Article 2 - Local Health Emergencies

California Health and Safety Code — §§ 101075-101095

Sections (7)

Added by Stats. 1995, Ch. 415, Sec. 3. Effective January 1, 1996.

As used in this article:

(a)“Hazardous waste” means a waste, or combination of wastes, that because of its quantity, concentration, or physical, chemical, or infectious characteristics may do any of the following:

(1)Cause, or significantly contribute to an increase in mortality or an increase in serious irreversible, or incapacitating reversible, illness.

(2)Pose a substantial present or potential hazard to human health or environment when improperly treated, stored, transported, or disposed of, or otherwise managed.

(b)“Waste” means either of the following:

(1)Any material for which no use or reuse is intended and that is to be discarded.

(2)Any material that spills, escapes, or is released from any manufacturing, industrial, commercial, or other plant, facility, or process, or that escapes or is released during the transporting or transferring from one place to another, or during the pumping, processing, storing, or packaging of any material in, to, or from such a plant, facility, or process, or that enters or may enter an uncontained air space or a surface water course that is not totally contained on the contiguous property of the plant, facility, or process, or which enters, or may enter, the groundwater underlying such plant, facility, or process.

§ 101080

Amended by Stats. 2018, Ch. 990, Sec. 4. (AB 2238) Effective January 1, 2019.

Whenever a release, spill, escape, or entry of waste occurs as described in paragraph (2) of subdivision (b) of Section 101075 and the director or the local health officer reasonably determines that the waste is a hazardous waste or medical waste, or that it may become a hazardous waste or medical waste because of a combination or reaction with other substances or materials, and the director or local health officer reasonably determines that the release or escape is an immediate threat to the public health, or whenever there is an imminent and proximate threat of the introduction of any contagious, infectious, or communicable disease, chemical agent, noncommunicable biologic agent, toxin, or radioactive agent, the director may declare a health emergency and the local health officer may declare a local health

emergency in the jurisdiction or any area thereof affected by the threat to the public health. Whenever a local health emergency is declared by a local health officer pursuant to this section, the local health emergency shall not remain in effect for a period in excess of seven days unless it has been ratified by the board of supervisors, or city council, whichever is applicable to the jurisdiction. The board of supervisors, or city council, if applicable, shall review, at least every 30 days until the local health emergency is terminated, the need for continuing the local health emergency and shall proclaim the termination of the local health emergency at the earliest possible date that conditions warrant the termination.

§ 101080.2

Amended by Stats. 2013, Ch. 352, Sec. 384. (AB 1317) Effective September 26, 2013. Operative July 1, 2013, by Sec. 543 of Ch. 352.

(a)The local health officer may issue, and first responders may execute, an order authorizing first responders to immediately isolate exposed individuals that may have been exposed to biological, chemical, toxic, or radiological agents that may spread to others. An order issued pursuant to this section shall not be in effect for a period longer than two hours and shall only be issued if the means are both necessary and the least restrictive possible to prevent human exposure.

(b)Before any implementation of the authority in subdivision (a), the local health officer shall establish a related memorandum of understanding with first responders in his or her jurisdiction that

shall require consultation with the Office of Emergency Services operational area coordinator, consistent with the standardized emergency management system established pursuant to Section 8607 of the Government Code, and shall include where and how exposed subjects will be held pending decontamination in the local jurisdiction. That memorandum of understanding shall be made available to the public.

(c)A violation of an order issued by the local health officer and executed by a first responder pursuant to subdivision (a) is a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of up to one thousand dollars ($1000), or by imprisonment in the county jail for a period of up to 90 days, or by both.

§ 101085

Amended by Stats. 2006, Ch. 874, Sec. 5. Effective January 1, 2007.

(a)After the declaration of a health emergency or a local health emergency pursuant to Section 101080, the director or local health officer may do any or all of the following:

(1)Only in the case of a release, spill, escape, or entry of waste as described in paragraph (2) of subdivision (b) of Section 101075, require any person or organization that the director or local health officer shall specify to furnish any information known relating to the properties, reactions, and identity of the material that has been released, spilled, or escaped. The director or local health officer may require information to be furnished, under penalty of perjury, by the person, company, corporation, or other organization that had custody of the material, and, if the material is being transferred or transported, by any person, company, corporation, or organization that caused the material to be transferred or transported. This information shall be furnished to the director or local health officer upon request in sufficient detail, as determined by the director or local health officer, as required to take any action necessary to abate the health emergency or local health emergency or protect the health of persons in the jurisdiction, or any area thereof, who are, or may be affected. However, the burden, including costs, of furnishing the information shall bear a reasonable relationship to the need for the information and the benefits to be obtained therefrom.

(2)Provide the information, or any necessary portions thereof, or any other necessary information available to the director or local health officer to state or local agencies responding to the health emergency or local health emergency or to medical and other professional personnel treating victims of the local health emergency.

(3)Sample, analyze, or otherwise determine the identifying and other technical information relating to the health emergency or local health emergency as necessary to respond to or abate the local health emergency and protect the public health.

