(a) The board and the regional board may oversee cleanup or abatement efforts, or cause cleanup or abatement efforts, of a release from a storage tank at a tank facility.
(b) The reasonable expenses of the board and the regional board incurred in overseeing, or contracting for, cleanup or abatement efforts that result from a release at a tank facility is a charge against the owner or operator of the tank facility. Expenses reimbursable to a public agency under this section are a debt of the tank facility owner or operator, and shall be collected in the same manner as in the case of an obligation under a contract, express or implied.
(c) Expenses recovered by the board or a regional board pursuant to this section shall be deposited into the Waste Discharge Permit Fund. These moneys shall be separately accounted for, and shall be expended by the board, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to assist regional boards and other public agencies with authority to clean up waste or abate the effects of the waste, in cleaning up or abating the effects of the waste on waters of the state, or for the purposes authorized in Section 13443 of the Water Code.
(Amended by Stats. 2015, Ch. 452, Sec. 8. (SB 612) Effective January 1, 2016.)