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o,A- ACTION CONTINUES ON DEVELOPMENT OF E -WASTE REGULATIONS Almost immediately upon being sworn, Governor Schwarzenegger signed an Executive Order placing a 180 -day moratorium on the adoption of new regulations. A number of city officials have asked the League how this mora- torium intersects with the new regulations being developed by the California Integrated Waste Management Board and the Department of Toxic Substances Control to implement SB 20 (Sher), the a -waste legislation enacted this year. Be- sides the timing issue, some city officials appar- ently believe the Executive Order actually re- peals SB 20. (It does NOT repeal SB 20!) After researching the question, we can provide the following guidance. Generally, the Executive Order only applies to regulations that have been submitted to the Office of Administra- tive Law (OAL) for approval. Since the Waste Board and DTSC are in the early stages of developing the regulations, at this time the 180 - day moratorium does not apply to the SB 20 regulations. Thus, the SB 20 stakeholder meetings and other consultations will continue and both agencies will move ahead in develop- ing the regulations. At this time, it appears that the Waste Board will review and possibly adopt the final regula- tions in April 2004; the regulatory package would then go to OAL for review and approval. Thus, it is quite possible that the 180 -day moratorium will be over by the time the SB 20 regulations are finalized and sent to CAL. An exemption from the Executive Order could be sought if the timeline necessitates it. The League is an active participant in the SB 20 regulatory process. City officials interested in keeping abreast of the latest developments or in participating in the stakeholder meetings should visit the SB 20 page of the Waste Board's webst a atwww.ciwmb.ca.00v/Elec- tronics/Act2003/. AIR RESOURCES BOARD CONSIDERS RETROFIT RULE FOR PUBLIC AGENCY DIESEL FLEETS The California Air Resources Board is continu- ing its efforts to develop regulation, that require the retrofit of diesel powered fleets i i order to reduce the amount of particulate matter emis- sions. The ARB's regulations covering public and private garbage trucks are still in the works and the League continues to be an active player in this effort. The ARB is also developing regulations that cover diesel powered public agency fleets (i.e. non - garbage truck public agency trucks). This week, the ARB held a workshop on the latest draft of the regulations. Comments on the regulations are due to the ARB January 16, 2004. Information about the regulations and the ARB workshops may be found on the ARB website at: www. arb.ca.Qov /msDroa /Dublicfleets/ publicfleets.htm. A prior version of the public agency fleet retrofit regulations would have required public agencies to be responsible for the retrofit of the trucks owned by firms that contract with the public agency. This was similar to the requirement previously pro- posed for the garbage truck retrofit rule, as has been discussed in part issues of Priority Focus. The League and other public agency associations strongly objected to the requirement — and thus it has been deleted from the current version of both sets of regulations. Cities with public fleets are encouraged to review the material on the ARB website, including the regulations, and submit their comments to the ARB in January. At this time, it is not known how the Governor's 180 -day moratorium on new regulations will impact either the garbage truck retrofit rule or this new public agency fleet rule. While the League has posed the question to both the ARB staff and the Office of Administrative Law, a definitive answer has not yet been forthcoming. PAGE 2 /PRIORITY FOCUS Visit the League's Official Web Site-- www.cacities.org