BILL NUMBER: AB 1333 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 27, 2006
AMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 7, 2006
AMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 2, 2006
AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 31, 2005
AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 15, 2005
AMENDED IN SENATE JULY 7, 2005
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 30, 2005
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 14, 2005
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 4, 2005
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 20, 2005
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Frommer
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Jerome Horton and Plescia)
(Coauthor: Senator Morrow)
FEBRUARY 22, 2005
An act to add Section 374.5 to the Penal Code, and to add Division
12.4 (commencing with Section 16050) to the Public Resources Code,
relating to grease waste haulers.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1333, as amended, Frommer Grease waste haulers.
(1) Existing law generally regulates haulers of grease. Under
existing law, the funds in the Environmental Enforcement and Training
Account may be expended annually by the California Environmental
Protection Agency, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to provide
for statewide education and training programs in the enforcement of
environmental laws and establish enhanced local environmental
enforcement efforts.
This bill would prohibit a grease waste hauler from removing
grease from a grease trap or grease interceptor unless the hauler
removes all grease, greasy liquid, water, and solids from the grease
trap or grease interceptor each time of removal, except as specified.
The bill would subject a grease waste hauler to a civil penalty for
a violation of these provisions and would allow for the enforcement
of these provisions only against the grease waste hauling company.
The bill would require the civil penalties collected to be
apportioned in a specified manner, of which 50% would be deposited in
the Environmental Enforcement and Training Account and 50% to the
local health officer or other local public officer or agency that
investigated the matter that lead to bringing the action.
The bill would make it an offense for a grease waste hauler to
reinsert, except as specified, or otherwise improperly deposit grease
materials into a grease trap, manhole, or sewer appurtenance,
discharge it in or on any waters of the state, or to transport grease
removed from a grease trap or grease interceptor in the same vehicle
used for transporting other waste. The bill would make the offenses
punishable by imprisonment in a county jail for not more than 6
months, and a fine of $10,000 for a first offense, or one year
imprisonment and a fine of $25,000 for a 2nd or subsequent offense. A
court would be authorized to bar the defendant from engaging in
grease hauling for up to 5 years, and could order, as a condition of
probation, that the defendant remove or pay the cost of removing
grease dumped in violation of these provisions, as specified.
By creating new offenses, this bill would impose a state-mandated
local program.
(2) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse
local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this
act for a specified reason.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 374.5 is added to the Penal Code, to read:
374.5. (a) It is unlawful for any grease waste hauler to do
either of the following:
(1) Reinsert, deposit, dump, place, release, or discharge into a
grease trap, grease interceptor, manhole, cleanout, or other sanitary
sewer appurtenance any materials that the hauler has removed from
the grease trap or grease interceptor, or to cause those materials to
be so handled.
(2) Cause or permit to be discharged in or on any waters of the
state, or discharged in or deposited where it is, or probably will
be, discharged in or on any waters of the state, any materials that
the hauler has removed from the grease trap or grease interceptor, or
to cause those materials to be so handled.
(b) The prohibition in subdivision (a), as it pertains to
reinsertion of material removed from a grease trap or grease
interceptor, shall not apply to a grease waste hauler if all of the
following conditions are met:
(1) The local sewer authority having jurisdiction over the pumping
and disposal of the material specifically allows a registered grease
waste hauler to obtain written approval for the reinsertion of
decanted liquid.
(2) The local sewer authority has determined that, if reinsertion
is allowed, it is feasible to enforce local discharge limits for
fats, oil, and grease, if any, and other local requirements for best
management or operating practices, if any.
(3) The grease waste hauler is registered pursuant to Section
19310 of the Food and Agricultural Code.
(4) The registered grease waste hauler demonstrates to the
satisfaction of the local sewer authority all of the following:
(A) It will use equipment that will adequately separate the water
from the grease waste and solids in the material so as to comply with
applicable regulations.
(B) Its employees are adequately trained in the use of that
equipment.
(5) The registered grease waste hauler has express written
permission from the owner or operator of the grease trap or grease
interceptor for the reinsertion of the decanted liquid.
(5) The registered grease waste hauler demonstrates both of the
following:
(A) It has informed the managerial personnel of the owner or
operator of the grease trap or interceptor, in writing, that the
grease waste hauler may reinsert the decanted materials, unless the
owner or operator objects to the reinsertion.
