sr-052212-3bCity of City Council Report
Santa Monica
City Council Meeting: May 22, 2012
Agenda Item: 3B
To: Mayor and City Council
From: Scott Ferguson, Fire Chief
Subject: California Environmental Electronic Reporting Grant Agreement
Recommended Action
Staff recommends that the City Council:
1. Authorize the City Manager to accept a grant award in the amount of $39,724
from the State of California for the Fire Department Certified Unified Program
Agency Program (Program) and execute agreements, and any amendments
thereto, to implement the Program
2. Authorize budget changes as outlined in the Financial Impacts and Budget
Actions section of this report.
Executive Summary
Assembly Bill AB 2286 (Statutes 2008) went into effect January 1, 2009. It requires all
local government agencies (Unified Program Agencies -UPAs) and businesses
regulated under the Unified Program to report electronically by January 1, 2013. A
Unified Program Agency must establish a program which consolidates, coordinates and
makes consistent the administrative requirements, permits, inspection activities,
enforcement activities, and hazardous waste and hazardous materials fees. The new
law specifies that all information gathered by the UPA is subject to this requirement.
UPA information includes:
• facility data regarding hazardous material regulatory activities
• chemical inventories
• underground and aboveground storage tanks
• hazardous waste generation
• data reflecting inspections and enforcement actions.
All regulated businesses and UPAs in the State of California must transition to the
California Environmental Protection Agency (CaIEPA) system or to an
internet/electronic based reporting system capable of exchanging data with the CaIEPA
system by January 1, 2013. In May 2011, the City submitted a grant application and
transition plan and was awarded $39,724 by the California Environmental Protection
Agency to implement the transition to the electronic reporting standard.
Background
In 1997, the City Council authorized the City of Santa Monica to become a Certified
Unified Program Agency (CUPA) in order to administer the consolidation and
coordination of six specific hazardous material control programs including the
Underground Storage Tank (UST) program, the Aboveground Storage Tank (AST)
program, the Business Plan Program, the California Accidental Release Prevention
Program, the Hazardous Materials Management Plan /Hazardous Materials Inventory
Statement Program, and the Hazardous Waste Generator/Tiered Permitting Program.
These programs are currently administered by the City of Santa Monica Fire
Department (SMCUPA) and Los Angeles County Fire Department. Under the CUPA
program the City is responsible for permitting, inspecting, and collecting fees from
approximately 300 businesses.
Assembly Bill 2286 requires the SMCUPA to begin to report business and inspection
data electronically to the California Environmental Reporting System by January 2013.
The bill also authorizes the California Environmental Protection Agency to administer a
grant to local CUPAs to help offset costs associated with the implementation of the
program. These costs may include the purchase of computer software, computer
hardware, and training for CUPA staff and the business community. The SMCUPA will
utilize the grant funds to offset the costs of computer hardware in the form of tablet
computers for use in the field for CUPA and Fire & Life Safety inspections that will
interface with the current Accela Permit Inspection software.
Discussion
The Santa Monica Fire Department -Fire Prevention Division /CUPA would utilize the
grant funds to purchase tablet computers that integrate into the newly acquired permit
software Accela Automation. The tablet computers allow for inspection data collection
in the field which will upload to the office's computer system. The new software
2
application implementation and transition to electronic submissions will be completed
December 2012. Accela Automation will be in place in late 2012 to meet the
requirements of electronic data transmission by 2013. The grant performance period
ends in March 2013 which is the deadline for implementation. Included in the transition
to electronic data reporting would be a training component. Training will be provided to
the regulated business community approximately four times during the course of 2012.
This training would be supplemented with one -on -one personal visits to businesses that
need extra help and attention, including those that need additional computer training to
meet the State requirements.
Financial Impacts & Budget Actions
Award of a $39,724 grant from California Environmental Protection Agency requires the
following FY2011 -12 budget changes:
1. Establish revenue account 20312.405720 in the amount of $39,724
2. Appropriate operating expenditures in the amount of $39,724 at account
20312.555820 to reflect receipt of the Certified Unified Program Agency
Electronic Reporting Grant Program.
Prepared by: Eric Binder, Assistant Fire Marshal
Approved:
Scott erguson
Fire Chief, Fire Department
3
Forwarded to Council:
Ro Gould
City Manager