Title
Supervisor Briggs recommending the Board authorize the Chair to sign a letter in support of Senate Bill (SB)1306 (Blakeslee) State Water Resources Control Board.
Body
Under existing law, the Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act, the State Water Resources Control Board and the nine Californial regional water quality control boards are the principal state agencies with responsibility for the coordination and control of water quality in the state. The Act requires the state board to formulate and adopt state policies for water quality control, and requires the regional boards to adopt regional water quality control plans in compliance with the state policies.
Existing law requires the California Environmental Protection Agency, or a board, department, or other office within the agency, to enter into an agreement with the National Academy of Sciences, the University of California, the California State University, or any similar scientific institution of higher learning, or any combination of those entities, or with a scientist or group of scientists of comparable stature and qualifications that are recommended by the President of the Universtiy of California, to conduct an external scientific peer review of the scientific basis for any proposed rule, as defined, to include a policy adopted by the state board that has the effect of a regulation and that is adopted in order to implement or make effective a statute, and prescribes procedures for conducting that scientific peer review.
SB 1306 proposes to expand the requirement for the State Water Resources Control Board to conduct an external scientific peer review to include general permit application requirements for stormwater discharges and a conditional waiver of waste discharge requirements from irrigated lands except under some specified conditions.
SB 1306 is scheduled for hearing on Tuesday, June 19, 2012, before the Assembly Committee on Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials.