§ 15110. Unified Program Definitions.

(a) Applicant Agency means a county, city or other qualified local agency that is applying to the Secretary to become a Certified Unified Program Agency.

(b) California Environmental Reporting System or CERS is the statewide information management system established by the Secretary to receive all data collected by the Unified Program Agencies and reported by regulated businesses, pursuant to Health and Safety Code chapter 6.11.

(c) Certified Unified Program Agency or CUPA means the agency certified by the Secretary to implement the Unified Program in a specified jurisdiction, pursuant to Health and Safety Code chapter 6.11.

(d) Data Collection. For the purposes of this division, terms related to the Unified Program information have the following meaning:

(1) Data elements are the discrete data fields that define information required to be collected by applicable statutes or regulations. Data elements are defined in the Unified Program Data Dictionary.

(2) Submittal Element means a collection of related Unified Program data elements or document(s) that must be submitted by a regulated business as a single unit.

(3) Document means a collection of data that are not submitted as a set of standardized data elements either because the document's data are not suitable to define as discrete data elements, or the document's data elements are not yet defined in the Unified Program Data Dictionary. When a document needs to be submitted to meet Unified Program electronic reporting requirements, it shall be provided in the Portable Document Format (PDF) or other document format supported by CERS.

(4) Electronic reporting means the collection, submittal, and transfer of Unified Program data using electronic, non-paper media.

(5) Electronic Data Transfer (EDT) means the electronic exchange of Unified Program data elements or documents as one or more submittal elements as defined in the Unified Program Data Dictionary by Unified Program Agencies and Cal/EPA. EDT is performed using data exchange technical specifications.

(6) A Data Exchange Technical Specification is a standardized format that identifies the format for exchanging Unified Program data between CERS and a local information management system or local reporting portal. The primary Data Exchange technical specifications for Unified Program electronic reporting involve XML Schemas that define how Unified Program data elements must be formatted or arranged to support XML-based electronic data exchange. Other Data Exchange technical specifications include specifically formatted spreadsheets and other files for exchanging certain Unified Program data. Cal/EPA releases updated Data Exchange Technical Specifications after changes are approved to the Unified Program Data Dictionary.

(e) Enforcement Actions. There are two types of Unified Program enforcement actions:

(1) Formal Enforcement means a civil, criminal, or administrative action that mandates compliance, imposes sanctions, and results in an enforceable agreement or order. Enforceable agreement or order means the instrument creates an independent, affirmative obligation to comply and imposes sanctions for the prior failure to comply. Sanctions include fines and penalties as well as other tangible obligations, beyond returning to compliance, that are imposed upon the regulated business.

(2) Informal Enforcement means a notification to the regulated business of non-compliance and establishes an action and a date by which that non-compliance is to be corrected. Examples include a letter or notice of violation. These actions do not impose sanctions.

(f) Inspection Types. There are two types of Unified Program inspections, which for reporting purposes are mutually exclusive:

(1) Routine Inspection is a regularly scheduled inspection to evaluate compliance pursuant to one or more program elements.

(2) Other Inspection includes, but is not limited to, regulatory field activity such as complaint investigations, enforcement follow-up, closures, tank installation and/or removal oversight, tank cleaning, and release investigations. It does not include routine inspections or field or site visits whose principal purposes are informational or educational, pollution prevention education, verification of administrative information, or orientation of new owners or operators.

(g) Local Information Management System is a data management system used by a UPA to collect, retain, and manage Unified Program data.

(h) Local Reporting Portal is a public web site used by a CUPA to collect Unified Program data from regulated businesses within its jurisdiction.

(i) Participating agency (PA) means a state or local agency that has a formal agreement with the CUPA to implement one or more a program elements as part of the Unified Program.

(j) Program Element means one of the six sets of requirements listed in section 15100(a) or any other requirements incorporated pursuant to Health and Safety Code chapter 6.11, section 25404.2(d).

(k) Regulated Business means any of the following:

(1) “person” as defined in:

(A) the Hazardous Waste Management Program, Health and Safety Code section 25118;

(B) the California Hazardous Substances Tax Law, Revenue and Taxation Code part 22, division 2, section 43006;

(C) the HMRRP program, title 19, section 2650;

(D) the CalARP program, Health and Safety Code section 25532(m);

(E) the UST program, Health and Safety Code section 25281(l); and

(F) the AST program, Health and Safety Code chapter 6.67, section 25270.2.

(2) “business” as defined in the HMRRP program, Health and Safety Code sections 25501(e) and 25501.4.

(3) “facility” as defined in the UST program, Health and Safety Code section 25281(f).

(4) “tank facility” as defined in the AST program, Health and Safety Code section 25270.2.

