§ 15260. Cupa - Education, Technical Expertise, and Training.

(a)(1) CUPAs shall meet the following minimum qualifications:

(A) CUPA technical program staff and supervisors who are involved in specific activities associated with oversight of the local Unified Program requirements must meet the following minimum educational requirements:

(i) Thirty semester units earned from an accredited college or institution approved by the California Superintendent of Public Instruction under the provisions of California Education Code section 94310(b), from one or more of the following disciplines:

(aa) Biology or microbiology

(bb) Chemistry, chemical engineering

(cc) Physics, physical science

(dd) Environmental science

(ee) Geology or soil science

(ff) Environmental health

(gg) Environmental or sanitary engineering

(hh) Toxicology

(ii) Industrial hygiene

(jj) Hazardous materials management

(kk) Fire science, fire technology;

- OR -

(ii) Equivalent to graduation from an accredited college or university or equivalent degree approved by the California Superintendent of Public Instruction under the provisions of California Education Code section 94301(b) with major course work in the disciplines listed in paragraph (a)(1)(A)(i);

- OR -

(iii) Qualifying experience in hazardous materials management, regulation, analysis, or research; environmental research, monitoring, surveillance or enforcement; or resource recovery may be substituted for the required education, on the basis of one year of qualifying experience for 15 units of college course work authorized pursuant to paragraph (a)(1)(A)(i), for up to a maximum of 15 units.

(B) CUPA technical program staff and supervisors who are involved in specific activities associated with oversight of the local Unified Program requirements shall meet minimum hours of training or experience requirements contained in subdivision (d)(3)(B) of this section, for all the following subject areas:

(i) Regulatory overview;

(ii) Classification, identification, and chemistry of hazardous materials and hazardous waste;

(iii) Health and environmental effects of hazardous substances, including chemical exposure and route of entry;

(iv) Sampling methodologies and use of instrumentation for detection and sampling of hazardous substances;

(v) Conducting inspections and enforcement actions, and writing inspection reports and notice of violation;

(vi) Interviewing, case development, and collection and preservation of evidence.

(b) One or more CUPA technical staff or supervisors, as needed to effectively meet the requirements of paragraphs (a)(1)(A) and (1)(B), shall meets the requirements of subdivision (d) of this section.

(c) Technical staff and supervisors of the CUPA and PAs shall receive training in the following areas:

(1) Hazardous materials and hazardous waste permitting, inspection and enforcement duties and responsibilities pursuant to state law and regulation, and to local ordinances and resolutions;

(2) Inspection techniques and scheduling, including evidence collection, chain of custody, sample preservation, and interviewing;

(3) Administration practices within a hazardous materials and hazardous waste program;

(4) Monitoring equipment, data evaluation, and interpretation of the results as related to hazardous materials and hazardous waste analysis; and

(5) Field staff health and safety training including: planning field inspections, safety equipment, on-site procedures, decontamination and hazard recognition and avoidance.

(d)(1) Education Requirements:

(A) Equivalent to graduation from an accredited college or university or equivalent degree approved by the California Superintendent of Public Instruction under the provisions of California Education Code section 94310(b) with major coursework in biological, chemical, physical, environmental or soil science; environmental health; environmental or sanitary engineering; toxicology; industrial hygiene; or a related field. Additional qualifying experience in hazardous materials management, regulation, analysis, or research; environmental research, monitoring, surveillance or enforcement; or resource recovery may be substituted for the required education on the basis of one year of qualifying experience for each year of college work for up to a maximum of two years. When substituting experience for education, qualifying education must include a minimum of 30 semester units in natural science from an accredited college or equivalent units from an institution approved as above; or

(B) Registration as an Environmental Health Specialist may be substituted for the required education.

(2) Participating staff shall have a minimum of one year experience in conducting hazardous materials or hazardous waste regulatory compliance inspections.

(3) Staff issuing enforcement orders shall complete the following minimum training:

(A) Health and safety training as specified in section 5192(e) title 8, California Code of Regulations;

(B) 100 hours of training in regulatory investigative techniques including training in the following subjects:

(i) Federal and state statutes and regulations on hazardous waste control;

(ii) Conducting an inspection;

(iii) Waste classification;

(iv) Inspection report writing;

(v) Collection and preservation of samples;

(vi) Enforcement response options;

(vii) Writing reports of violation;

(viii) Interviewing;

(ix) Case development;

(x) Collection and preservation of evidence;

(xi) Witness training; and

(xii) Rules of evidence and the administrative hearing process.

(C) Twenty-four hours of training in the following additional areas:

(i) Training on penalty assessment; and

(ii) Negotiation techniques.

(D) It shall be the responsibility of the CUPA to document the training and experience of staff participating in this program.

HISTORY

1. New 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 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 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 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)(2), (a)(3)(A) and (b) transmitted to OAL 12-15-95 and filed 1-31-96 (Register 96, No. 5).

6. Change without regulatory effect amending section filed 12-18-96 pursuant to section 100, title 1, California Code of Regulations (Register 96, No. 51).

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

8. Change without regulatory effect amending subsections (c) and (c)(4) filed 3-21-2008 pursuant to section 100, title 1, California Code of Regulations (Register 2008, No. 12).

9. Amendment of subsection (c) 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) and 25404.6(c), Health and Safety Code. Reference: Sections 25404(c) and (d), 25404.1(a)(1) and 25404.3(b)(1), (4), (5) and (7), Health and Safety Code.