CalEPA has begun the formal regulatory rulemaking procedure with the Office of Administrative Law to adopt proposed revisions to the CERS Data Registry (Data Dictionary). The majority of the proposed amendments are considered non-substantial as they have relatively minor regulatory effects or impacts on regulated businesses and Unified Program Agencies (UPAs). The implications of the non-substantial proposed regulatory changes will likely have substantial impacts on UPAs regarding the ability to maintain parallel data exchange and provide methods to continue to utilize local data reporting and management systems independent of the California Environmental Reporting System (CERS).

The proposed revisions to the title 27 Data Dictionary language are briefly summarized as follows:

  I.   Addition of available selections to existing CERS Data Fields for specifying the types of action taken relative to an Underground Storage Tank (UST) and the UST Operating Permit Application information.
  II.   The ability for CERS to automatically generate a unique identification number for each UST in CERS.
  III.   Addition of available selections to existing CERS Data Fields for specifying the use of an UST and its contents.
  IV.   Development of a new Chapter in the CERS Data Registry to capture and organize the four new CERS Data Fields for the APSA Program, which will provide the opportunity for regulated businesses to electronically report required information for regulated APSA facilities.

Non-substantial and substantial amendments, as well as the necessity and purpose for each, are detailed in the Initial Statement of Reasons (ISOR).

The ISOR and any relative documents related to the proposed revisions are available at the CalEPA Unified Program Laws and Regulations webpage: https://calepa.ca.gov/cupa/lawsregs/

Upon the November 16, 2018 publication in the California Regulatory Notice Register, a 45-day public comment period for the proposed regulations will be established and is scheduled to end on December 31, 2018. It is the intent for the proposed regulations to become effective on April 1, 2019 to coincide with the release of and use of CERS 3.

Effective October 1, 2018, the Unified Program Violation Library in CERS has been updated. Updates include revisions to some existing violations, the addition of new violations, and the discontinuation of some violations (some violations can no longer be used for inspections that occur after September 30, 2018). For those CUPAs that maintain a local violation library in their data management system, please ensure that the local violation library has been updated with the latest version of the Unified Program Violation Library in CERS.

CERS Central will be upgraded to the latest California State Template Version 5, soon. Click here (PDF, 1 pp, 496 KB) for an example of the v5 template, which provides a new look and feel to CERS Central’s icons and navigation menu. Changes to CERS Central will be rolling out in the next few weeks (July 2018).

Effective December 28, 2017, CalEPA will be replacing the existing five (5) federal hazard categories available in CERS used for the completion of chemical inventories as part of the annual hazardous materials business plan submittal with twenty-four (24) new federal hazard categories adopted by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) as a result of changes to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Hazard Communication Standard (HCS).

Supporting documentation:

Background (PDF, 3 pp, 599 KB)

Business Guidance (PDF, 3 pp, 967 KB)