BILL NUMBER: AB 2398	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member John A. Perez

                        FEBRUARY 19, 2010

   An act to add Chapter 20 (commencing with Section 42970) to Part 3
of Division 30 of the Public Resources Code, relating to recycling.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 2398, as introduced, John A. Perez. Product stewardship:
carpet.
   The California Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989,
administered by the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery,
is required to reduce, recycle, and reuse solid waste generated in
the state to the maximum extent feasible in an efficient
cost-effective manner to conserve water, energy, and other natural
resources.
   This bill would require the department, by January 1, 2012, to
establish a baseline collection rate for the amount of carpet that is
discarded and subsequently collected. The bill would provide a
procedure for determining the collection rate for purposes of the
bill, commencing January 1, 2013.
   The bill would require, by September 30, 2011, a producer or the
product stewardship organization created by one or more producers of
a carpet to submit a carpet stewardship plan to the department, which
would be required to include specified elements, including
performance goals as to the collection rate for a compact. By January
1, 2012, the department would be required to review and either
approve or disapprove carpet stewardship plans submitted to the
department.
   The bill would prohibit a producer or retailer, on and after
January 1, 2012, from selling a carpet unless the producer or carpet
stewardship organization of the carpet has submitted a plan to the
department that is approved by the department. The act would require
a producer of carpet to collect the carpet pursuant to the carpet
stewardship plan and to meet the performance goals included in the
carpet stewardship plan.
   Each producer or carpet stewardship organization implementing a
carpet stewardship plan would be required to prepare and submit to
the department an annual report describing the activities carried out
pursuant to the carpet stewardship plan and the department would be
required to adopt regulations, by January 1, 2012, specifying the
information required to be included in the annual carpet stewardship
plan report.
   A producer or carpet stewardship organization submitting a carpet
stewardship plan would be required to pay the department an
unspecified fee when submitting the plan for review and approval and
to pay an annual administrative fee, determined as an unspecified
percentage of the costs of implementing the plan. The bill would
provide for the imposition of administrative civil penalties upon a
producer who does not comply with the bill's requirements or a
producer or retailer selling carpet in violation of the bill. The
bill would create the Carpet Stewardship Account in the existing
Integrated Waste Management Fund and would require that the
administrative fees be deposited into that account and that the
penalties be deposited into the Carpet Stewardship Penalty Subaccount
that the bill would create in that account. The bill would authorize
the fees and penalties to be expended, upon appropriation by the
Legislature, to cover the department's program implementation costs
and as incentives to enhance recyclability and redesign efforts and
to reduce environmental and safety impacts of carpet.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
   (a) Recycling carpets results in greater green house gas (GHG)
emission reductions than most other products.
   (b) Carpets accounted for 3.2 percent of waste by volume disposed
of in California in 2008.
   (c) Despite nationwide and California memoranda of understanding
to promote carpet recycling, the carpet recycling rate has dropped
from 4.9 percent in 2007 to 4.3 percent in 2008.
   (d) The California carpet industry memorandum of understanding
targets a recycling rate of between 20 and 25 percent by 2012.
   (e) Because other types of recycling programs have proven to have
limited success, state and regional governments in Europe and Canada
have adopted producer responsibility programs to redirect the
responsibility for the end-of-life management of discarded hazardous
and hard to manage products from local governments and retailers
primarily to producers.
   (f) The former California Integrated Waste Management Board
adopted an overall Framework for an Extended Producer Responsibility
(EPR) guidance document as a policy priority in January 2008.
   (g) The program established by this act is intended to reduce
costs to local government, to harmonize the state's producer
responsibility obligations with other national and international
programs, and to enhance the protection of public health and the
environment through safer product design, use, and end-of-life
management.
  SEC. 2.  Chapter 20 (commencing with Section 42970) is added to
Part 3 of Division 30 of the Public Resources Code, to read:
      CHAPTER 20.  PRODUCT STEWARDSHIP FOR CARPETS


   42970.  For purposes of this chapter, and unless the context
otherwise requires, the definitions in this chapter govern the
construction of this chapter:
   (a) "Brand" means a name, symbol, word, or mark that identifies
the carpet, rather than its components, and attributes the carpet to
the owner or licensee of the brand as the producer.
   (b) "Carpet" means ____.
