Enough Talk. Construction Industry Needs Action From Legislative Leadership

Same day as Senate and House Leaders Tout Regulatory Reform, Onerous Construction Regulation Goes into Effect  
Most in California may not be aware, but today the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) begins the enforcement of their new regulations for the Construction General Permit (CGP), which inflicts new heavy-handed obstacles related to the monitoring of stormwater discharge on the construction jobsite. Fines for non-compliance reach upwards of $37,000 a day, and this historically burdensome regulation threatens to put many of California’s smaller construction companies out of business for the winter months, if not all together.

Ironically, just hours before the enactment of this regulation and days before the end of session, the Senator Pro-Tem and Speaker stood side by side to announce their plan to implement “significant new regulatory reforms that are key to luring new businesses to California, growing existing business in California, and helping create jobs for Californians.”

This new state CGP regulation for storm water runoff goes well above and beyond federal requirements for clean water, and will place a heavy handed burden on our construction industry – one of the largest job providers in the state – with new hurdles and colossal fines for non-compliance. It will require contractors on projects that disturb over one acre of land to have a “Qualified Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan Developer” (QSD) and a “Qualified Stormwater Pollution Prevention Practitioner” (QSP) to carry out the “Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plans” on California’s construction sites.

The process for becoming QSP/QSD certified begins with training classes that typically cost more than $400 and involve 2-3 full days away from the jobsite.  Getting properly certified involves taking an approved QSP/QSD training course offered by a Trainer of Record (ToR) approved by the California Storm Water Quality Association (CASQA).   You must also pass a QSP/QSD exam, proctored by the State or Regional Water Quality Control Board.  And don’t waste your time taking the required QSP/QSD classes if you don’t hold one of the proper pre-requisite certifications, which, if you’re a smaller contractor, it’s likely you don’t have.

What is more, only approximately 10% of those who have completed the QSP/QSD training have passed the exam and been granted certification. For months, both the exam taking and certification process were gridlocked.  So, as of now, the construction industry does not have enough certified individuals to meet the onerous requirements coming down on them, meaning they’ll be forced to hire outside companies – another cost. EUCA and other industry coalitions have requested, begged, and pleaded for the SWRCB to delay implementation for one year in order to allow the construction industry, particularly smaller sized construction companies, to get the proper training and certification. The SWRCB has denied this request.

This new requirement is blatantly bad for business, and it epitomizes California’s regulatory agencies run-amuck. The new permit requirements well-exceed federal regulations and lack the scientific evidence one would think necessary to show that the incredible costs to industry are even worth the environmental benefits (evidence that the SWRCB is not required to demonstrate, of course.)

While Speaker Perez, alongside the Senator Pro-tem, stood in front of cameras, just days before the end of the legislative session, to announce that “with an almost 12 percent unemployment rate in California, there’s no more critical issue to our state than to improve the job market,” up and down our state, contractors are simultaneously trying to wrap their heads, wallets and employees around yet another painful new regulation.

During the press conference yesterday afternoon, Steinberg stated that he’s “often heard from the private sector that there’s a perception state government is too complex, the permit process is too burdensome and that it simply takes too long for businesses to get started and expand in California.”  24 hours later, contractors throughout California are facing yet another frustrating and costly hurdle to working in this state.

The implementation of the new Construction General Permit requirements for SWPPPs is another road block, another unnecessary regulation and another step backwards for California. Any legislator who is serious about tackling regulatory reform, should start here.

 

Comments

[Mike Herron]

Sen. Steinberg clearly wasn't listening to the private sector because it isn't a perception that California is a regulatory labyrinth, it's a reality. Wait, does that make Mary Nichols the Minotaur?