(b)After the declaration of a local health emergency by the local health officer pursuant to Section 101080, the following shall apply in the jurisdiction in which the local health emergency has been declared:

(1)Other political subdivisions have full power to provide mutual aid to any area affected by a local health emergency in accordance with local ordinances, resolutions, emergency plans, or agreements therefor.

(2)State agencies may provide mutual aid, including personnel, equipment, and other available resources, to assist political subdivisions during a local health emergency or in accordance with mutual aid agreements or at the direction of the Governor.

(3)In the absence of a state of war emergency or state of emergency, the cost of extraordinary services incurred by political subdivisions in executing mutual aid agreements in a local health emergency shall constitute a legal charge against the state when approved by the Governor in accordance with orders and regulations promulgated as prescribed in Section 8567 of the Government Code.

(c)Under this section, a local health emergency shall be considered a local emergency for purposes of Section 8659 of the Government Code.

(d)This section does not limit or abridge any of the powers or duties granted to the State Water Resources Control Board and to each regional water quality control board by Division 7 (commencing with Section 13000) of the Water Code. This section also does not limit or abridge the powers or duties granted to the State Air Resources Board or to any air pollution control district by Division 26 (commencing with Section 39000).

This section does not limit or abridge any of the powers or duties granted to the Director of Food and Agriculture or to any county agricultural commissioner by Division 6 (commencing with Section 11401) or by Division 7 (commencing with Section 12501) of the Food and Agricultural Code.

§ 101087

Added by Stats. 1999, Ch. 925, Sec. 1. Effective January 1, 2000.

(a)For purposes of this section, the terms “handler,” “administering agency,” “hazardous material,” “release,” and “threatened release” shall have the meaning given in Section 25501.

(b)After a release or a threatened release of a hazardous material from the premises of a handler, which release or threatened release poses a significant present or potential hazard to human health and safety, property, or the environment, the board of supervisors may delegate to the county health officer or administering agency, the responsibility to examine any individual who has been properly subpoenaed by the chairperson of the board of supervisors for the purpose of obtaining information as to the cause of the incident, and to report to the board of supervisors what actions the board of supervisors should take to prevent a similar incident from occurring again. The county health officer or administering agency shall consider in the report any information obtained pursuant to subdivision (g) and respond to that information in the report. The county health officer or administering agency may examine the subpoenaed individual in private, except that the individual may choose to be interviewed in the presence of personal legal counsel.

(c)Prior to issuing a subpoena for purposes of subdivision (b), the board of supervisors shall make a written finding that the county health officer or administering agency has made a reasonable attempt to conduct a voluntary examination, and that the attempt was not successful.

(d)If the board of supervisors delegates the responsibility to examine any subpoenaed individual to the county health officer pursuant to subdivision (b) and the county health officer is not the administering agency within the jurisdiction where the hazardous material release or threatened release occurred, the county health officer shall actively involve the administering agency in all phases of the examination, the investigation to determine the cause of the hazardous material release or threatened release, and the preparation of the report to the board of supervisors concerning what actions the board of supervisors should take to prevent a similar incident from occurring.

(e)(1)

If a handler subject to a subpoena believes that information provided to the county health officer or administering agency during, or in connection with, an examination conducted pursuant to this section involves the release of a trade secret, the handler shall notify the county health officer or administering agency in the manner specified in subdivision (a) of Section 25538. Upon receipt of that notification, the county health officer or administering agency shall handle that information in the same manner as specified in Section 25538 with regard to the review and disclosure of that information by an administering agency.

(2)For purposes of this subdivision, “trade secret” has the same meaning as defined in subdivision (a) of Section 25538.

(f)When the county health officer or administering agency is preparing a report for the board of supervisors pursuant to subdivision (b), the handler subject to the subpoena may submit to the health officer or administering agency any information and analysis gathered or prepared by the handler regarding the cause of the release or threatened release and any appropriate action for the prevention of a similar incident. The health officer or administering agency shall consider any information and analyses submitted by the handler pursuant to this subdivision in preparing the report to the board of supervisors and shall respond to that information in the report.

(g)Nothing in this section shall be construed to either limit or expand the existing subpoena authority of a county board of supervisors pursuant to Section 25170 of the Government Code.

§ 101090

Added by Stats. 1995, Ch. 415, Sec. 3. Effective January 1, 1996.

When requested by the person furnishing the information furnished pursuant to Section 101085, the portions of the information that might disclose trade secrets or secret processes shall not be made available for inspection by the public, but shall be made available to governmental agencies for use in abatement of the health emergency or county health emergency and in judicial review or enforcement proceedings involving the person furnishing the information.

§ 101095

Amended by Stats. 1996, Ch. 1023, Sec. 301.9. Effective September 29, 1996.

Any person failing or refusing to furnish technical, toxicological, or other information required pursuant to Section 101085, or falsifying any information provided pursuant to Section 101085 is guilty of a misdemeanor and is also subject to any other criminal or civil penalties provided by statute.