(B) The owner or operator has not objected to the reinsertion of
the decanted materials. If the owner or operator of the grease trap
or interceptor objects to the reinsertion, no decanted material may
be inserted in that grease trap or interceptor.
(c) A grease waste hauler shall not transport grease removed from
a grease trap or grease interceptor in the same vehicle used for
transporting other waste, including, but not limited to, yellow
grease, cooking grease, recyclable cooking oil, septic waste, or
fluids collected at car washes.
(d) For purposes of this section, a "grease waste hauler" is a
transporter of inedible kitchen grease subject to registration
requirements pursuant to Section 19310 of the Food and Agricultural
Code.
(e) Any person who violates this section shall be guilty of a
misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment in a county jail for not more
than six months or a fine of not more than ten thousand dollars
($10,000), or both a fine and imprisonment.
A second and subsequent conviction, shall be punishable by
imprisonment in a county jail for not more than one year, or a fine
of not more than twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000), or both a
fine and imprisonment.
(f) Notwithstanding Section 1463, the fines paid pursuant to this
section shall be apportioned as follows:
(1) Fifty percent shall be deposited in the Environmental
Enforcement and Training Account established pursuant to Section
14303, and used for purposes of Title 13 (commencing with Section
14300) of Part 4.
(2) Twenty-five percent shall be distributed pursuant to Section
1463.001.
(3) Twenty-five percent to the local health officer or other local
public officer or agency that investigated the matter which lead to
bringing the action.
(g) If the court finds that the violator has engaged in a practice
or pattern of violation, consisting of two or more convictions, the
court may bar the violating individual or business from engaging in
the business of grease waste hauling for a period not to exceed five
years.
(h) The court may require, in addition to any fine imposed upon
conviction, that as a condition of probation and in addition to any
other punishment or condition of probation, that a person convicted
under this section remove, or pay the cost of removing, to the extent
they are able, any materials which the convicted person dumped or
caused to be dumped in violation of this section.
(i) This section does not prohibit the direct receipt of trucked
grease by a publicly owned treatment works.
SEC. 2. Division 12.4 (commencing with Section 16050) is added to
the Public Resources Code, to read:
DIVISION 12.4. GREASE TRAP AND GREASE INTERCEPTOR WASTE
16050. For purposes of this division, "grease waste hauler" means
a transporter of inedible kitchen grease subject to the registration
requirements in Section 19310 of the Food and Agricultural Code.
16051. (a) A grease waste hauler shall not remove grease from a
grease trap or grease interceptor unless the hauler removes all
grease, greasy liquid, water, and solids from the grease trap or
grease interceptor each time of removal.
(b) Subdivision (a) does not require a grease interceptor or
grease trap to be cleaned of de minimus residue that cannot be
removed by normal procedures, including, but not limited to, pumping
or other cleaning, or residue resulting from systems that have
continuous flow.
16052. A violation of this division may only be enforced against
a grease waste hauling company and shall not be enforced against an
employee of the grease waste hauler.
16053. (a) A grease waste hauler who violates this division shall
be subject to a civil penalty, for the first violation, in an amount
that does not exceed five thousand dollars ($5,000).
(b) A grease waste hauler who violates this division, for a second
or subsequent violation, shall be subject to a civil penalty in an
amount that does not exceed ten thousand dollars ($10,000).
(c) A grease waste hauler who violates this division may also be
subject to any further equitable remedy, as determined by the court.
(d) The civil penalties collected pursuant to this division shall
be apportioned as follows:
(1) Fifty percent shall be deposited in the Environmental
Enforcement and Training Account established pursuant to Section
14303 of the Penal Code, and used for purposes of Title 13
(commencing with Section 14300) of Part 4 of the Penal Code.
(2) Fifty percent to the local health officer or other local
public officer or agency that investigated the matter that lead to
bringing the action.
SEC. 3. Nothing in this act shall prevent punishment instead under
any other criminal law. The imposition of a criminal fine,
incarceration, or a civil penalty under this act may be in addition
to any civil penalty imposed under any other law.
SEC. 4. No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because
the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school
district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or
infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty
for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the
Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the
meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
Constitution.