(a) Upon the request of the state board, the office, in consultation with and with the participation of the state board, shall evaluate the health effects of and prepare recommendations regarding substances, other than pesticides in their pesticidal use, which may be or are emitted into the ambient air of California and that may be determined to be toxic air contaminants.
(b) In conducting this evaluation, the office shall consider all available scientific data, including, but not limited to, relevant data provided by the state board, the State Department of Health Services, the Occupational Safety and Health Division of the Department of Industrial Relations, the Department of Pesticide Regulation, international and federal health agencies, private industry, academic researchers, and public health and environmental organizations. The evaluation shall be performed using current principles, practices, and methods used by public health professionals who are experienced practitioners in the fields of epidemiology, human health effects assessment, risk assessment, and toxicity.
(c) (1) The evaluation shall assess the availability and quality of data on health effects, including potency, mode of action, and other relevant biological factors, of the substance, and shall, to the extent that information is available, assess all of the following:
(A) Exposure patterns among infants and children that are likely to result in disproportionately high exposure to ambient air pollutants in comparison to the general population.
(B) Special susceptibility of infants and children to ambient air pollutants in comparison to the general population.
(C) The effects on infants and children of exposure to toxic air contaminants and other substances that have a common mechanism of toxicity.
(D) The interaction of multiple air pollutants on infants and children, including the interaction between criteria air pollutants and toxic air contaminants.
(2) The evaluation shall also contain an estimate of the levels of exposure that may cause or contribute to adverse health effects. If it can be established that a threshold of adverse health effects exists, the estimate shall include both of the following factors:
(A) The exposure level below which no adverse health effects are anticipated.
(B) An ample margin of safety that accounts for the variable effects that heterogeneous human populations exposed to the substance under evaluation may experience, the uncertainties associated with the applicability of the data to human beings, and the completeness and quality of the information available on potential human exposure to the substance. In cases in which there is no threshold of significant adverse health effects, the office shall determine the range of risk to humans resulting from current or anticipated exposure to the substance.
(3) The scientific basis or scientific portion of the method used by the office to assess the factors set forth in this subdivision shall be reviewed in a manner consistent with this chapter by the Scientific Review Panel on Toxic Air Contaminants established pursuant to Article 5 (commencing with Section 39670). Any person may submit any information for consideration by the panel, which may receive oral testimony.
(d) The office shall submit its written evaluation and recommendations to the state board within 90 days after receiving the request of the state board pursuant to subdivision (a). The office may, however, petition the state board for an extension of the deadline, not to exceed 30 days, setting forth its statement of the reasons that prevent the office from completing its evaluation and recommendations within 90 days. Upon receipt of a request for extension of, or noncompliance with, the deadline contained in this section, the state board shall immediately transmit to the Assembly Committee on Rules and the Senate Committee on Rules, for transmittal to the appropriate standing, select, or joint committee of the Legislature, a statement of reasons for extension of the deadline, along with copies of the office’s statement of reasons that prevent it from completing its evaluation and recommendations in a timely manner.
(e) (1) The state board or a district may request, and any person shall provide, information on any substance that is or may be under evaluation and that is manufactured, distributed, emitted, or used by the person of whom the request is made, in order to carry out its responsibilities pursuant to this chapter. To the extent practical, the state board or a district may collect the information in aggregate form or in any other manner designed to protect trade secrets.
(2) Any person providing information pursuant to this subdivision may, at the time of submission, identify a portion of the information submitted to the state board or a district as a trade secret and shall support the claim of a trade secret, upon the written request of the state board or district board. Subject to Section 1060 of the Evidence Code, information supplied that is a trade secret, as specified in Section 6254.7 of the Government Code, and that is so marked at the time of submission, shall not be released to any member of the public. This section does not prohibit the exchange of properly designated trade secrets between public agencies when those trade secrets are relevant and necessary to the exercise of their jurisdiction if the public agencies exchanging those trade secrets preserve the protections afforded that information by this paragraph.
(3) Any information not identified as a trade secret shall be available to the public unless exempted from disclosure by other provisions of law. The fact that information is claimed to be a trade secret is public information. Upon receipt of a request for the release of information that has been claimed to be a trade secret, the state board or district shall immediately notify the person who submitted the information, and shall determine whether or not the information claimed to be a trade secret is to be released to the public. The state board or district board, as the case may be, shall make its determination within 60 days after receiving the request for disclosure, but not before 30 days following the notification of the person who submitted the information. If the state board or district decides to make the information public, it shall provide the person who submitted the information 10 days’ notice prior to public disclosure of the information.
(f) The office and the state board shall give priority to the evaluation and regulation of substances based on factors related to the risk of harm to public health, amount or potential amount of emissions, manner of, and exposure to, usage of the substance in California, persistence in the atmosphere, and ambient concentrations in the community. In determining the importance of these factors, the office and the state board shall consider all of the following information, to the extent that it is available:
(1) Research and monitoring data collected by the state board and the districts pursuant to Sections 39607, 39617.5, 39701, and 40715, and by the United States Environmental Protection Agency pursuant to paragraph (2) of subsection (k) of Section 112 of the federal act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 7412(k)(2)).
(2) Emissions inventory data reported for substances subject to Part 6 (commencing with Section 44300) and the risk assessments prepared for those substances.
(3) Toxic chemical release data reported to the state emergency response commission pursuant to Section 313 of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-To-Know Act of 1986 (42 U.S.C. Sec. 11023) and Section 6607 of the Pollution Prevention Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. Sec. 13106).
(4) Information on estimated actual exposures to substances based on geographic and demographic data and on data derived from analytical methods that measure the dispersion and concentrations of substances in ambient air.
(Amended by Stats. 1999, Ch. 731, Sec. 5. Effective January 1, 2000.)