(a) Prior to approving an application for a permit to construct or modify a source that emits hazardous air emissions, and that source is located within 1,000 feet from the outer boundary of a schoolsite, the air pollution control officer shall prepare a public notice in which the proposed project or modification for which the application for a permit is made is fully described. The notice may be prepared whether or not the material is or would be subject to subdivision (a) of Section 25536, if the air pollution control officer determines and the administering agency concurs that hazardous air emissions of the material may result from an air release, as defined by Section 44303. The notice may be combined with any other notice on the project or permit that is required by law.

(b) The air pollution control officer shall, at the permit applicant’s expense, distribute or mail the public notice to the parents or guardians of children enrolled in a school that is located within one-quarter mile of the proposed new or modified source and to each address within a radius of 1,000 feet of the source at least 30 days prior to the date final action on the application is to be taken by the officer. The officer shall review and consider all comments received during the 30 days after the notice is distributed, and shall include written responses to the comments in the permit application file prior to taking final action on the application.

(1) Notwithstanding Section 49073 of the Education Code, or any other law, the information necessary to mail notices required by this section shall be made available by the school district to the air pollution control officer.

(2)  Nothing in this subdivision precludes, at the discretion of the air pollution control officer and with the permission of the school, the distribution of the notices to the children to be given to their parents or guardians.

(c) Notwithstanding subdivision (b), an air pollution control officer may require the applicant to distribute the notice if the district had such a rule in effect prior to January 1, 1989.

(d)  The requirements for public notice pursuant to subdivision (b) or a district rule in effect prior to January 1, 1989, are fulfilled if the air pollution control officer or applicant responsible for giving the notice makes a good faith effort to follow the procedures prescribed by law for giving the notice, and, in these circumstances, failure of a person to receive the notice shall not affect the validity of a permit subsequently issued by the officer.

(e) This section shall not be deemed to limit an existing authority of a district.

(f) An applicant for a permit shall certify whether the proposed new or modified source is located within 1,000 feet of a schoolsite. Misrepresentation of this fact may result in the denial of a permit.

(g) The notice requirements of this section shall not apply if the air pollution control officer determines that the application to construct or modify a source will result in a reduction or equivalent amount of air contaminants, as defined in Section 39013, that are hazardous air emissions.

(h) As used in this section, “hazardous air emissions” means emissions into the ambient air of air contaminants that have been identified as a toxic air contaminant by the state board or by the air pollution control officer for the jurisdiction in which the project is located. As determined by the air pollution control officer, hazardous air emissions also means emissions into the ambient air from a substance identified in subdivisions (a) to (f), inclusive, of Section 44321.

(i) (1) For the purposes of this section, a district may send a required notice electronically instead of by mail.

(2) A district shall send a notice by mail to any person who has requested the notices to be sent by mail.

(3) If a district does send a public notice electronically pursuant to paragraph (1), the district board shall adopt, and update as needed, procedures for a person to request notices to be sent by mail and to update an electronic mail address.

(Amended by Stats. 2018, Ch. 59, Sec. 3. (SB 1502) Effective January 1, 2019.)