BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                  AB 1647
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          Date of Hearing:   May 16, 2012

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                Felipe Fuentes, Chair

                     AB 1647 (Gordon) - As Amended:  May 2, 2012 

          Policy Committee:                              Natural 
          ResourcesVote:5-1

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program: 
          No     Reimbursable:              No

           SUMMARY  

          This bill changes the hearing process for alleged waste tire 
          facility and hauling violations from an Office of Administrative 
          Hearing process to an informal hearing process administered by 
          the Department of Recycling and Resources Recovery (Calrecycle). 
           Specifically, this bill: 

          1)Authorizes Calrecycle to revoke, suspend or deny a waste 
            facility permit or waste tire hauler registration, for up to 
            three years, if, after an informal hearing, the director finds 
            fraud or certain violations.

          2)Authorizes Calrecycle to conduct informal hearings for civil 
            liability cases for alleged violation of waste tires laws that 
            have been made by the department through administrative 
            accusations.

          3)Establishes mandatory notification procedures and response 
            timelines Calrecycle must follow regarding potential permit 
            revocations, suspensions or denials, administrative 
            accusations and civil liability decisions.

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          Net costs of a minor, likely absorbable amount to Calrecycle 
          hear cases within given timeframes and provide notices (special 
          fund).  (While Calrecycle will face new workload as a result of 
          this bill, it will also see a reduction in current workload 
          resulting from preparation of cases for formal hearing before 
          the Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH), per existing law.  
          The net effect will likely be a near wash.)








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           COMMENTS  

           1)Rationale  .  The author describes a recent phenomenon of 
            unpermitted, fly-by-night operations that illegally accept 
            waste tires, bale them and export the bales, oftentimes in 
            violation of the laws of the receiving country, where the 
            tires are burned for fuel and derivative products.  The author 
            relays reports of permitted waste tire facilities that have 
            seen a nearly 50% drop in the volume of waste tires they 
            receive, presumably because the waste tires are going to 
            illegal operations. The author notes that the current process 
            to address such violations, which requires a formal hearing 
            before the Office of Administrative Hearings, takes at least 
            six months, during which time the illegal waste tire operators 
            continue their illicit activity.  The author intends this bill 
            to provide Calrecycle the ability to quickly hear and resolve 
            such matters internally, as it does with violations of solid 
            waste laws.


           2)Background  .  The Office of Administrative Hearings is a 
            quasi-judicial tribunal that hears administrative disputes by 
            providing independent Administrative Law Judges (ALJs) to 
            conduct hearings for state and local government agencies.  
            When there is disagreement with an action intended to be taken 
            by certain government agencies against an individual or 
            business, such as a Calrecylce action against a waste tire 
            facility or hauler, a hearing before OAH may be requested.  
            Calrecycle reports that hearings before OAH occur no sooner 
            than six months after being requested. 

            According to Calrecycle, Californians generate about 44 
            million waste tires yearly. In the past, most of California's 
            waste tires were deposited in landfills or dumped in illegal 
            tire piles. To reduce such wasteful or illegal disposal, the 
            Legislature enacted in 1990 the Waste Tire Recycling 
            Management Program. Administered by Calrecycle, the program 
            encourages the diversion of waste tires through a number of 
            activities, including:


             a)   Conducting/funding research into new technologies that 
               increase the useful lifespan of tires.









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             b)   Conducting/funding research into waste tire product 
               development and applications.


             c)   Assessing market demand for waste tire products.


             d)   Assessing market demand for waste tire products.


             e)   Undertaking, on its own and in conjunction with state 
               and local public agencies, waste tire demonstration 
               projects.


             f)   Providing marketing, grants, and technical assistance to 
               business and to state and local public end users of 
               waste-tire products.


             g)   Developing waste tire engineering curriculum for use at 
               universities and in continuing education for professionals.


            Today, about 75% of waste tires are diverted to other useful 
            purposes, such as incineration in cement kilns and application 
            as paving material.


            The program is funded by a fee on the sale of each new tire. 
            Currently, the fee is $1.75 per tire, $0.75 of which goes to 
            the Air Pollution Control Fund for use by the Air Resources 
            Board for air pollution activities. The remainder of fee 
            revenues is used by Calrecycle to administer the waste tire 
            recycling program.


           3)Support.   This bill is supported by Californians Against Waste 
            and the Northern California Industry Association, whose 
            members are subject to Calrecycle regulation.

           4)There is no opposition formally registered to this bill.  


           Analysis Prepared by  :    Jay Dickenson / APPR. / (916) 319-2081 








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