(a)  Except as provided in subdivision (c), a fee shall be paid to the local agency by each person who submits an application for a permit to operate an underground storage tank or to renew or amend a permit. The governing body of the county, or a city which assumes enforcement jurisdiction, shall establish the amount of the fees at a level sufficient to pay the necessary and reasonable costs incurred by the local agency in administering this chapter, including, but not limited to, permitting and inspection responsibilities. The governing body may provide for the waiver of fees when a state or local government agency makes an application for a permit to operate or an application to renew a permit.

(b)  This fee shall include a surcharge, the amount of which shall be determined by the Legislature annually to cover the costs of the board in carrying out its responsibilities under this chapter and the costs of the local agency in collecting the surcharges. The local agency may retain 6 percent of any surcharge collected for costs incurred in its collection. The 6 percent of the surcharge retained by the local agency is the local agency’s sole source of reimbursement for the cost of collecting the surcharge. The local agency shall transmit all remaining surcharge revenue collected by the local agency to the board within 45 days after receipt pursuant to subdivision (a). The surcharge shall be deposited in the Underground Storage Tank Fund hereby created in the General Fund. The money in this account is available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to the board for the purposes of implementing this chapter.

Terms Used In California Health and Safety Code 25287

  • Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
  • County: includes city and county. See California Health and Safety Code 14
  • 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
  • State: means the State of California, unless applied to the different parts of the United States. See California Health and Safety Code 23

(c)  A local agency may waive the fee required by subdivision (a) for an underground storage tank which has a capacity of 5,000 gallons or less, which is located on a farm, and which contains motor vehicle or heating fuel used primarily for agricultural purposes, if the local agency finds that the fee will impose undue economic hardship upon the person applying for the permit. However, the local agency shall not waive the surcharge required under subdivision (b).

(d)  A county of the fifth class, as defined in § 28020 of the Government Code as a county with a population of 1,000,000 and under 1,070,000, and any city located within that county, is exempt from the requirements of collecting or transmitting to the board the surcharge required to be included in fees paid to a local agency pursuant to this section.

(e)  This section does not apply in any jurisdiction in which a single fee system, which replaces the fee required by this section, has been implemented pursuant to Section 25404.5.

(Amended by Stats. 1995, Ch. 639, Sec. 57. Effective January 1, 1996.)