(a) Any agency, including the administering agency, may request the committee at any time to convene an advisory team for the purpose of providing the administering agency with guidance in overseeing the site investigation and remedial action at a hazardous materials release site. If the request is made by an agency other than the administering agency, the request shall be in writing, and shall specify any issue that is of concern to the requesting agency, the requirements of the laws, ordinances, regulations, or standards that are related to the issue, and the manner in which the administration or implementation of those requirements by the administering agency has raised the issue concerning the site investigation or remedial action at the hazardous materials release site. The committee shall create such an advisory team within 30 calendar days of the date of receipt of the request and shall designate the members of the advisory team after consulting with interested agencies. The advisory team shall be chaired by the representative of the agency that requested the advisory team to be convened and shall meet within five working days of the date that any agency requests a meeting. A representative of the administering agency shall attend all advisory team meetings.
(b) The advisory team may only take action to ensure that the administering agency has adequate information concerning the requirements of applicable laws, ordinances, regulations, or standards to address, in an appropriate and correct manner, any issue that led to the request for, and the convening of, the advisory team. To carry out this function, the advisory team shall do all of the following:
(1) Define, in a specific manner, any issue related to the site investigation and remedial action that led to the request to convene the advisory team.
(2) Determine the application of the laws, ordinances, regulations, and standards related to that issue that are applicable to, and govern, the site investigation and remedial action.
(3) Make recommendations to the administering agency concerning the manner in which the applicable laws, ordinances, regulations, and standards should be administratively applied to appropriately and correctly resolve the issue.
(c) An agency, other than the administering agency, that is a member of the advisory team shall be eligible for reimbursement of oversight costs related to its participation on the advisory team from the responsible party for the hazardous materials release site only if all of the following apply:
(1) The issue that led to the request to convene the advisory team, or the issue that is considered by the advisory committee following its formation, is directly and materially related to the administration of a law, ordinance, regulation, or standard for which the agency has actual statutory or administrative responsibility.
(2) The administering agency certifies that the agency is not able to address the issue without a significant expenditure of personnel time or other resources, or certifies that the issue is related to potential risks to human health or safety or the environment of sufficient significance to warrant reimbursement of the agency’s oversight expenditures.
(3) Either of the following applies:
(A) The responsible party agrees to reimburse the agency’s oversight expenditures.
(B) The committee directs the responsible party or responsible parties to reimburse the agency’s oversight expenditures.
(d) Subdivision (c) does not affect the authority of the administering agency to recover oversight costs in accordance with applicable law.
(Amended by Stats. 2000, Ch. 912, Sec. 2. Effective September 29, 2000.)