(a) (1) For the purposes of subdivision (h) of Section 13385, a “serious violation” also means a failure to file a discharge monitoring report required pursuant to Section 13383 for each complete period of 30 days following the deadline for submitting the report, if the report is designed to ensure compliance with limitations contained in waste discharge requirements that contain effluent limitations. This paragraph applies only to violations that occur on or after January 1, 2004.

(2) (A) Notwithstanding paragraph (1), a failure to file a discharge monitoring report is not a serious violation for purposes of subdivision (h) of Section 13385 at any time prior to the date a discharge monitoring report is required to be filed or within 30 days after receiving written notice from the state board or a regional board of the need to file a discharge monitoring report, if the discharger submits a written statement to the state board or the regional board that includes both of the following:

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(i) A statement that there were no discharges to waters of the United States reportable under the applicable waste discharge requirements during the relevant monitoring period.

(ii) The reason or reasons the required report was not submitted to the regional board by the deadline for filing that report.

(B) Upon the request of the state board or regional board, the discharger may be required to support the statement with additional explanation or evidence.

(C) If, in a statement submitted pursuant to subparagraph (A), the discharger willfully states as true any material fact that he or she knows to be false, that person shall be subject to a civil penalty not exceeding ten thousand dollars ($10,000). Any public prosecutor may bring an action for a civil penalty under this subparagraph in the name of the people of the State of California, and the penalty imposed shall be enforced as a civil judgment.

(D) Notwithstanding subparagraph (A), the failure to file a discharge monitoring report is subject to penalties in accordance with subdivisions (c) and (e) of Section 13385.

(b) (1) Notwithstanding paragraph (1) of subdivision (a), a mandatory minimum penalty shall continue to apply and shall be assessed pursuant to subdivision (h) of Section 13385, but only for each required report that is not timely filed, and shall not be separately assessed for each 30-day period following the deadline for submitting the report, if both of the following conditions are met:

(A) The discharger did not on any occasion previously receive, from the state board or a regional board, a complaint to impose liability pursuant to subdivision (b) or (c) of Section 13385 arising from a failure to timely file a discharge monitoring report, a notice of violation for failure to timely file a discharge monitoring report, or a notice of the obligation to file a discharge monitoring report required pursuant to Section 13383, in connection with its corresponding waste discharge requirements.

(B) The discharges during the period or periods covered by the report do not violate effluent limitations, as defined in subdivision (d), contained in waste discharge requirements.

(2) Paragraph (1) shall only apply to a discharger who does both of the following:

(A) Files a discharge monitoring report that had not previously been timely filed within 30 days after the discharger receives written notice, including notice transmitted by electronic mail, from the state board or regional board concerning the failure to timely file the report.

(B) Pays all penalties assessed by the state board or regional board in accordance with paragraph (1) within 30 days after an order is issued to pay these penalties pursuant to Section 13385.

(3) Notwithstanding paragraph (1), the failure to file a discharge monitoring report is subject to penalties in accordance with subdivisions (c) and (e) of Section 13385.

(4) This subdivision shall become inoperative on January 1, 2014.

(c) (1) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, moneys collected pursuant to this section for a failure to timely file a report, as described in subdivision (a), shall be deposited in the State Water Pollution Cleanup and Abatement Account.

(2) Notwithstanding § 13340 of the Government Code, the funds described in paragraph (1) are continuously appropriated, without regard to fiscal years, to the state board for expenditure by the state board to assist regional boards, and other public agencies with authority to clean up waste or abate the effects of the waste, in responding to significant water pollution problems.

(d) For the purposes of this section, paragraph (2) of subdivision (f) of Section 13385, and subdivisions (h), (i), and (j) of Section 13385 only, “effluent limitation” means a numeric restriction or a numerically expressed narrative restriction, on the quantity, discharge rate, concentration, or toxicity units of a pollutant or pollutants that may be discharged from an authorized location. An effluent limitation may be final or interim, and may be expressed as a prohibition. An effluent limitation, for those purposes, does not include a receiving water limitation, a compliance schedule, or a best management practice.

(e) The amendments made to this section by Senate Bill 1284 of the 2009-10 Regular Session of the Legislature shall apply to violations for which an administrative civil liability complaint or a judicial complaint has not been filed before July 1, 2010, without regard to the date on which the violations occurred.

(Amended by Stats. 2010, Ch. 645, Sec. 2. (SB 1284) Effective January 1, 2011.)