(a) A fee shall be paid annually to the State Board of Equalization by employers in industries identified by the four-digit Standard Industrial Classification (S.I.C., 1987 Edition) established by the United States Department of Commerce and for which the State Board of Equalization has received information from the department of documented evidence of potential occupational lead poisoning.
(b) The department shall provide to the State Board of Equalization on or before the first day of November of each year, all information for the prior three-year period obtained by the California Blood Lead Registry, regarding evidence of potential occupational lead poisoning by the Standard Industrial Classification. Based on this information, the State Board of Equalization shall determine whether an employer is within Category A of the Standard Industrial Classification or within Category B of the Standard Industrial Classification and shall implement the fee schedule set forth in subdivision (c). For the purpose of this subdivision and subdivision (c), a Category A Standard Industrial Classification code is a Standard Industrial Classification code listed in Section 105195 for which there have been fewer than 20 persons with elevated blood lead levels reported to the California Blood Lead Registry in the prior three-year period. A Category B Standard Industrial Classification code is a Standard Industrial Classification code listed in Section 105195 for which there have been 20 or more persons with elevated blood lead levels reported to the California Blood Lead Registry in the prior three-year period. An elevated blood lead level is a level greater than or equal to 25 micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood.
(c) For employers with 10 or more employees, but less than 100 employees, in a Category A Standard Industrial Classification code, the annual fee shall be one hundred ninety-five dollars ($195). For employers with 100 or more employees, but fewer than 500 employees, in a Category A Standard Industrial Classification code, the annual fee shall be three hundred ninety dollars ($390). For employers with 500 or more employees in a Category A Standard Industrial Classification code, the annual fee shall be nine hundred seventy-five dollars ($975). For employers with 10 or more employees, but fewer than 100 employees, in a Category B Standard Industrial Classification code, the annual fee shall be two hundred seventy-nine dollars ($279). For employers with 100 or more employees, but fewer than 500 employees, in a Category B Standard Industrial Classification code, the annual fee shall be seven hundred eighty-one dollars ($781). For employers with 500 or more employees in a Category B Standard Industrial Classification code, the annual fee shall be two thousand two hundred thirty-two dollars ($2,232). For the purpose of this subdivision, an employer is any person defined in Section 25118 of the Health and Safety Code. Employers with fewer than 10 employees are not subject to any fees pursuant to this section.
(d) The fees imposed in subdivision (c) are the rates for calendar year 1995 and shall be adjusted annually by the State Board of Equalization to reflect increases or decreases in the cost of living during the prior fiscal year as measured by the Consumer Price Index issued by the Department of Industrial Relations, or a successor agency. This adjustment of fees shall not be subject to the requirements of Chapter 2.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code.
(e) In no event shall the annual fee exceed the cost of the program described in Section 105185. The department may exempt from payment of fees those employers who demonstrate that lead is not present in their places of employment. The cost of the program described in Section 105185 shall not exceed the amount of revenue collected from the annual fee.
(f) The fee imposed pursuant to subdivision (b) shall be paid by each employer which is identified in the schedule in accordance with Part 22 (commencing with Section 43001) of Division 2 of the Revenue and Taxation Code and shall be deposited in the Occupational Lead Poisoning Prevention Account of the General Fund, which is hereby created, to be expended for the purposes of the Occupational Lead Poisoning Prevention Program, including the cost of administering the fees by the State Board of Equalization, upon appropriation by the Legislature.
(Added by renumbering Section 429.14 (as amended by Stats. 1995, Ch. 630) by Stats. 1996, Ch. 720, Sec. 1. Effective January 1, 1997.)