(a) This article shall be known, and may be cited, as the Environmental Laboratory Accreditation Act.

(b) Laboratories that perform analyses on any combination of environmental samples, or raw or processed agricultural products for regulatory purposes shall obtain a certificate of accreditation pursuant to this article.

(c) Unless the express language or context requires otherwise, the definitions in this article shall govern the construction of the article.

(1) “Accreditation” means the recognition of a laboratory by the state board to conduct analyses of environmental samples for regulatory purposes.

(2) “Assessor body” means the organization that actually executes the accreditation process, including receiving and reviewing applications, documents, PT sample results, and onsite assessments.

(3) “Certificate” means a document issued by the state board to a laboratory that has received accreditation pursuant to this article.

(4) “Department” means the state board.

(5) “ELAP” means state accreditation program established under this article.

(6) “Environmental samples” means potable and nonpotable surface waters or groundwaters, soils and sediments, hazardous wastes, biological materials, or any other sample designated for regulatory purposes.

(7) “Proficiency testing (PT)” is a means of evaluating a laboratory’s performance under controlled conditions relative to a given set of criteria through analysis of unknown samples provided by an external source.

(8) “PT sample” means a sample used for proficiency testing.

(9) “Regulatory purposes” means a statutory or regulatory requirement of a state board, office, or department, or of a division or program that requires a laboratory certified under this article or of any other state or federal agency that requires a laboratory to be accredited.

(10) “Revocation” means the permanent loss of a certificate of accreditation, including all units and fields of accreditation for state accreditation and all fields of accreditation for TNI accreditation.

(11) “State accreditation” means accreditation of a laboratory, that has met the requirements of this article and regulations adopted by the state board pursuant to this article.

(12) “State board” means the State Water Resources Control Board.

(13) “Suspension” means the temporary loss of a certificate of accreditation or a unit or field of accreditation.

(14) “TNI” means The NELAC Institute, a nonprofit corporation created to combine the functions of the National Environmental Laboratory Accreditation Conference and the Institute for National Environmental Laboratory Accreditation.

(15) “TNI accreditation” means the accreditation of a laboratory that has met the requirements of TNI standards, and the requirements of this article.

(16) “TNI accredited laboratory” means a laboratory that has met the standards of TNI and has been accredited by a primary or secondary TNI-recognized accrediting body.

(17) “TNI-recognized accrediting body” means a state agency that is authorized by TNI to accredit laboratories.

(18) “TNI-recognized primary accrediting authority” means a state agency that is responsible for the accreditation of environmental laboratories within that state or that performs the primary accreditation of a lab from a non-TNI state or where the laboratory’s home state does not offer accreditation in a given field of accreditation.

(19) “TNI-recognized secondary accrediting authority” means a state agency that is authorized by TNI to accredit environmental laboratories within that state that have been accredited by a TNI-approved accrediting authority in another state.

(20) “TNI standards” means the laboratory standards adopted by TNI.

(Amended by Stats. 2017, Ch. 327, Sec. 1. (AB 1438) Effective January 1, 2018.)