   (c) "Collection rate" means a quantitative measure that
establishes the amount of carpet required to be collected by the
carpet stewardship system for that carpet by an established date. The
collection rate is included as a component of the performance goals
for a carpet.
   (d) "Department" means the Department of Resources Recycling and
Recovery.
   (e) "Performance goal" means the collection rate of carpets and
may include, but is not limited to, the reuse and recycling rates
established by the carpet stewardship plan for that carpet.
   (f) "Producer" shall be determined, with regard to a carpet that
is sold, offered for sale, or distributed in the state, as meaning
one of the following:
   (1) The person who manufactures the carpet and who sells, offers
for sale, or distributes that carpet in the state under that person's
own name or brand.
   (2) If there is no person who sells, offers for sale, or
distributes the carpet in the state under the person's own name or
brand, the producer of the carpet is the owner or licensee of a
trademark or brand under which the carpet is sold or distributed in
the state, whether or not the trademark is registered.
   (3) If there is no person who is a producer of the carpet for
purpose of paragraphs (1) and (2), the producer of that carpet is the
person who imports the carpet into the state for sale or
distribution.
   (g) "Product goal" means those qualitative or quantitative goals
determined by the producer to measure improvements that reduce the
life cycle impacts of a carpet.
   (h) "Product stewardship" means requiring the producer of a
carpet, and all other entities involved in the distribution chain of
a carpet, to share in the responsibility of reducing the life cycle
impact of the carpet and its packaging, including requiring the
producer who makes design and marketing decisions for the carpet to
bear the primary responsibility for this reduction.
   (i) "Product stewardship organization" means an organization
appointed by one or more producers to act as an agent on behalf of
the producer to design, submit, and administer a carpet stewardship
plan pursuant to this chapter
   (j) "Product stewardship plan" or "plan" means a plan written by
an individual producer or a carpet stewardship organization, on
behalf of one or more producers, that includes all of the information
required by Section 42973.
   (k) "Recycling rate" means a quantitative measure that establishes
the amount of a collected carpet that is recycled as compared to the
total amount of the carpet that is collected, including the amount
of the carpet that is discarded for reuse, energy recovery, or safe
disposal.
   (l) "Reporting period" means the period commencing January 1 and
ending on December 31 of the same calendar year.
   (m) "Retailer" means a person that offers new carpet in a retail
sale, as defined in Section 6007 of the Revenue and Taxation Code,
including a retail sale at retail through any means, including remote
offerings such as sales outlets, catalogs, or an Internet Web site.
   (n) "Reuse rate" means a quantitative measure that establishes the
amount of a collected carpet that is reused as compared to the total
amount of the covered carpet that is collected, including the amount
of the carpet that is discarded by recycling, energy recovery, or
safe disposal.
   (o) "Sell" or "sales" means any transfer of title of a carpet for
consideration, including a remote sale conducted through a sale
outlet, catalog, or Internet Web site or similar electronic means,
but does not include a lease.
   42971.  On or before January 1, 2012, the department shall
establish a baseline collection rate for the amount of carpets that
are discarded and subsequently collected, based on existing
collection data.
   42972.  (a) The collection rate for a carpet shall be determined
in the following manner:
   (1) For the calendar year commencing January 1, 2013, the
collection rate shall be 5 percent more than the baseline collection
rate determined pursuant to Section 42971.
   (2) On and after January 1, 2014, the collection rate for each
carpet shall increase by no less than 5 percent annually until a 95
percent collection rate is reached.
   (b) A producer may petition the department for an adjustment to
the collection rate. The department may grant an adjustment to the
collection rate only if the department determines there are
documented exigent circumstances that are beyond the control of the
producer or carpet stewardship organization.
   42973.  (a) On or before September 30, 2011, a producer or the
carpet stewardship organization of a carpet shall submit a carpet
stewardship plan to the department. A carpet stewardship organization
created pursuant to this section shall be open for participation by
all producers of carpet.
   (b) A producer, group of producers, or carpet stewardship
organization shall consult with stakeholders during the development
of the carpet stewardship plan, including soliciting stakeholder
comments and responding to stakeholder comments prior to submitting
the carpet stewardship plan.
   (c) Each carpet stewardship plan for an identified carpet shall
address the environmental impacts of a carpet over the entire life
cycle of that carpet, including carpet design, manufacture, and
distribution, and the collection, transportation, reuse, recycling,
and final disposition of discarded carpet, in accordance with this
chapter. The plan shall include, at a minimum, all of the following
elements:
   (1) Contact information for all participating producers.
