Wildfires: contamination standards.

Plain English Breakdown

The bill's official status is 'Passed Legislature,' meaning it has passed both chambers and reached final enrollment. However, further executive action or changes are not shown here.

Wildfires: Setting Safety Standards for Contaminants

The bill requires the Department of Toxic Substances Control to create emergency rules by July 1, 2027, and detailed rules by July 1, 2028, about safely removing harmful substances like lead and asbestos from buildings after wildfires.

What This Bill Does

• Requires the Department of Toxic Substances Control to adopt emergency regulations no later than July 1, 2027, specifying science-informed, health-based standards for investigating, testing, and clearing contaminants inside and outside homes, schools, workplaces, and other structures after a wildfire.
• These rules must include health-based clearance standards to ensure safe reoccupancy of buildings affected by wildfires.
• Requires the Department of Toxic Substances Control, in consultation with the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, to adopt regulations by July 1, 2028, specifying science-informed, health-based standards for hazardous chemicals following a wildfire.

Who It Names or Affects

• People who live and work in areas affected by wildfires.
• Schools and workplaces in wildfire-affected areas.
• The Department of Toxic Substances Control and the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment.

Terms To Know

Emergency regulations

Rules that must be made quickly to deal with urgent situations, like after a disaster.

Health-based standards

Guidelines based on what is safe for people's health.

Limits and Unknowns

• The bill does not specify the cost of implementing these rules.
• It remains unclear if the governor will sign this bill into law or make further changes.

Official Summary Text

AB 1642, as amended, Harabedian.
Wildfires: contamination standards.
Existing law establishes the Office of the State Fire Marshal in the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and establishes the Deputy Director of Community Wildfire Preparedness and Mitigation within the office. Existing law makes the deputy director responsible for fire preparedness and mitigation missions of the department, as provided. The Department of Toxic Substances Control regulates the handling and management of hazardous waste and hazardous materials.
This bill would require the Department of Toxic Substances Control to adopt, no later than July 1, 2027, emergency regulations specifying the
science-informed, health-based
standards for investigation, environmental testing, and
removal of contaminants
clearance, to guide the removal of lead and asbestos
inside and outside of homes, schools,
and workplaces
workplaces, and other structures
in residential areas after a
wildfire. The bill would require the adopted standards to include health-based
clearance standards, as specified.
wildfire, as provided. The bill would also require the department, in consultation with the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, to adopt regulations by July 1, 2028, specifying science-informed, health-based standards for hazardous chemicals following a wildfire, and would require those standards to be established at chemical levels to ensure safe reoccupancy and prevent new cancer cases attributable to such fires, as provided.
This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Current Bill Text

Download Bill PDF