H. B. 3193
(By Delegates Pino, Mahan and Michael)
[Introduced March 24, 2005; referred to the
Committee on Government Organization.]
A BILL to amend and reenact §15-5A-4, §15-5A-5 and §15-5A-7 of the
Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, all relating to
clarifying the members of the State Emergency Response
Commission and the local emergency planning committees and
increasing the cap on the inventory form fee.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §15-5A-4, §15-5A-5 and §15-5A-7 of the Code of West
Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted, all to read
as follows:
ARTICLE 5A. WEST VIRGINIA EMERGENCY RESPONSE AND COMMUNITY
RIGHT-TO-KNOW ACT.
§15-5A-4. State Emergency Response Commission created; composition
and organization, qualifications, terms, removal,
compensation, meetings
.
(a) There is hereby created the State Emergency Response Commission.
(b) The State Emergency Response Commission shall consist of
eleven members, including the
director of the division Secretary of
the Department of Environmental Protection,
Director of the
Division of Natural Resources, the Commissioner of the
division
Bureau of Public Health,
the chief of the office of air quality of
the division of environmental protection, the Director of the
Office of Emergency Services, the Superintendent of the Division of
Public Safety, the Commissioner of the Division of Highways; one
designee of the Public Service Commission and one designee of the
State Fire Marshal, all of whom are members ex officio. A
representative from the chemical industry, a representative of a
municipal or volunteer fire department and a representative of the
public who is knowledgeable in the area of emergency response shall
be appointed by the Governor as public members of the State
Emergency Response Commission. The Director of the Office of
Emergency Services serves as the chair of the Commission and may
cast a vote only in the event of a tie vote. Members serve without
compensation, but shall be reimbursed for all reasonable and
necessary expenses actually incurred in the performance of their
duties under this article. The initial public members appointed by
the Governor shall serve for a term ending on the first day of
July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-one. A successor to a
public member of the Commission shall be appointed in the same manner as the original public members and has a term of office
expiring two years from the date of the expiration of the term for
which his or her predecessor was appointed. In cases of any
vacancy among the public members, such vacancy shall be filled by
appointment by the Governor. Any member appointed to fill a
vacancy on the Commission occurring prior to the expiration of the
term for which his or her predecessor was appointed shall be
appointed for the remainder of such term. Members appointed by the
Governor may be removed by the Governor in case of incompetency,
neglect of duty, gross immorality or malfeasance in office.
(c) The Commission shall elect from its membership a vice
chair and appoint a Secretary. The Secretary need not be a member
of the Commission. The vice chair shall preside over the meetings
and hearings of the Commission in the absence of the chair. The
Commission may appoint and employ such personnel as may be
required, whose duties shall be defined by the Commission and whose
compensation, to be fixed by the Commission, shall be paid out of
the State Treasury, upon the requisition of the Commission, from
moneys appropriated for such purposes.
(d) The Commission may establish procedural rules in
accordance with chapter twenty-nine-a of the code for the
regulation of its affairs and the conduct of all proceedings before
it. All proceedings of the Commission shall be entered in a
permanently bound record book, properly indexed, and the same shall be carefully preserved and attested by the Secretary of the
Commission. The Commission shall meet at such times and places as
may be agreed upon by the commissioners, or upon the call of the
chairman of the Commission or any two members of the Commission,
all of which meetings shall be general meetings for the
consideration of any and all matters which may properly come before
the Commission. A majority of the Commission constitutes a quorum
for the transaction of business.
§15-5A-5. Powers and duties of the Commission.
The Commission shall have and may exercise the following
powers and authority and shall perform the following duties:
(a) Designate emergency planning districts;
(b) Appoint local emergency planning committees for each
emergency planning district and supervise and coordinate the
activities of such committees;
(c) Revise any designations and appointments made under
subsections (a) and (b) of this section as it deems appropriate:
Provided, That any interested person may petition the State
Emergency Response Commission to modify the membership of a local
emergency planning Commission;
(d) Designate, if necessary, additional facilities which shall
be subject to the requirements of this article, provided such
designation is made after public notice and opportunity for comment
as provided under article three chapter twenty-nine-a of the code;
(e) Review the emergency response plans submitted by the local
emergency planning committees and make recommendations to the local
committees on revisions of the plan that may be necessary to ensure
coordination of such plan with the plans of other emergency
planning districts and other existing state and local emergency
response plans;
(f) Enter into cooperative agreements with other state
agencies designating specific responsibilities to be performed by
such state agencies to implement the provisions of this article;
(g) Promulgate procedural rules in accordance with the
provisions of article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code,
establishing rules of practice before the Commission;
(h) Promulgate procedural rules in accordance with the
provisions of article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code,
establishing procedures for receiving and processing requests from
the public for information in accordance with the provisions of 42
U.S.C. § 11001 et seq., and this article, and prescribing forms and
instructions for requesting such information;
(i) Promulgate procedural rules in accordance with the
provisions of article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code,
prescribing forms and instructions for the submission and receipt
of confidential information;
(j) Promulgate rules establishing the following fees which
shall be deposited in a special account for the administration of this act and which shall be reasonably calculated to recover the
necessary expenses incurred by the Office of Emergency Services in
the administration of this article:
(1) An emergency planning notification fee not to exceed one
hundred dollars to be paid by a facility when it makes the
emergency planning notification required under SARA, Title III,
sections 301 through 303;
(2) An inventory form fee not to exceed
one four hundred
dollars to be paid annually by a facility when it submits the
emergency and hazardous chemical inventory forms or material safety
data sheet required under SARA, Title III, sections 311 and 312;
and
(3) A subcharge fee not to exceed twenty percent of the fee
otherwise payable to be paid by facilities which fail to pay the
fees in paragraphs (1) and (2) in a timely manner;
(k) Establish an emergency planning grant program to be
administered by the Commission. The grant programs will be funded
by fees collected to administer this act pursuant to subdivision
(j) of this section. The Commission shall promulgate rules which
establish the method of awarding such grants to local emergency
planning committees to assist them in performing their
responsibilities under this article; and
(l) Promulgate legislative rules in accordance with the
provisions of article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code necessary to implement the provisions of this article.
