Unified Program

CalEPA oversees California’s Unified Program. The program protects Californians from hazardous waste and hazardous materials by ensuring local regulatory agencies consistently apply statewide standards when they issue permits, conduct inspections and engage in enforcement activities. The Unified Program is a consolidation of multiple environmental and emergency management programs Read more about the Unified Program

California Code of Regulations, title 27 (27 CCR) Regulation Changes

The California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA) proposes to amend California Code of Regulations, (CCR), title 27, Division 1, Subdivision 4, Chapter 1, sections 15110 – 15330, and Appendices A – D. These proposed regulations include significant changes that impose new reporting and procedural requirements and details, as well as non-significant amendments that are considered administrative in nature and improve the organizational structure of existing requirements and clarify existing elements of reports and forms.

Please visit the Unified Program Proposed Regulations webpage for more information.

Electronic Reporting

Effective January 1, 2009, all regulated businesses and local Unified Program Agencies (UPAs) are required to submit Unified Program information electronically, either to the local regulatory agency or to the California Environmental Reporting System (CERS). CERS supports electronic data exchange among businesses, UPAs, state agencies, and U.S. EPA. Read more about Electronic Reporting.

CUPA Performance Evaluations

A periodic performance evaluation of each CUPA is conducted to ensure adequate and effective implementation of the Unified Program by the local agency. Read more about the CUPA performance evaluation process, evaluation schedule, and evaluation results.

Unified Program News

Title 27 Regulations Informational Workshops

Please join CalEPA Unified Program staff as we present additional changes and corrections to the regulatory package originally submitted in March 2023. These workshops will not discuss all changes to Title 27, but only additional changes to the original submission. All workshops will provide the same information and be presented via Zoom.

November 27, 2023, 11:00-11:30 AM
https://us02web.zoom.us/w/81817489920?pwd=RWFDVDh4WHAzR25LQVlKRVdJbjNIUT09
+1 669 444 9171 US
Webinar ID: 818 1748 9920 Passcode: 492345

November 27, 2023, 2:00-2:30 PM
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87683286545?pwd=c2N4WXFqZVBKLzBtZ3FQOWpUV0pBdz09
+1 669 444 9171 US
Webinar ID: 876 8328 6545 Passcode: 229028

November 28, 2023, 9:00-9:30 AM
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82019962024?pwd=R2NBRkQ1WGdJSFBrTFJRYW45V3VDUT09
+1 669 444 9171 US
Webinar ID: 820 1996 2024 Passcode: 559445

CalEPA Unified Program State Surcharge Increase for FY 2023/2024

The Unified Program state surcharge is an assessment on each entity regulated under the Unified Program and is used to fund the necessary and reasonable costs of all state agencies responsible for program implementation, ongoing maintenance, and oversight of the Unified Program.

Since its inception in 1997, the Unified Program has matured into a robust program with established standards and a fully integrated environmental reporting system, raising increasingly numerous and complex legal issues. In 2021, the Legislature transferred to CalEPA the responsibility for managing the California Accidental Release Prevention (CalARP) Program and the Hazardous Materials Business Plan (HMBP) Program. And effective July 1, 2023, the Legislature expanded CalEPA’s inspection and enforcement responsibilities and authorities with respect to the HMBP and CalARP programs. The necessary and reasonable costs of state agencies responsible for program implementation, ongoing maintenance and oversight of the Unified Program have expanded substantially over the years.

In recognition of the actual needs of the Unified Program, the FY 2023-24 Budget Act authorized four permanent positions for CalEPA, to support its administration of the Unified Program, including its responsibilities for the HMBP and the CalARP programs.

To support the necessary and reasonable costs of the program, CalEPA has revised the state surcharge as follows. Effective October 13, 2023, the CalARP program component of the state surcharge, which has only been increased once, 15 years ago, will be increased from $270 to $370 per regulated business annually and the Unified Program Oversight component of the surcharge will be increased from $84 to $94 per regulated business annually.

The Underground Storage Tank, Aboveground Petroleum Storage Act, and Refinery Safety components of the state surcharge remain unchanged.

Certified Unified Program Agencies (CUPAs) are responsible for collecting the new Unified Program Oversight and CalARP State Surcharge commencing 60 day after the October 13, 2023, publication of the final surcharge in the California Regulatory Notice Register, that is, on December 12, 2023. CUPAs, however, are encouraged to begin assessing the new Unified Program Oversight and CalARP state surcharges prior to that time, to ensure collection by December 12, 2023.

Under California Code of Regulation, Title 27 (27 CCR), all CUPAs are responsible for collecting the new surcharge. CUPAs that have not yet sent out invoices for FY 23-24 will be responsible for collecting and remitting to CalEPA the new surcharge this fiscal year. CUPAs that have already sent out invoices for FY 23-24 are not authorized to completely forego collection of the surcharge for FY 23-24; doing so would constitute an impermissible waiver of the state surcharge in violation of 27 CCR 15250(a)(3)(A). Recognizing that some CUPAs have already sent out invoices for FY 23-24, CalEPA will extend a grace period to those CUPAs and will not seek remittance from them of the new surcharge for FY 23-24 until FY 24-25. CUPAs that do not invoice the new FY 23-24 surcharge increase until FY 24-25 will still, however, be responsible for collecting the uncollected FY 23-24 increase, as well as the full amount of the new state surcharge for FY 24-25.

Please direct all questions concerning the surcharge increases to CalEPA at the following email address: cupa@calepa.ca.gov.

Resources:

CalEPA Regulated Site Portal
The CalEPA Regulated Site Portal is a website that combines data about environmentally regulated sites and facilities in California into a single, searchable database and interactive map. The portal was created to provide a more holistic view of regulated activities statewide. By combining data from a variety of state and federal databases, the portal provides an overview of regulated activities across the spectrum of environmental programs for any given location in California. These activities include hazardous materials and waste, state and federal cleanups, impacted ground and surface waters, and toxic materials. The portal combines information from the following databases:
Cal/OSHA – Inspection and enforcement information reported to federal OSHA
CERS – The California Environmental Reporting System
CIWQS – The California Integrated Water Quality System
EIS – U.S. EPA’s Air Emission Inventory System
EnviroStor – Permitting, enforcement and cleanup activities at hazardous waste facilities and sites with known or suspected contamination
GeoTracker – Impacted groundwater sites within the state, such as leaking underground storage tanks, cleanup sites, and permitted facilities such as landfills and operating underground storage tank facilities
SMARTS – The Stormwater Multiple Application and Report Tracking System
SWIS – The Solid Waste Information System
TRI – The Toxics Release Inventory