(5) “hazardous waste facility” as defined in the Hazardous Waste Management program, Health and Safety Code section 25117.1.

(6) “stationary source” as defined in the CalARP program, California Code of Regulations, title 19, section 2735.3(uu).

(l) Signed or signature for purposes of electronic submissions means any symbol, including a digital signature defined in Government Code section 16.5, executed or adopted by a party with present intention to authenticate a writing.

(m) Surcharge means an element of the single fee assessed by the CUPA on each regulated business that covers the necessary and reasonable cost of the state agencies in carrying out their responsibilities pursuant to Health and Safety Code section 25404.5(b).

(n) Unified Program Agency (UPA) is the Certified Unified Program Agency (CUPA) or PA that implements one or more Unified Program elements.

(o) Unified Program Consolidated Form (UPCF) is a standardized set of forms used before January 1, 2013, by CUPAs to collect Unified Program data from regulated businesses. The UPCF is a single, comprehensive format that consolidates business-to-CUPA reporting requirements within the Unified Program.

(p) Unified Program Data Dictionary (data dictionary) defines data elements, data field size and type, and edit criteria for regulatory data that shall be collected and retained by a UPA. It has the following sections:

(1) Business Section: for information reported from businesses to UPAs. [Div. 3, subd. 1, chs. 1-4]

(2) CUPA Section: for CUPA-to-state reporting of CUPA activities or other information that shall be collected and retained by a CUPA and reported pursuant to section 15290. [Div. 3, subd. 1, ch. 5, Unified Agency Reporting]

(q) Unified Program Facility Permit means those permits issued under the Unified Program. The permit may be a single permit or multiple permits in a single package which shall minimize duplicate information. It includes the underground storage tank permit, permit-by-rule, and any other permit or authorization requirements found under any local ordinance or requirement relating to the generation or handling of hazardous waste or materials. The Unified Program Facility Permit does not include the permitting requirements of a local ordinance that incorporates provisions of the California Fire or Building Code.

HISTORY

1. New article 2 and section filed 11-14-94 as an emergency; operative 11-14-94 (Register 94, No. 46). A Certificate of Compliance must be transmitted to OAL by 3-20-95 or emergency language will be repealed by operation of law on the following day.

2. New article 2 and section refiled 3-7-95 as an emergency; operative 3-7-95 (Register 95, No. 10). A Certificate of Compliance must be transmitted to OAL by 7-5-95 or emergency language will be repealed by operation of law on the following day.

3. New article 2 and section refiled 7-7-95; operative 7-7-95 (Register 95, No. 27). A Certificate of Compliance must be transmitted to OAL by 11-4-95 or emergency language will be repealed by operation of law on the following day.

4. New article 2 and section refiled 11-3-95 as an emergency; operative 11-3-95 (Register 95, No. 44). A Certificate of Compliance must be transmitted to OAL by 3-2-96 or emergency language will be repealed by operation of law on the following day.

5. Certificate of Compliance as to 11-14-94 order including amendment of subsections (a)(3)-(a)(7), (a)(9)-(a)(11) and repealer of subsection (a)(12) transmitted to OAL 12-15-95 and filed 1-31-96 (Register 96, No. 5).

6. Amendment of section and Note filed 1-8-99 as an emergency; operative 1-8-99 (Register 99, No. 2). A Certificate of Compliance must be transmitted to OAL by 5-10-99 or emergency language will be repealed by operation of law on the following day.

7. Certificate of Compliance as to 1-8-99 order, including further amendments, transmitted to OAL 4-2-99 and filed 5-14-99 (Register 99, No. 20).

8. Amendment of subsection (d)(6) and Note filed 3-5-2002; operative 3-5-2002 (Register 2002, No. 10).

9. Amendment of subsection (a) - Unified Program Data Directory, subsections (1)-(2), and subsection (a) - Unified Program Consolidated Form filed 11-16-2004; operative 12-16-2004 (Register 2004, No. 47).

10. Amendment of section heading and section filed 4-13-2007; operative 5-13-2007 (Register 2007, No. 15).

11. Change without regulatory effect amending subsection (f) filed 3-21-2008 pursuant to section 100, title 1, California Code of Regulations (Register 2008, No. 12).

12. Amendment filed 12-17-2013; operative 12-17-2013 pursuant to Government Code section 11343.4(b)(3) (Register 2013, No. 51).

Note

Note: Authority cited: Sections 25404(b), (c), (d) and (e), Health and Safety Code. Reference: Sections 25404(c) and (d), 25404.5(a) and 25532(k), Health and Safety Code; Section 43006, Revenue and Taxation Code; and the 1996 United States Environmental Protection Agency Enforcement Response Policy for the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act.