   (2) A description of the brands of carpet covered by the plan.
   (3) Performance goals, including a detailed description of how the
performance goals will be achieved and how results will be measured
and including both of the following:
   (A) The collection rate shall be included as a performance goal
for a carpet.
   (B) The reuse rate and recycling rate for that carpet shall be
included in the performance goal.
   (4) An overview of the roles and responsibilities of key players
along the distribution chain for that carpet.
   (5) Financing methods for the carpet stewardship plan.
   (6) Strategies for managing and reducing the life cycle impacts of
the carpet, steps that will be taken to ensure environmentally sound
management, and how impacts will be tracked over time to show
continual improvement.
   (7) Education and outreach activities.
   (8) A description of the consultation process used to consult with
affected stakeholders regarding the carpet stewardship plan.
   (9) A description of product goals, including, but is not limited
to, carpet designing and materials content, manufacturing, packaging,
distribution, and end-of-life management goals. The product goals
shall address the use of virgin material in the manufacture of the
carpet, the impact upon, or use of, water or energy by the carpet,
the use of, or generation of hazardous substances, by the carpet, the
carbon footprint of the carpet, the carpet's longevity, the recycled
content of the carpet, and recyclability, where applicable.
   (10) Procedures for notifying all retailers engaged in the sale of
that carpet.
   42974.  (a) On or before January 1, 2012, the department shall
review any plan submitted to the department and either approve or
disapprove the carpet stewardship plan submitted to the department.
If the department does not approve the plan, the department shall
notify the producer or organization that submitted the plan and the
producer or organization shall revise and resubmit the disapproved
carpet stewardship plan within 30 days after receiving the
notification.
   (b) All carpet stewardship plans submitted to the department shall
be available to the public on the department's Internet Web site.
   (c) A producer shall notify the department 30 days before
instituting a significant or material change to a carpet stewardship
plan.
   (d) The carpet stewardship plan shall be implemented upon the
approval of the department by the producer or the carpet stewardship
organization that submitted the plan.
   42975.  On and after January 1, 2012, a producer or retailer shall
not offer a carpet for sale in this state or offer a carpet for
promotional purposes in this state unless the producer or carpet
stewardship organization of the carpet has submitted a carpet
stewardship plan to the department pursuant to Section 42973 and the
carpet stewardship plan is approved by the department pursuant to
Section 42974 and being implemented pursuant to Section 42976.
   42976.  A producer of a carpet shall do all of the following when
implementing this chapter, including when implementing an approved
carpet stewardship plan:
   (a) Collect the individual carpets to be reused or recycled
pursuant to the carpet stewardship plan for that carpet submitted by
the producer or carpet organization pursuant to Section 42973 and
approved by the department pursuant to Section 42974.
   (b) Meet the performance goals included in the carpet stewardship
plan, including achieving the collection rate established pursuant to
Section 42973.
   (c) Provide collection services, in accordance with Section 42977,
for the carpet that does not charge a fee at the time when the
carpet is collected for either recycling or disposal.
   (d) Pay all administrative and operational costs associated with
the carpet stewardship plan, including the costs of collection,
transportation, and recycling or disposal, or both, of the carpet,
including the amount determined pursuant to Section 42979.
   (e) Submit the annual report required by Section 42978.
   42977.  A carpet shall be handled and recycled, or, if not
feasible to be recycled, disposed of, in accordance with all state
and federal laws and regulations and local ordinances and
regulations, including, but not limited to, any law, regulation, or
ordinance that regulates hazardous waste.
   42978.  (a) On or before January 1, 2012, the department shall
adopt regulations specifying the information required to be included
in annual carpet stewardship plan reports. Notwithstanding
subdivision (b), the department may include, in those regulations,
alternative reporting requirements for purposes of those annual
reports.
   (b) Beginning one year after a carpet stewardship plan is approved
or no later than January 1, 2013, whichever date is earlier, and
every subsequent year thereafter, each producer or stewardship
organization implementing a carpet stewardship plan shall prepare and
submit to the department an annual report describing the activities
carried out pursuant to the carpet stewardship plan during the
previous reporting period. The report, unless required otherwise by
the department pursuant to the regulations adopted pursuant to
subdivision (a), shall include, but is not limited to, all of the
following:
   (1) Whether the producer or carpet stewardship organization, in
implementing the plan, attained the performance goals for the carpet,
and if the performance goals were not met, what actions the producer
or carpet stewardship organization will take during the next
reporting period to attain those performance goals.
