The California Water Boards' Annual Performance Report - Fiscal Year 2014-15

ENFORCE: PENALTY ACTIONS

GROUP:

REGIONAL BOARD PENALTY ACTIONS

MEASURE: PENALTIES FOR ALL REGIONS

MESSAGE:

122 penalty orders were issued in FY 14-15. Region 4 had the most orders, while Region 5 had the largest total liability.

*KEY STATISTICS FOR FY 2014-15*
Penalties Assessed:	$11,202,797
Cash Liability:	$8,050,320
Project Liability:	$3,152,477

MEASUREMENTS - Data last updated on: 01-13-2017 (1:38 pm)

Region	Number of Penalty Actions in FY 13-14	Total Liability Assessed	Cash Liability	Project Liability
1	3	$120,901	$83,513	$37,388
2	12	$1,240,400	$861,400	$379,000
3	7	$1,105,872	$543,266	$562,606
4	54	$1,188,000	$1,146,750	$41,250
5	36	$5,762,935	$4,300,324	$1,462,611
6	1	$138	$138	$0
7	2	$40,810	$20,905	$19,905
8	2	$361,490	$185,690	$175,800
9	5	$1,382,251	$908,334	$473,917
TOTAL	122	$11,202,797	$8,050,320	$3,152,477

WHAT THE MEASURE IS SHOWING

During fiscal year 2014-2015, a large number of Administrative Civil Liability actions were ordered by the Regional Boards with four regions ordering more than a million dollars in total liability. Region 4 was particularly active in issuing orders most of which (52 out of 54) were associated with Minimum Mandatory Penalties in the NPDES program. Region 5 had eleven actions against dairies.

WHY THIS MEASURE IS IMPORTANT

Liabilities imposed by the Water Boards are an important part of the Water Board's enforcement authority. California law and the Water Boards enforcement policy establish the circumstances for which violations must receive a penalty and in what amount. In certain cases, the Water Boards have the discretion of imposing administrative civil liabilities after considering certain factors. For other types of violations, mandatory minimum penalties must be imposed and settlement conditions for those violations are also limited. The Regional Boards must consider whether the discharger should be allowed to satisfy some or all of the monetary assessment by completing or funding one or more compliance or supplemental environmental projects or by depositing the penalty amount in a specified fund. Preparing each case for prosecution requires a significant amount of time and resources. This measure describes a significant workload for the enforcement program.

TECHNICAL CONSIDERATIONS

Data Source: CIWQS. Period: July 1, 2014 to June 30, 2015. Extracted on November 13, 2015.
Unit of Measure: Number of penalties assessed during FY 14-15.
Data Definitions: Penalties Assessed: Amounts assessed in an ACL order. Projects include Compliance Projects (CPs), Enhanced Compliance Actions (ECAs), and Supplemental Environmental Projects (SEPs).
References: Administrative Civil Liability Report
Office of Enforcement
The Water Boards' Enforcement Policy
State Water Board SEP Policy

GLOSSARY

Administrative Civil Liability (ACL)

Administrative Civil Liabilities means monetary assessments imposed by a RWQCB or the SWRCB. The California Water Code and the Health and Safety Code authorize ACLs in several circumstances. California Water Code sections 13323-13327 describe the process to be used to assess ACLs. Assessments of administrative civil liability can be either negotiated pursuant to a settlement agreement or imposed after an administrative adjudication.

Compliance Project (CP)

A Compliance Project (CP) is a project designed to address problems related to the violation and bring the discharger back into compliance in a timely manner. CPs can only be considered where they are authorized by statute. At this time, CPs are authorized by statute only in connection with MMPs if the POTW serves a small community with a financial hardship.

Enhanced Compliance Action (ECA)

Enhanced Compliance Actions are projects that enable a discharger to make capital or operational improvements beyond those required by law, and are separate from projects designed to merely bring a discharger into compliance. The Water Boards may approve a settlement with a discharger that includes suspension of a portion of the monetary liability of a discretionary ACL for completion of an ECA.

Supplemental Environmental Project (SEP)

Supplemental environmental projects are defined as environmentally beneficial projects which a defendant/respondent agrees to undertake in settlement of an enforcement action, but which the defendant respondent is not otherwise legally required to perform.

( Page last updated: 11/30/15 )