BILL ANALYSIS Ó ------------------------------------------------------------ |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 341| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ------------------------------------------------------------ THIRD READING Bill No: AB 341 Author: Chesbro (D), et al. Amended: 9/2/11 in Senate Vote: 21 SENATE ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY COMMITTEE : 6-1, 6/27/11 AYES: Simitian, Blakeslee, Hancock, Kehoe, Lowenthal, Pavley NOES: Strickland SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 6-3, 8/25/11 AYES: Kehoe, Alquist, Lieu, Pavley, Price, Steinberg NOES: Walters, Emmerson, Runner ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 48-28, 5/31/11 - See last page for vote SUBJECT : Solid waste: diversion SOURCE : Californians Against Waste DIGEST : This bill requires a commercial waste generator to arrange for recycling services; requires a local government to implement a commercial solid waste recycling program designed to divert solid waste from businesses; and also requires the Department of Resources and Recycling and Recovery, on or before January 1, 2014 to submit a report to the Legislature that provides strategies to achieve the state's policy goal that not less than 75 percent of added waste generated be source reduced, recycle, or composted by the year 2020, and annually thereafter which is to include CONTINUED AB 341 Page 2 specified information. Senate Floor Amendments of 9/2/11 make technical and clarifying changes to the proposed commercial recycling program for improved implementation. Specifically the amendments (1) move the effective date of the commercial recycling program back six months to July 1, 2012; (2) clarify that owners of multifamily dwellings may require tenants to separate recyclable; (3) require that local jurisdictions report on their commercial recycling program through their existing reporting requirements as part of the Act; (4) clarify how a local jurisdiction would meet a 'good faith effort', as defined, for purposes of implementing its commercial recycling program; and (5) make other related, technical and clarifying changes. ANALYSIS : Existing Law : 1. Requires local governments to divert 50 percent of solid waste disposed by their jurisdictions through source reduction, recycling, and composting. 2. Requires a local government to have a source reduction and recycling plan that places primary emphasis on implementation of all feasible source reduction, recycling, and composting programs while identifying the amount of landfill and transformation capacity that will be needed for solid waste that cannot be reduced at the source, recycled, or composted. 3. Requires a local government to have a nondisposal facility plan that includes all solid waste facilities and solid waste facility expansions that will help the local government reach its waste diversion mandate. 4. Requires, as of 1994, a local government to have ordinances relating to adequate areas for collection and loading of recyclable materials at commercial, industrial, and multifamily development projects. Prohibits, as of 2005, a local government from issuing a building permit to a development project unless the development project provides adequate space for collecting and loading recyclable materials. CONTINUED AB 341 Page 3 This bill: 1. Makes a legislative declaration that it is the policy goal of the state that not less than 75 percent of solid waste generated by source reduced, recycled, or composted by the year 2020, and requires DRRR, by January 1, 2014, to provide a report to the Legislature that provides strategies to achieve that policy goal and also includes other specified information and recommendations. Allows DRRRR to provide the report required by this bill the annual progress report if the combined report is submitted by January 1, 2014.2. 2. Requires a city, county, city and county, or regional agency to update all information required to be included in the nondisposal facility element, and provides that the update is not subject to approval by DRRR or comment and review by a local task force. 3. Requires a business, defined to include a commercial or public entity that generates more than four cubic yards of commercial solid waste per week or is a multifamily residential dwelling of five units or more to arrange for recycling services, on and after July 1, 2012. Requires a commercial waste generator to take specified actions with regard to recyclable materials. Requires a jurisdiction, on and after July 1, 2012, to implement a commercial solid waste recycling program meeting specified elements but does not require the jurisdiction to revise its source reduction and recycling element if the jurisdiction adds or expands a commercial solid waste recycling program to meet this requirement. Authorizes a local agency to charge and collect a fee from a commercial waste generator to recover the local agency's costs incurred in complying with the commercial solid waste recycling program requirements. Requires DRRR to review a jurisdiction's compliance with the 50 percent solid waste diversion requirement and authorizes DRRR to review a jurisdiction's compliance pursuant to a specified procedure. 4. Changes the due date for the State Agency Recycling Program annual report from September 1st to May 1st. CONTINUED AB 341 Page 4 5. Proposes changes to the amendment process for non-disposal facility elements that allows changes without approval by the local task force and instead requires the jurisdiction making the change to provide the information to the local task force as described. Prior/Related Legislation AB 818 (Blumenfield), 2011-12 Session, requires owners of multifamily residential buildings to provide recycling services. That bill is on the Governor's desk. SB 1020 (Padilla), 2007-08 Session, would have required the Integrated Waste Management Board to develop a plan to achieve a 75 percent diversion rate by 2020. That bill was held in the Assembly Appropriations Committee. SB 25 (Padilla), 2009-10 Session, would have increased the required diversion rate to 60 percent by 2015 and also generally required businesses to contract for recycling services. That bill was held in the Assembly Natural Resources Committee. AB 479 (Chesbro), 2009-10 Session, was substantially similar to this bill. AB 479 was held on this committee's suspense file. AB 737 (Chesbro), 2009-10 Session, would have implemented a commercial recycling program and required the Department to report to the Legislature on potential strategies to achieve a 75 percent diversion rate. That bill was vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger. FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: Yes Unknown with latest amendments. SUPPORT : (Verified 9/6/11) Californians Against Waste (source) California League of Conservation Voters California Refuse Recycling Council CONTINUED AB 341 Page 5 Center for Biological Diversity City and County of San Francisco City of San Jose City of Oakland Commercial Recycling and Waste Diversion Environment California Marin Resource Recovery Marin Sanitary Service Natural Resources Defense Council Planning and Conservation League Republic Services, Inc. Sierra Club California Varner Bros., Inc. OPPOSITION : (Verified 8/30/11) Orange County Board of Supervisors ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the sponsor of the bill, the Californians Against Waste and the author's office, diversion of solid waste from landfill benefits California in numerous ways. The author's office notes California's success at reducing the portion of its solid waste it buries in the ground, highlighting that, according to Cal Recycle, the state diverts from landfill 58 percent of the solid waste it generates each year. The author's office also notes, however, the amount of waste generated in California per person continues to climb and that it is important for the state to work towards further reducing the amount of solid waste going to landfill. The author's office contends the waste diversion goal established in this bill will help the state achieve further waste reduction and that the mandatory commercial waste reduction will provide opportunities to do so. ASSEMBLY FLOOR : AYES: Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Beall, Block, Blumenfield, Bonilla, Bradford, Brownley, Buchanan, Butler, Charles Calderon, Campos, Carter, Cedillo, Chesbro, Davis, Dickinson, Eng, Feuer, Fong, Fuentes, Furutani, Galgiani, Gatto, Gordon, Hall, Hayashi, Roger Hernández, Hill, Hueso, Huffman, Lara, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mendoza, Mitchell, Monning, V. Manuel Pérez, CONTINUED AB 341 Page 6 Portantino, Skinner, Solorio, Swanson, Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada, John A. Pérez NOES: Achadjian, Bill Berryhill, Conway, Cook, Donnelly, Fletcher, Beth Gaines, Garrick, Grove, Hagman, Halderman, Harkey, Jeffries, Jones, Knight, Logue, Mansoor, Miller, Morrell, Nestande, Nielsen, Norby, Olsen, Perea, Silva, Smyth, Valadao, Wagner NO VOTE RECORDED: Gorell, Huber, Pan, Torres DLW:do 9/6/11 Senate Floor Analyses SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE **** END **** CONTINUED