   (2) Whether the producer or carpet stewardship organization, in
implementing the plan, attained the carpet goals for the carpet, and
if the carpet goals were not met, what actions the producer or
stewardship organization will take during the next reporting period
to achieve those carpet goals.
   (3) A description of the outreach and education activities
undertaken during the reporting period to inform consumers and other
stakeholders of the collection opportunities and safe carpet handling
described in the carpet stewardship plan.
   (4) A description of those areas in the state that have been
served by the carpet stewardship plan and any barriers to, or
opportunities for, increased coverage in the future.
   (5) A description of the actions undertaken to manage and reduce
the life cycle impacts of the carpet.
   (6) The total cost to implement the carpet stewardship plan and a
description of any economic or job impacts to stakeholders.
   (c) The department shall review a report submitted pursuant to
this section and shall approve the report if the department
determines the report contains the information required by this
section.
   (d) The department shall make all reports submitted to the
department pursuant to this section available to the public on the
department's Internet Web site.
   42979.  (a) The producer or carpet stewardship organization
submitting a carpet stewardship plan shall pay the department an
administrative fee in the amount of ____ dollars ($____) when the
plan is submitted for review and approval and thereafter pay an
annual administrative fee of ____ percent of the carpet stewardship
program costs as reported under paragraph (6) of subdivision (b) of
Section 42978.
   (b) The total amount of annual fees collected pursuant to this
section shall not exceed the amount necessary to recover costs
incurred by the department in connection with the administration and
enforcement of the requirements of this chapter.
   42980.  (a) The Carpet Stewardship Account and the Carpet
Stewardship Penalty Subaccount are hereby established in the
Integrated Waste Management Fund.
   (b) All fees collected pursuant to this chapter shall be deposited
in the Carpet Stewardship Account and may be expended by the
department, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to cover the
department's costs to implement this chapter.
   (c) All penalties collected pursuant to this chapter shall be
deposited in the Carpet Stewardship Penalty Subaccount and may be
expended by the department, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to
cover the department's costs to implement this article.
   (d) All funds collected may be expended as incentives to enhance
reuse, recyclability, and redesign efforts and to reduce
environmental and safety impacts of carpet.
   42981.  (a) If, after holding a public hearing, the department
finds that a producer has failed to make a good faith effort to
comply with this chapter, including, but not limited to, failing to
submit a plan pursuant to Section 42973, the department shall issue a
compliance order with a schedule for achieving compliance.
   (b) If, after issuing an order and schedule for compliance
pursuant to subdivision (c), the department finds that the producer
has failed to make a good faith effort to comply with this chapter,
the department may impose an administrative civil penalty of ten
thousand dollars ($10,000) per day until the producer achieves
compliance.
   (c) For purposes of this section, "good faith effort" means all
reasonable and feasible efforts by a producer towards implementing
the requirements of this chapter, including, but not limited to,
meeting the performance goals specified in the plan.
   42982.  (a) In addition to the penalty specified in Section 42981,
the department may impose an administrative civil penalty of ten
thousand dollars ($10,000) per day against a producer or retailer who
violates Section 42975.
   (b) Prior to enforcing a penalty pursuant to this section, the
department shall issue a compliance order to the producer or retailer
selling the carpet allowing 30 days from the date of the compliance
order to cease sales of the carpet.
   42983.  (a) The department, or its designee, may inspect, audit,
or require and review third-party audits of producers, carpet
stewardship organizations, and service providers, including
collectors and recyclers, that are utilized to fulfill the
requirements of a carpet stewardship plan.
   (b) For purposes of this section, a "service provider" means a
person who is authorized to perform an action to implement the carpet
stewardship plan with regard to the collection, recycling, reuse, or
disposal of a carpet, but does not include the consumer of the
carpet.
   42984.  The department shall adopt regulations for the imposition
of administrative civil penalties pursuant to this chapter.
   42985.  This article does not limit, supersede, duplicate, or
otherwise conflict with the authority of the Department of Toxic
Substances Control under Section 25257.1 of the Health and Safety
Code to fully implement Article 14 (commencing with Section 25251) of
Chapter 6.5 of Division 20 of the Health and Safety Code, including
the authority of the department to include a carpet in its product
registry.