The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) This article, which establishes an Orphan Share Reimbursement Trust Fund, operates in conjunction with the federal liability scheme under the federal act as in effect on July 1, 1998, for the recovery of response costs expended by government agencies.
(b) Under federal liability, at sites where there are insolvent or defunct parties that cannot contribute to the cost of cleanup, viable responsible parties pay the share of liability for that cleanup that may be attributable to insolvent and defunct parties.
(c) The Orphan Share Reimbursement Trust Fund is created to mitigate the payment of an insolvent or defunct party’s liability share by viable responsible parties, to the extent money in the fund is available, and to encourage responsible parties to quickly and efficiently remediate contamination.
(Added by Stats. 1999, Ch. 23, Sec. 2. Effective May 26, 1999. See operational conditions in Section 25390.9.)