Bill > HB5600

This bill, titled the Warehouse Pollution Reduction Act, establishes a comprehensive program to address air pollution from large warehouses, defined as fulfillment centers, parcel hubs, or parcel sorting facilities of 30,000 square feet or more, or any entity owning or operating 500,000 square feet or more of such space. The Environmental Protection Agency (Agency) is tasked with proposing, and the Pollution Control Board (Board) with adopting, rules for a qualifying warehouse review program that includes reporting, recordkeeping, and notice requirements, along with annual emissions-reduction targets and a point system for air-pollution mitigation measures. New or modified qualifying warehouses will require construction permits, with conditions such as zero-emission readiness and buffer zones near sensitive receptors, which are defined as dwellings, schools, day care facilities, parks, hospitals, and overburdened communities. The bill also mandates a registry for qualifying warehouses with public access to all related reports and records, establishes mitigation fees to be used in the same geographic area as the warehouse, and requires the Agency to develop and annually publish air-quality modeling results. A dedicated Warehouse Pollution Management Fund will be created to collect fees and support the program's implementation and enforcement, with provisions for civil penalties, enforcement actions, and citizen suits, and it limits the home rule powers of local governments regarding these regulations.