BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                  SB 55
                                                                  Page 1

          Date of Hearing:  July 6, 2009

                       ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES
                                Nancy Skinner, Chair
                     SB 55 (Corbett) - As Amended:  May 20, 2009

           SENATE VOTE :  29-4
           
          SUBJECT  :  California redemption value containers

           SUMMARY  :  Deletes an obsolete requirement that the Department of  
          Conservation (DOC) calculate a redemption rate for beverage  
          containers subject to the California Beverage Container  
          Recycling and Litter Reduction Act (Bottle Bill).  This bill  
          retains the requirement that DOC calculate the recycling rate  
          for beverage containers.   

           EXISTING LAW  pursuant to the Bottle Bill:  

          1)Requires every beverage container, as defined, sold or offered  
            for sale in this state to have a minimum refund value and  
            requires a distributor to pay a redemption payment for every  
            beverage container sold or offered for sale in the state to  
            DOC, which is required to deposit those amounts in the  
            California Beverage Container Recycling Fund.  The money in  
            the fund is continuously appropriated to DOC for the payment  
            of refund values and processing fees.

          2)Defines "beverage' to include, among other things, soda, beer  
            and other malt beverages, wine and distilled spirit coolers,  
            carbonated mineral and soda waters, noncarbonated fruit  
            drinks, and vegetable juices, in liquid form that are intended  
            for human consumption.  Excludes from the definition of  
            'beverage', among other things, vegetable drinks in beverage  
            containers of more than 16 ounces, milk, medical food, and any  
            product sold in a container that is not an aluminum beverage  
            container, a glass container, a plastic beverage container, or  
            a bimetal container.

          3)Requires DOC to establish reporting periods of six months each  
            for redemption rates and recycling rates for beverage  
            containers and requires them to determine and report the  
            redemption rates and recycling rates for those beverage  
            containers for each reporting period.









                                                                  SB 55
                                                                  Page 2

           FISCAL EFFECT  :  According to the Senate Appropriations  
          Committee, pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8, this bill has  
          negligible state costs.  

           COMMENTS  :  This bill deletes provisions that require DOC to  
          calculate and report on redemption rates.  DOC is required to  
          calculate a recycling rate based on the commonly used ratio of  
          materials recycled divided by materials sold, which is a true  
          indicator of program activities.  The redemption rate  
          calculation considers postfilled food or drink containers (not  
          included in the Bottle Bill) returned for recycling, in addition  
          to empty beverage containers (included in the Bottle Bill)  
          returned for recycling.  The recycling rate calculation only  
          considers empty beverage containers returned for recycling.  In  
          this respect, the redemption rate does not actually depict the  
          success of the Bottle Bill because it includes material that is  
          outside of its scope.


           REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION  :

           Support 
           
          Sierra Club
           
            Opposition 
           
          None on file


           Analysis Prepared by  :  Elizabeth MacMillan / NAT. RES. / (916)  
          319-2092