge their debts, perhaps by paying a portion of each debt. Bankruptcy judges preside over these proceedings.
- Common law: The legal system that originated in England and is now in use in the United States. It is based on judicial decisions rather than legislative action.
- department: means State Department of Health Services. See California Health and Safety Code 20
- Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
- Guarantor: A party who agrees to be responsible for the payment of another party's debts should that party default. Source: OCC
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- Person: means any person, firm, association, organization, partnership, business trust, corporation, limited liability company, or company. See California Health and Safety Code 19
- Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
- State: means the State of California, unless applied to the different parts of the United States. See California Health and Safety Code 23
(2) Provide that every hazardous waste facility can be closed and maintained for at least 30 years subsequent to its closure in a manner that protects human health and the environment and minimizes or eliminates the escape of hazardous waste constituents, leachate, contaminated rainfall, and waste decomposition products to ground and surface waters and to the atmosphere.
(b) In adopting regulations pursuant to subdivision (a), to carry out the purposes of this chapter, the department may specify policy or other contractual terms, conditions, or defenses which are necessary or are unacceptable in establishing evidence of financial responsibility.
(1) If an owner or operator is in bankruptcy pursuant to Title 11 of the United States Code, or where, with reasonable diligence, jurisdiction in any state or federal court cannot be obtained over an owner or operator likely to be solvent at the time of judgment, any claim arising from conduct for which this section requires evidence of financial responsibility may be asserted directly against the guarantor who provided the evidence of financial responsibility.
(2) The total liability of any guarantor is limited to the aggregate amount which the guarantor has provided as evidence of financial responsibility to the owner or operator under this chapter.
(3) This subdivision does not limit any other state or federal statutory, contractual, or common law liability of a guarantor to the owner or operator, including, but not limited to, the liability of the guarantor for bad faith in either negotiating or in failing to negotiate the settlement of any claim.
(4) This subdivision does not diminish the liability of any person under Section 107 or 111 of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (42 U.S.C. Secs. 9607 and 9611).
(5) For purposes of this subdivision, “guarantor” means any person, other than the owner or operator, who provides evidence of financial responsibility for an owner or operator under this section.
(Amended by Stats. 2009, Ch. 500, Sec. 52. (AB 1059) Effective January 1, 2010.)