(m) The Chairman of the Commission may order a facility owner
or operator to comply with the requirements of applicable federal
law, this article and any rules or regulations promulgated
thereunder. When the chairman has reasonable cause to believe that
there exists a failure to comply with the provisions of applicable
federal law, this article or any rule or regulation promulgated
thereunder or any order entered by the chairman, he
or she may
request the Attorney General to commence an action for civil
penalties, injunctive relief or other appropriate relief to enforce
such provisions, rules and regulations or order. Such action may
be brought in any federal district court having jurisdiction, or in
the circuit court of Kanawha County or the county where the
facility or a major portion thereof is located.
§15-5A-7. Establishment of emergency planning districts and
committees; composition, organization, duties.
(a) The State Emergency Response Commission shall designate
emergency planning districts in order to facilitate preparation and
implementation of emergency plans. After designating emergency
planning districts, the State Emergency Response Commission shall
appoint members of a local emergency planning committee for each
emergency planning district. Each committee shall include
representatives from each of the following groups or organizations:
(1) Elected state and local officials; (2) law enforcement;
(3) civil defense;
(4) fire fighting;
(5) first aid ;
(6) health ;
(7)
local environmental;
(8) hospital
and ;
(9) transportation
personnel;
(3) (10) broadcast and print media;
(4) (11) community
groups; and
(5) (12) owners and operators of facilities subject to
the requirements of this article. In addition to the above
members, each county commission president from every county within
the district, or a member of the county commission designated by
the president, shall be appointed as a member of the committee and
such appointment may fulfill the requirement to appoint elected
local officials.
(b) Each local committee shall appoint a chairperson and
establish procedural rules by which the committee shall function.
Such rules shall include provisions for public notification of
committee activities, public meetings to discuss the emergency
plan, public comments, response to such comments by the committee
and distribution of the emergency plan.
(c) The local committee shall submit their proposed procedural
rules to the State Emergency Response Commission for review and
comment no later than the first day of January, one thousand nine
hundred ninety. If any local committees fail to submit proposed
procedural rules, the State Emergency Response Commission shall
itself promulgate rules applicable to such local committees.
(d) The local emergency planning committee shall have and may
exercise the following powers and authority and shall perform the following duties:
(1) Establish procedures for receiving and processing requests
from the public for information regarding any emergency response
plan, material safety data sheet, emergency, first aid and medical
treatment procedures, list described in 42 U.S.C. § 11021(a)(2),
inventory form, toxic chemical release form, or followup emergency
notice, including tier II information under 42 U.S.C. § 11022;
(2) Designate an official to serve as coordinator for
information for processing requests for information from the
public;
(3) Develop and implement a comprehensive emergency response
plan in accordance with 42 U.S.C. § 11003, and review such plan
once a year, or more frequently as changed circumstances in the
community or at any facility may require:
Provided, That such
comprehensive emergency response plans may not require a covered
facility to revise, modify or otherwise alter any emergency release
response or release prevention plan that has been prepared pursuant
to any other state or federal statute or regulation including, but
not limited to, contingency plans developed under the Resource
Conservation and Recovery Act, Spill Prevention and Countermeasure
Plans, or Best Management Practices Plans developed under the Clean
Water Act;
(4) Prior to implementation, submit a copy of the prepared
emergency response plan to the State Emergency Response Commission for review and recommendation;
(5) Publish annually a notice in local newspapers that the
emergency response plan is available for review, as are those
material safety data sheets, emergency, first aid and medical
treatment procedures, inventory forms and followup emergency
notices which have been submitted to the committee. The notice
shall also state that members of the public who wish to review any
such plan, sheet, form or followup notice may do so at a designated
location;
(6) Establish deadlines for responding to information requests
from the public; and
(7) Receive, catalogue and organize information required to be
submitted to the committee under the provisions of 42 U.S.C. §
11001 et seq.
Note: The purpose of this bill is to
clarify the membership
makeup of the State Emergency Response Commission and the local
emergency planning committees and to increase the cap on the
inventory form fee
.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.
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