2023 California Code › Health and Safety Code - HSC › DIVISION 26 - AIR RESOURCES › PART 4 - NONVEHICULAR AIR POLLUTION CONTROL › CHAPTER 4.5 - Protect California Air Act of 2003 › Section 42504.

42504. (a)  No air quality management district or air pollution control district may amend or revise its new source review rules or regulations to be less stringent than those that existed on December 30, 2002. If the state board finds, after a public hearing, that a district’s rules or regulations are not equivalent to or more stringent than the rules or regulations that existed on December 30, 2002, the state board shall promptly adopt for that district the rules or regulations that may be necessary to establish equivalency, consistent with subdivision (b).
(b)  (1)  In amending or revising its new source review rules or regulations, a district may not change any of the following that existed on December 30, 2002, if the amendments or revisions would exempt, relax or reduce the obligations of a stationary source for any of the requirements listed in paragraph (2):
(A)  The applicability determination for new source review.
(B)  The definition of modification, major modification, routine maintenance, or repair or replacement.
(C)  The calculation methodology, thresholds or other procedures of new source review.
(D)  Any definitions or requirements of the new source review regulations.
(2)  (A)  Any requirements to obtain new source review or other permits to construct, prior to commencement of construction.
(B)  Any requirements for best available control technology (BACT).
(C)  Any requirements for air quality impact analysis.
(D)  Any requirements for recordkeeping, monitoring and reporting in a manner that would make recordkeeping, monitoring, or reporting less representative, enforceable, or publicly accessible.
(E)  Any requirements for regulating any air pollutant covered by the new source review rules and regulations.
(F)  Any requirements for public participation, including a public comment period, public notification, public hearing, or other opportunities or forms of public participation, prior to issuance of permits to construct.
(c)  In amending or revising its new source review rules or regulations, a district may change any of the items in paragraph (1) of subdivision (b) only if the change is more stringent than the new source review rules or regulations that existed on December 30, 2002.
(d)  Notwithstanding subdivisions (a), (b), and (c), a district may amend or revise a rule or regulation if a district board, at the time the amendments or revisions are adopted, makes its decision based upon substantial evidence in the record, the amendments or revisions are submitted to and approved by the state board after a public hearing, and each of the following conditions is met:
(1)  The amended or revised rule or regulation will do one of the following:
(A)  Will replace an existing rule or regulation that caused a risk to public health or safety from exposure to a toxic material, a dangerous condition, or an infectious disease with a rule or regulation that provides greater protection to public health or safety.
(B)  Will replace an existing rule or regulation that has been found to be unworkable due to engineering or other technical problems with a rule or regulation that is effective.
(C)  Will allow an amendment to an existing rule or regulation that otherwise will cause substantial hardship to a business, industry, or category of sources, if all of the following criteria are met:
(i)  The amendment is narrowly tailored to relieve the identified hardship.
(ii)  The district provides equivalent reductions in emissions of air contaminants to offset any increase in emissions of air contaminants.
(iii)  All reductions in emissions of air contaminants are real, surplus, quantifiable, verifiable, enforceable, and timely. For the purposes of this clause, reductions are timely if they occur no more than three years prior to, and no more than three years following, the occurrence of the increase in emissions of air contaminants.
(iv)  Information regarding the reductions in emissions of air contaminants is available to the public.
(D)  Is a temporary rule or regulation necessary to respond to an emergency consisting of a sudden, unexpected occurrence and demanding prompt action to prevent or mitigate loss of or damage to life, health, property, or essential services and the temporary rule or regulation does not extend beyond the reasonably anticipated duration of the emergency.
(E)  Will not, if the district is in attainment with all national ambient air quality standards, impair or impede continued maintenance of those standards or progress toward achieving attainment of state ambient air quality standards.
(2)  The amended or revised rule or regulation will not exempt, relax, or reduce the obligation of any stationary source under the rules or regulations of the district, as those rules or regulations existed on December 30, 2002, to obtain a permit or to meet best available control technology requirements. This paragraph only applies to a source that constituted a major source under the rules or regulations of a district that existed on December 30, 2002, and does not apply to any individual best available control technology determination.
(3)  The amended or revised rule or regulation is otherwise consistent with this division.
(4)  The amended or revised rule or regulation is consistent with any guidance approved by the state board regarding environmental justice.
(Added by Stats. 2003, Ch. 476, Sec. 1. Effective January 1, 2004.)