BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1333
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 1333 (Frommer)
As Amended May 4, 2005
Majority vote
ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY 5-1 PUBLIC
SAFETY 6-0
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|Ayes:|Ruskin, Chu, De La Torre, |Ayes:|Leno, Benoit, Cohn, |
| |Goldberg, Jerome Horton | |Dymally, Goldberg, |
| | | |Spitzer |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
|Nays:|Strickland | | |
| | | | |
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APPROPRIATIONS 13-5
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|Ayes:|Chu, Bass, Berg, | | |
| |Calderon, Mullin, | | |
| |Karnette, Klehs, Leno, | | |
| |Nation, Oropeza, | | |
| |Ridley-Thomas, Saldana, | | |
| |Yee | | |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
|Nays:|Sharon Runner, Emmerson, | | |
| |Haynes, Nakanishi, | | |
| |Walters | | |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Makes it a misdemeanor criminal offense to improperly
discard grease. Specifically, this bill :
1)Prohibits any grease hauler from reinserting into a grease
trap, grease interceptor, manhole, cleanout, sanitary sewer
facility or any other place not authorized to receive them,
any materials that the hauler has removed from the grease trap
or grease interceptor.
2)Defines, for purposes of the Penal Code "grease waste hauler"
to be "an individual or business who removes grease and
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accompanying materials from a grease trap or a grease
interceptor and transports the materials to another location.
It does not include a hauler of grease from grease traps
serving industrial processes that principally contain
petroleum hydrocarbons.
3)Makes it unlawful for any person to manage or dispose of
grease removed from a grease trap or grease interceptor into a
land treatment unit. For purposes of the Penal Code, "land
treatment unit" or "land farm" is "a facility or part of a
facility at which waste is applied onto or incorporated into
the soil surface so that constituents are degraded,
transformed, or immobilized with the treatment zone."
4)Provides that any person who violates these provisions shall
be guilty of a misdemeanor punishable, on the first offense,
by imprisonment in a county jail for not more than six months,
or by a fine of up to $10,000, or both. Upon a subsequent
offense, that person is subject to imprisonment of up to one
year in a county jail, or a fine of up to $25,000, or both.
5)Apportions the fines paid pursuant to this section as follows:
a) 50% shall be deposited in the Environmental Enforcement
and Training Account (ETTA), which is used to help fund
statewide training for local environmental enforcement
officials;
b) 25% shall be distributed pursuant to the customary
method for apportioning fines between the city and the
county in which the crime occurred; and,
c) 25% to the local health officer or other local public
officer or agency that investigated the matter which lead
to bringing the action.
6)Authorizes the court to bar the violating individual or
business from engaging in the business of grease hauling for a
period not to exceed five years if it finds that the violator
has engaged in a practice or pattern of violation, consisting
of two or more convictions.
7)Permits the court to require, in addition to any fine imposed
upon conviction, as a condition of probation, that a person
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convicted under this section remove, or pay the cost of
removing any materials which the convicted person dumped in
violation of this section.
EXISTING LAW , under the Food and Agricultural Code, generally
regulates haulers of grease under the chapter governing
Horsemeat and Pet Food.
1)Authorizes any registered transporter or licensed renderer of
inedible kitchen grease to deliver any inedible kitchen grease
to a licensed renderer or collection center for processing or
recycling into usable products. As used in this section,
"usable products" includes, but is not limited to, biofuels,
lubricants, and animal feed, provided the uses for animal feed
are permitted by the rules and regulations adopted by the
United States Food and Drug Administration.
2)Requires the California Department of Food and Agriculture
(CDFA) to issue licenses to individuals who operate rendering
plants and collection centers.
3)Makes it unlawful to maliciously discharge any substance
capable of causing substantial damage or harm to the operation
of a public sewer sanitary facility, or to deposit in
commercial quantities, any other substance, into a manhole,
cleanout, or other sanitary sewer facility, not intended for
use as a point of deposit for sewage, which is connected to a
public sanitary sewer system, without possessing a written
authorization. A first violation is a misdemeanor, punishable
by imprisonment in the county jail for not more than one year,
or by a fine of up to $25,000, or by both a fine and
imprisonment. A subsequent violation, is an alternate
felony-misdemeanor, punishable by imprisonment in the county
jail for not more than one year, or imprisonment in the state
prison for 16, 20, or 24 months, and by a fine of not less
than $5,000 or more than $25,000.
4)Establishes the Environmental Circuit Prosecutor Project as
part of the Local Environmental Enforcement and Training
Program. This program is meant to assist local enforcement
personnel in the investigation and enforcement of all
environmental laws.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
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Committee analysis, potential moderate statewide revenue
generated by fines imposed for the new grease-related crimes and
moderate reallocation of fine revenue to the EETA and local
health officers.
