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As of January 1, 2020, certain industrial facilities in California must provide the cities or counties in which they are located with proof that they are enrolled in the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) governing stormwater discharges before they can obtain or renew a business license. The cities/counties must then confirm on the business […]
The California Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) reported that 422 workers in the state died on the job in 2018. The DIR noted that 376 died in 2017 and 2016, 388 in 2015, and 344 in 2014.
In October 2019, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 1057, a bill specifically intended to change the primary mission of the state Division of Oil , Gas, and Geothermal Resources (DOGGR) from increasing production of oil and natural gas (O&G) in the state to ensuring that the regulation of O&G provides protection of public health […]
California’s Department of Public Health must notify the state’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) when a worker’s blood lead level tests at or above 20 micrograms per deciliter (µg/dL) under a new state law.
Construction firms and other employers in California must begin training employees in Valley fever risks and control measures under a new state law. Employers must offer initial worker training by May 1, 2020.
The environmental ill will between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the nation’s most populous state, California, has spilled over from the Clean Air Act (CAA) to the Clean Water Act (CWA) and Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA).
With the exception of a waiver denial in 2007—which was later reversed—the EPA has granted every request California has made since the first request was granted in 1968 to allow the state to set its own vehicle emissions standards. That record is now ended with the EPA’s final rule that withdraws its January 2013 waiver […]
Following several stern tweets from President Donald Trump, the EPA and the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) have put the California Air Resources Board (CARB) on notice that the voluntary framework the state reached with four major automakers “appears to be inconsistent with federal law.” The EPA/DOT letter urged CARB to disassociate itself from the […]
Concerns are growing about two occupational health issues: the increased incidence of heat stress and valley fever, a fungal lung infection caused by exposure to dust storms and excavated soil. Cases of valley fever may be spreading beyond the southwestern United States. Some federal agencies and nongovernmental groups claim the rise in heat-related illness and […]
California employers are not required to pay for slip-resistant shoes their employees must wear for work, a state appeals court affirmed. Similar exemptions exist at the federal level.