Sacramento, CA – Today Assemblymember Miguel Santiago (D-Los Angeles) and colleagues secured an overwhelming majority of support in the Assembly Committee on Environmental Safety & Toxic Materials for AB 1462. The measure, which passed with bipartisan support, commits $100 million to cleaning up toxic lead poisoning from homes and communities impacted by pollution from the now-defunct Exide Technologies Battery Plant in the City of Vernon.
“Protecting the health and well-being of Californians living in the fallout zone of Exide’s negligence is paramount,” said Assemblymember Santiago. “It has been four years since the plant shut down after contaminating countless homes with lead, and those communities are still suffering. I am grateful this Committee is supporting such a critical funding measure to continue a thorough, rapid cleanup. It’s the right thing to do."
Father John Moretta, a Monsignor at Resurrection Church and a respected leader in the communities most impacted by the pollution, traveled to the Capitol to testify in support of the bill.
“I am happy that AB 1462 has passed the Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials Committee,” Father Moretta said. “This $100 million in funding will put more impetus behind our badly-needed clean-up, and will help restore approximately 10,000 residences from the largest chemical poisoning of any community in California.”
Specifically, AB 1462 will appropriate $100 million from the General Fund to the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC). That agency will be required to spend those dollars to accelerate the investigation and cleanup of homes and communities within a roughly 2-mile radius around the former Exide Technologies plant.
In 2016, Assemblymember Santiago authored AB 118, which allocated $176.6 million towards the initial Exide Clean-Up Package, to expedite state funding for the purposes of testing, clean-up, and job training in the community. As a follow-up, he negotiated a $12 million budget item in 2018 to continue cleanup efforts and begin parkway testing.
The bill now heads to the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
Assemblymember Miguel Santiago is the Chair of the Assembly’s Communications and Conveyance Committee, and a member of both the Assembly Public Safety Committee and the California Latino Legislative Caucus. He represents the 53rd District composed of the cities of Los Angeles, Huntington Park, and Vernon.
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