BILL NUMBER: AB 34 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 14, 2011
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Williams
DECEMBER 6, 2010
An act to amend Section 42231 of the Public Resources
Code, relating An act to add Article 1.3 (commencing
with Section 43223) to Chapter 2 of Part 4 of Division 30 of the
Public Resources Code, relating to solid waste.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 34, as amended, Williams. Solid waste: compost market
program. waste compost facilities: odor.
Existing
(1) Existing law, the California
Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989, establishes a
compost market program to increase the use of compost products,
including requiring the Department of General Services and Department
of Resources Recycling and Recovery to maintain specifications for
the purchase of compost by the state and requiring the Department of
Transportation to use compost in place of, or to supplement,
petroleum-based commercial fertilizers in the state's highway
landscape maintenance program. The term compost is defined, for
purposes of this program, as the product resulting from the
controlled biological decomposition of organic wastes that are source
separated from the municipal solid waste stream
requires the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery to adopt
regulations governing the operation of organic composting sites,
including odor management and threshold levels. The act prohibits the
operation of a solid waste facility, as defined, without a solid
waste facilities permit issued by the enforcement agency having
jurisdiction over the facility .
This bill would specify that these organic wastes
include, but are not limited to, vegetable, yard, and wood wastes
that are not hazardous waste define terms
and require the department to develop, by July 1, 2012, a guidance
document to assist enforcement agencies in the adoption of
site-specific objective odor performance thresholds for compost
facilities. The bill would authorize a compost facility operator to
apply to an enforcement agency to adopt performance thresholds,
pursuant to a specified procedure, including the payment of an
application fee, and would require the enforcement agency to take
specified actions with regard to that application, thereby imposing a
state-mandated local program .
The bill would prohibit an enforcement agency from verifying that
an odor complaint originates from a compost facility for which the
enforcement agency has adopted performance standards, unless the odor
violates certain performance threshold standards. The bill would
also require a compost facility operator who submits an application
to an enforcement agency to adopt performance standards to also
submit to the department an annual odor regulation fee according to a
fee schedule that the department would be required to establish. The
bill would require the fees to be deposited in the Integrated Waste
Management Account, for expenditure by the department, upon
appropriation by the Legislature.
(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: no yes .
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Article 1.3 (commencing with Section
43223) is added to Chapter 2 of Part 4 of Division 30 of the
Public Resources Code , to read:
Article 1.3. Compost Facility Odor Performance Thresholds
43223. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) The people of the state have a primary interest in diverting
compostable materials from the solid waste stream that would
otherwise be destined for landfills and into compost facilities.
(b) Pursuit of this primary interest is being impeded by the
existence and inconsistent enforcement of subjective and inconsistent
odor standards set by, or enforced under, local, regional, or state
legal authority, including, but not limited to, ordinances, statutes,
regulations, rules, guidance documents, permits, orders, or common
law, that relates to nuisance, air quality, solid waste, or
composting.
(c) The health, safety, and welfare of the people of the state
will be promoted by making available to compost facility operators, a
process for obtaining performance thresholds for odor control at
those compost facilities.
(d) The department should issue a guidance document to assist
enforcement agencies in setting performance thresholds.
43224. For purposes of this article, the following definitions
shall apply:
(a) "Compost facility" means a compostable materials handling
operation or facility that is required to have a solid waste
facilities permit pursuant to this division.
(b) "Fenceline performance threshold" means a numerical
dilution-to-threshold ratio, measured at the fenceline of the compost
facility, which corresponds to the odor performance threshold.
(c) "Performance threshold exceedance standard" means an odor
measurement that exceeds a performance threshold.
(d) "Receptor performance threshold" means a numerical
dilution-to-threshold ratio, measured at the residence of a person
making an odor complaint regarding a compost facility, which
corresponds to the odor performance threshold.
(e) "Site-specific objective odor performance threshold" or
"performance threshold" means a site-specific objective odor
performance threshold for a compost facility.
43225. On or before July 1, 2012, the department shall develop,
in consultation with stakeholders, a guidance document to assist
enforcement agencies in the adoption of fenceline performance
thresholds, receptor performance thresholds, and performance
threshold exceedance standards for compost facilities. The guidance
document shall provide for all of the following:
(a) Each performance threshold shall be a numerical
dilution-to-threshold ratio measured with a field olfactometer or
similar device.
(b) The fenceline performance threshold shall be the numerical
dilution-to-threshold ratio, measured at the fenceline of the compost
facility, which corresponds to the odor performance threshold.
(c) The receptor performance threshold shall be the numerical
dilution-to-threshold ratio measured at the residence of a person
making an odor complaint regarding the compost facility, which
corresponds to the odor performance threshold.
(d) The guidance document shall require enforcement agencies, when
developing standards to be used in determining a performance
threshold exceedance, to ensure that odor measurements are verifiable
and repeatable and that the odor at a residence is the same odor as
the odor originating at the compost facility.
(e) The guidance document shall set standards limiting the maximum
number of performance threshold exceedance standards that can occur
in a 24-hour period.
