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Small‑lab applicant urges State Water Board to address ELAP delays and nonrefundable fees
Summary
An attorney for Analytical Environmental Labs told the State Water Board on June 3 that ELAP has not processed the lab’s accreditation application for more than four months after payment of an approximately $15,000 nonrefundable fee, and asked the board to investigate and consider regulatory fixes.
An attorney for Analytical Environmental Labs (AEL) told the State Water Resources Control Board at its June 3 public forum that ELAP has taken no action on AEL’s initial accreditation application more than four months after submission, leaving the laboratory unable to operate after paying an approximately $15,000 nonrefundable application fee.
JC Dean, an attorney with Stoll Reeves speaking for AEL, described the company’s situation and urged the board to investigate ELAP’s timelines and to consider regulatory changes so applicants can challenge inaction and fees. “Our client has now waited more than 4 months without a word from ELAP,” Dean told the board.
What the speaker requested: Dean asked the board to (1) investigate delays and inefficiencies in the ELAP accreditation process; (2) direct a regulatory review that would (a) require ELAP to respond to applications within a reasonable time frame and (b) allow labs to petition the board not only for denials but for “an action or a failure to act” (comparable to existing water code petition rights in other programs); and (3) consider reforming ELAP’s fee rules so that fees are due only after accreditation is granted or made refundable if an application is denied.
Authority cited in public comment: Dean said ELAP is governed by the Health and Safety Code provisions that allow a petition for reconsideration in the event of a denial but, he said, do not create a remedy for a failure to act. He contrasted ELAP’s lack of mandatory response timelines with other state programs governed under certain water code provisions that include deadlines and petition procedures; he called the gap a “legislative gap.”
Board response: Chair Joaquin Esquivel thanked Dean for raising the matter and said staff will follow up with ELAP before the board’s regular annual fee process. Chair Esquivel noted the board has annual fee processes that include ELAP and that the speaker’s recommendations would be “helpful” to the board’s fee discussions.
Action: The item was public comment; no formal board action was taken at the meeting. The chair indicated staff would follow up and shuttle Dean’s recommendations to the program.