COMMENTS : The author seeks to make the most egregious
violators of statutes governing the proper handling and disposal
of grease removed from grease traps subject to misdemeanor
penalties.
1)The sponsor of this measure, the California District Attorneys
Association (CDAA), explains that under current law
prosecutions are often hampered because the prosecutors must
actually catch illegal dumpers in the act and must have
accurate discharge measurements in order to prove the dumpers
are exceeding discharge limits or the extent of harm to the
environment. CDAA asserts that this bill takes a simpler and
more sensible approach by making the act of disposal to an
unauthorized place illegal in and of itself as a strict
liability misdemeanor crime. This change should better deter
cheaters that are taking advantage of businesses that think
their grease is being properly disposed.
2)CDAA states that "brown grease" is a major problem because it
threatens our natural resources, our health, and the
remediation cost dissipates precious tax dollars. District
Attorneys have prosecuted waste haulers in the past few years,
all of whom were filling our sewers and creeks with grease
that had been taken out of legitimate restaurant grease traps
and interceptors. Currently, grease cases are complicated to
prosecute because various practices are not expressly illegal.
California's Water and Fish and Game Codes do not provide
prosecutors with the tools required to address this serious
problem. Prosecutors need legislation to provide strict
penalties for the mishandling of brown grease.
3)Studies by local governments of sewer blockages demonstrate
that blockages due to buildup of fats, oil, and grease are a
major cause of sewage overflow. Forty-one percent of the 682
sewage spills occurring during 2001 in Los Angeles were the
result of grease buildup in the sewer system. In Sacramento,
grease blockages accounted for 44% of annual mainline
blockages between 1996 and 2000, and sewage spills caused by
grease blockages cost an average of $235,000 during the
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four-year period. Six specific mainline stoppages directly
attributable to restaurant-generated grease cost the
Sacramento County Sanitation District over $1.4 million in
flooded structure claims. Orange County beaches were closed
more than 2,000 days between 1987 and 2000 as a result of
bacterial contamination due to sewage spills, many of which
were caused by grease clogs. Sewage spills caused by pipeline
blockages and pipeline breaks were responsible for the
majority (70%) of the ocean and bay water closures in Orange
County from 1987-2004. Grease blockage was directly
attributable for 28% of the sewer pipeline blockages that
resulted in ocean and bay closures in Orange County from
1999-2004.
4)The membership of the California Grain and Feed Association
(CGFA) includes most of the California rendering companies
engaged in servicing grease interceptors and the hauling and
disposal of interceptor grease. They support "most of the
provisions of the bill including those regarding disposal of
interceptor grease at land treatment units as well as the
penalty provisions of the bill. We think these provisions
will assist in preventing the improper disposal of grease."
5)However, in a hearing at of the Environmental Safety
Committee, CGFA urged the author to permit the use of mobile
separator units. CGFA states, "While we do support the
concept of removing all grease, solids and water from
interceptor units, the bill does not recognize that some
interceptor service companies now have equipment on their
pumping trucks that separate the grey water from the solids
and grease. They can then pump the grey water back into the
interceptor unit which actually makes the unit operate more
effectively and prevents some grease from escaping into the
sewer system." They contend that permitting the use of such
equipment eliminates the need to haul the water long distances
and also reduces the number of dumping trips at sanitation
district facilities. In addition, particularly in remote and
rural areas, they think that mobile separator units are more
efficient where there are long distances between the food
facility and a treatment plant. CGFA would like to permit the
"separated water" be returned to the inlet chamber of the
interceptor unit if equipment capable of separating the water
is used and if this practice is permitted by the local
sanitation district.
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6)While the concept of how a mobile separator unit might work is
relatively straightforward, there appears to be some question
as to how it would work in fact. According to the author's
office, several cities have banned the use of mobile separator
units including Huston and Baton Rouge. There is concern that
such an amendment might undermine the effectiveness of the
straightforward ban currently in this bill on the disposal of
removed material back into the filter input or down the drain.
It could make it very difficult for local authorities to
determine what kind of waste the transporter is pumping back
into the interceptor and would require the enforcing authority
to quantify how much grease is contained within the effluent
entering back into the grease interceptor.
Related legislation : AB 1065 (Agriculture Committee) authorizes
CDFA to establish a system to document and track the
transportation of inedible kitchen grease in order to better
ensure the proper disposal or recycling of the grease. This
bill is on the Assembly Floor.
.
Analysis Prepared by : Michael Endicott / E.S. & T.M. / (916)
319-3965
FN: 0010828