State sheet · CA

Tier II reporting requirements in California

Deadline: Set by your CUPA
Takes our file: No
Own thresholds: Yes — see below
Fee: Set locally
Filing route read: 2026-09-11

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How California takes it

California does not use Tier2 Submit at all. You file a Hazardous Materials Business Plan electronically into CERS, the state’s own reporting system, and the agency that reads it is your local CUPA — the Certified Unified Program Agency for your county or city, not a state office. The inventory inside the HMBP is the Tier II inventory; California folds the federal report into its own programme rather than running them side by side.

California has no single statewide figure — your CUPA runs a single fee system of its own. Health and Safety Code §25404.5(a)(1) requires that. So what you pay depends on the county or city you are in — ask them before you budget.

This state does not take the file. Our answer works as the worksheet you type from, with the rule behind every number.

The filing covers the calendar year before it. California passes it on for you — one submission covers all three. Worth a call to your county, though: a few run their own list on top. The date, though, is not the usual one here.

California is the one state where 1 March is a fallback rather than the date. CalEPA’s own guidance says your CUPA may set the date, and if it has not, 1 March applies. Some have set very different ones — the CUPA that DTSC runs for Imperial County takes annual submittals and certifications on CERS between 1 July and 31 August. Ask your CUPA which date applies to you before you trust ours. We keep the 1 March clock because that is the federal date and California’s own default, but we will not pretend it is the answer everywhere in this state.

Before you send it — what else California asks for

The HMBP is more than the inventory. It also carries your emergency response plan, employee training records and site diagrams, and it has to be reviewed and re-certified each year even in a year when nothing changed. We build the inventory side and show the rule behind every number; the plan and training parts are yours. A site that is over California’s limits but not required to file federal Tier II still files the business plan, but every three years instead of every year.

Does California set its own limits?

California sets the threshold itself lower than the federal one. That changes the answer for a smaller facility.

The numbers California applies to any hazardous material: liquids 55 gallons · solids 500 lb · gases 200 cubic feet. The federal rule’s general line is 10,000 lb.

Some things are exempt. Propane up to 500 gallons, if it is only for cooking or heating on site. Fuel in the tanks of vehicles that run on it. Lubricating oil up to 55 gallons of any one type, and 275 gallons in total.

The words we read

California Health and Safety Code § 25507 (Hazardous Materials Business Plan), read 2026-10-12 in the Legislature’s text through the Internet Archive snapshot dated 2025-06-01, because leginfo.legislature.ca.gov refuses our requests with HTTP 403. § 25507(a)(1)(A): a business plan is required for a hazardous material handled at “55 gallons for materials that are liquids, 500 pounds for solids, or 200 cubic feet for compressed gas.” (a)(3): an extremely hazardous substance at its threshold planning quantity where that quantity “is less than 500 pounds.” (a)(4)(A): “5,000 pounds for solids or a total volume of 550 gallons for liquids, if the hazardous material … is classified as a hazard … solely as an irritant or sensitizer.” (a)(5): “cryogenic, refrigerated, or compressed gas in a quantity of 1,000 cubic feet or more” only for the gases listed in (A)–(E) — simple asphyxiants and pressure hazards, medical oxygen, nitrogen or nitrous oxide, carbon dioxide, nonflammable refrigerant, and closed fire-suppression gas. (a)(8)(A): a pyrophoric or water-reactive combustible metal “in any quantity in raw stock, scrap, or powder form”; (a)(8)(B): 100 pounds for a combustible metal or alloy that is a combustible dust, flammable solid or magnesium. The exemptions are in § 25507(b): lubricating oil where “each type … does not exceed 55 gallons and the total volume of all types … does not exceed 275 gallons” (used oil excluded); propane for on-premises use “not to exceed 500 gallons” for “cooking, heating employee work areas, and heating water”; and “Liquid or gaseous fuel in fuel tanks on vehicles or motorized equipment.”

last amended effective 2025-01-01 (SB 1143); previously AB 2059 effective 2023-01-01

