BILL ANALYSIS
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
479 (Chesbro)
Hearing Date: 08/27/2009 Amended: 08/17/2009
Consultant: Brendan McCarthy Policy Vote: EQ 5-2
AB 479 (Chesbro)
Page 2
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BILL SUMMARY: This bill makes a number of changes to the laws
governing solid waste disposal and recycling. The bill requires
the Integrated Waste Management Board to increase the diversion
of solid waste from the currently required level of 50 percent
to 75 percent by 2020. The bill requires certain businesses to
arrange for recycling services and requires local governments to
implement a commercial recycling program. The bill requires the
Waste Board to study whether required business recycling
programs are achieving the state's greenhouse gas reduction
targets and requires local governments to adopt a commercial
recycling ordinance if the targets are not being met. The bill
also makes a number of technical and procedural changes to the
laws governing solid waste facility regulation.
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Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 Fund
Cost pressure due to Unknown, potentially in the
millionsSpecial *
increased diversion rates per year
Reduced fee revenues Up to $22,000 per year by 2020 Special
*
Greenhouse gas study Up to $500 in 2014 and 2019 Special
**
* Integrated Waste Management Account.
** Integrated Waste Management Account. Potentially offset with
AB 32 fees.
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STAFF COMMENTS: Suspense file. As proposed to be amended.
Under current law, local governments are required divert 50
percent of solid waste through source reduction, recycling, and
composting. The Integrated Waste Management Board (Waste Board)
is required to determine whether local governments are in
compliance with this requirement. Local governments that are not
in compliance or are not making a good faith effort to come into
compliance are subject to fines.
AB 479 (Chesbro)
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Current law authorizes the Waste Board to designate local
enforcement agencies to carry out permitting of solid waste
facilities and enforcement of permit or other requirements.
Current law requires local governments to adopt and submit
non-disposal facility elements to the Waste Board. These
non-disposal facility elements must include a description of new
facilities and expansions of existing facilities and all solid
waste facility expansions that recover for reuse more than 5
percent of total disposed volume.
This bill requires local governments to update existing
non-disposal facility elements as conditions change and provide
that information to the Waste Board.
The bill requires the Waste Board to "ensure" that 75 percent of
generated solid waste is diverted through source reduction,
recycling, or composting. The bill prohibits the Waste Board
from imposing any enforceable requirements on local governments
or solid waste enterprises. Because the bill appears to require
the Waste Board to further increase diversion rates while
prohibiting the Waste Board from imposing requirements on local
governments, the bill will create substantial cost pressure on
the Waste Board. The bill does not specify methods the Waste
Board shall use to increase diversion rates, but it is likely
that in order to ensure that diversion rates increase, the Waste
Board will need to create incentives for local governments,
businesses, or individuals to encourage additional source
reduction, recycling, or composting. The costs to do so are
unknown, but could be substantial. In addition, the Waste Board
collects a "tipping fee" of $1.40 per ton of solid waste
disposed of in the state. This fee is capped in statute. To the
extent that the bill requires the Waste Board to increase the
diversion of solid waste, it will lead to lower tipping fee
revenues. Any reduction in tipping fee revenues will be
proportional to the increase in diversion rates.
Beginning in January 2011, the bill requires businesses that
contract for solid waste disposal and generate more than four
cubic yards of solid waste and recyclable materials per week to
arrange for recycling services. Such businesses are required to
either separate recyclable materials from solid waste and
arrange for the collection of recyclable materials, or to
contract with a recycling service that provides mixed waste
processing services. The bill requires local governments to
implement a commercial recycling program, unless a jurisdiction
already has established such a program. The Waste Board is
required to review such local commercial recycling programs.
AB 479 (Chesbro)
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In 2014 and 2019, the bill requires the Waste Board to conduct a
statewide study of the amount of greenhouse gas emissions that
have been avoided due to commercial recycling programs that are
required in the bill. If the Waste Board determines that the
greenhouse gas emission reductions due to commercial recycling
programs are not sufficient to meet the relevant targets
included in the Air Resources Board's AB 32 Scoping Plan, the
Waste Board may require local governments that have not already
done so to adopt a mandatory commercial recycling ordinance. The
costs to conduct the required studies are uncertain, but could
be up to $500,000 per study in 2014 and 2019.
The bill changes the procedures under which local enforcement
agencies may approve changes to existing solid waste facility
permits. The bill also makes a variety of technical changes to
the code sections governing solid waste.
While the bill imposes state mandates on local governments,
those mandates are not reimbursable because local governments
are authorized to levy fees to pay for the costs required under
the bill.
SB 25 (Padilla) increases the required diversion rate to 60
percent by 2015 and also generally requires businesses to
contract for recycling services. SB 25 is in the Assembly
Natural Resources Committee.
SB 1020 (Padilla, 2007) would have required the Waste Board to
develop a plan to achieve a 75 percent diversion rate by 2020.
That bill was held in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
The author's proposed amendments specify that the increased
diversion rate requirement does not confer additional authority
on the Waste Board. The amendments direct the Waste Board to
include information on avoided greenhouse gas emissions from
commercial recycling in a currently required report. The
amendments remove the Waste Board's authority to impose new
commercial waste recycling requirements on local jurisdictions.
The amendments also make several technical changes to the bill.