43226. (a) A compost facility operator may apply to an
enforcement agency to adopt fenceline performance thresholds,
receptor performance thresholds, and performance threshold exceedance
standards for that compost facility.
(b) The compost facility operator's application for performance
thresholds shall include proposed performance thresholds for the
facility and an explanation of why those performance thresholds would
be appropriate in light of the relevant circumstances.
(c) (1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), the application shall
be accompanied by a filing fee according to a fee schedule
established by the enforcement agency to reflect the costs of
processing the application.
(2) If the enforcement agency has not established a fee for a
performance thresholds application as of the date that an application
is filed, the operator is not required to submit a fee to the
enforcement agency.
(d) Within 60 days after the date of receipt of a performance
thresholds application, the enforcement agency shall provide the
facility operator with draft performance thresholds for the facility.
If the draft performance thresholds are different from the
performance thresholds proposed in the application, the enforcement
agency shall include an explanation of the differences.
(e) Within 30 days after the date of receipt of the enforcement
agency's draft performance thresholds and accompanying explanation,
the compost facility operator may submit a response to the
enforcement agency.
(f) Within 120 days of receipt of a performance threshold
application, the enforcement agency shall provide the facility
operator and department with final performance thresholds for the
facility and an explanation of why the performance thresholds are
appropriate in light of the relevant circumstances. The explanation
shall include all elements required in connection with the draft
performance threshold.
(g) The department may reject the final performance thresholds
within 30 days of completion. If the department rejects the final
performance thresholds pursuant to subdivision (f), the department
shall explain the reasons for rejection and offer suggestions for
remedying the department's concerns.
(h) The final performance thresholds shall be deemed accepted by
the department if no action is taken by the department within 30 days
of receipt of the final performance thresholds.
(i) Within 30 days after the enforcement agency provides the
facility operator and the department with final performance standards
pursuant to subdivision (f) and the department fails to take action
pursuant to subdivision (h), or within 30 days after the department
rejects the final performance thresholds pursuant to subdivision (g),
the compost facility operator may appeal the final performance
thresholds to the department, which shall conduct a de novo review of
the performance thresholds.
(2) The evidence before the department shall consist of the record
before the enforcement agency and any other relevant evidence that,
in the judgment of the department, should be considered to effectuate
and implement the policies of this division.
(3) The department shall make a finding that the enforcement
agency's final performance thresholds were one of the following:
(A) Appropriate and proper.
(B) Inappropriate.
(C) Improper.
(4) Upon finding that the enforcement agency's final performance
threshold were inappropriate or improper, the department shall issue
final performance thresholds that are appropriate and proper,
together with an explanation including all elements required in
connection with the enforcement agency's draft performance threshold.
(5) Within 30 days after receipt of department's decision pursuant
to paragraph (32), the compost facility operator may file with the
superior court a petition for writ of mandate for review of the
decision under Section 1094.5 of the Code of Civil Procedure, and the
court shall exercise its independent judgment on the evidence
pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 1094.5 of the Code of Civil
Procedure.
43227. An enforcement agency shall not verify an odor complaint
originating from a compost facility, for which the enforcement agency
has adopted performance thresholds pursuant to Section 43226, unless
the odor violates performance threshold exceedance standards.
43228. A compost facility operator who elects to submit an
application to an enforcement agency to adopt performance standards
pursuant to this article shall also submit to department an annual
odor regulation fee according to a fee schedule established by
department. The department shall set the fee schedule pursuant to
this section based on the reasonable regulatory costs to the
department incident to implementing this section and shall deposit
the fees in the Integrated Waste Management Account, for expenditure
by the department, upon appropriation by the Legislature to implement
this section.
SEC. 2. No reimbursement is required by this act
pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
Constitution because a local agency or school district has the
authority to levy service charges, fees, or assessments sufficient to
pay for the program or level of service mandated by this act, within
the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government Code.
SECTION. 1. The Legislature finds and declares
all of the following:
(a) The Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery estimates
that 32 percent of the solid waste sent to landfills every year is
compostable organic material.
(b) The department is committed to reducing, by the year 2020, the
amount of organic material in the solid waste stream to 50 percent
of the amount that is currently sent to landfills.
(c) In order to meet that goal, the department has identified the
need for diverting waste from landfills at a rate of 15 to 18 million
tons per year and increasing compost production and markets.
(d) According to the department, to achieve a reduction in the
organic waste stream of 50 percent by 2020, the state would need to
increase the capacity to process organic waste materials by as many
as 96 new facilities, resulting in the creation of hundreds of green
jobs.
(e) Diverting organic materials from landfills results in
substantial environmental benefits, including the reduction of
methane and other volatile organic compounds.
(f) Further, compost, as an end product, can provide significant
agricultural benefits, such as erosion control and water
conservation.
(g) Recognizing these benefits, the state should work to increase
the diversion of organic materials from landfills by increasing
processing capacity and end-use markets.
SEC. 2. Section 42231 of the Public Resources
Code is amended to read:
42231. "Compost" means the product resulting from the controlled
biological decomposition of organic wastes, including, but not
limited to, vegetable, yard, and wood wastes that are not hazardous
waste, and that are source separated from the municipal solid waste
stream.