Where we read this

CalEPA, “Hazardous Materials Business Plan Program; Guidance Document 23-01 — Submittal Due Dates” (12 September 2023), read 2026-09-09: “The California Health and Safety Code (HSC), Division 20, Chapter 6.95, Article 1, Section 25508(a) specifies that a handler shall electronically submit an HMBP to the California Environmental Reporting System (CERS).” and “UPAs have the authority to establish a date by which a handler shall submit a HMBP to CERS. If an UPA does not otherwise establish a date, the handler shall submit the HMBP on or before March 1 of every year that the plan is required to be submitted in accordance with Section 25508(a)(1).” Also: “A facility shall submit the HMBP annually if subject to EPCRA Tier II inventory reporting requirements”.DTSC, Imperial County CUPA — Hazardous Materials Release Response Plans and Inventory Program, read 2026-09-09: “All CUPA regulated businesses are required to submit business information electronically through the California Environmental Reporting System (CERS). Annual submittals and certifications are due on CERS between July 1 and August 31 of each year.”Health and Safety Code, Division 20, Chapter 6.95, Article 1 (leginfo.legislature.ca.gov), read 2026-09-11. The duty to share your plan sits with the agency, not with you. §25502(b): the agency “shall ensure full access to, and the availability of, information submitted under this chapter to emergency response personnel and other appropriate governmental entities within its jurisdiction.” §25504(c): “The unified program agency shall provide access to the information collected in the statewide information management system to emergency response personnel on a 24-hour basis.” One exception: the fire code official may require an addendum, and “a business shall file the addendum with the unified program agency” — ask your CUPA whether yours wants it. §25404(a)(1)(A) defines “Certified Unified Program Agency” or “CUPA”.California Health and Safety Code § 25508(a)(1), read 2026-10-12 in the Legislature’s text through the Internet Archive snapshot dated 2024-03-31 (leginfo returns HTTP 403 to us; last amended by AB 1429, effective 2020-01-01): “(A) The handler of a facility that is required to submit tier II information pursuant to Section 11022 of Title 42 of the United States Code shall submit its business plan annually. … (C) The handler of a facility that is not required to submit tier II information pursuant to Section 11022 … and is not subject to Chapter 6.67 … shall submit its business plan once every three years.”Checked 2026-09-11
California Health and Safety Code § 25507 (Hazardous Materials Business Plan), read 2026-10-12 in the Legislature’s text through the Internet Archive snapshot dated 2025-06-01, because leginfo.legislature.ca.gov refuses our requests with HTTP 403. § 25507(a)(1)(A): a business plan is required for a hazardous material handled at “55 gallons for materials that are liquids, 500 pounds for solids, or 200 cubic feet for compressed gas.” (a)(3): an extremely hazardous substance at its threshold planning quantity where that quantity “is less than 500 pounds.” (a)(4)(A): “5,000 pounds for solids or a total volume of 550 gallons for liquids, if the hazardous material … is classified as a hazard … solely as an irritant or sensitizer.” (a)(5): “cryogenic, refrigerated, or compressed gas in a quantity of 1,000 cubic feet or more” only for the gases listed in (A)–(E) — simple asphyxiants and pressure hazards, medical oxygen, nitrogen or nitrous oxide, carbon dioxide, nonflammable refrigerant, and closed fire-suppression gas. (a)(8)(A): a pyrophoric or water-reactive combustible metal “in any quantity in raw stock, scrap, or powder form”; (a)(8)(B): 100 pounds for a combustible metal or alloy that is a combustible dust, flammable solid or magnesium. The exemptions are in § 25507(b): lubricating oil where “each type … does not exceed 55 gallons and the total volume of all types … does not exceed 275 gallons” (used oil excluded); propane for on-premises use “not to exceed 500 gallons” for “cooking, heating employee work areas, and heating water”; and “Liquid or gaseous fuel in fuel tanks on vehicles or motorized equipment.”The state’s own code · last amended effective 2025-01-01 (SB 1143); previously AB 2059 effective 2023-01-01
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