BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                  AB 1782
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   March 27, 2012

              ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON BUSINESS, PROFESSIONS AND CONSUMER 
                                     PROTECTION
                                 Mary Hayashi, Chair
                  AB 1782 (Hill) - As Introduced:  February 21, 2012
           
          SUBJECT  :   Weighmasters: exemptions.

           SUMMARY  :   Specifies that facilities handling medical waste in 
          accordance with the provisions of the Medical Waste Management 
          Act (Act) are not weighmasters.

           EXISTING LAW  :

          1)Defines a weighmaster as any person who weighs, measures, or 
            counts any commodity and issues a statement of memorandum of 
            the weight, measure, or count which is used as the basis for 
            either the purchase or sale of that commodity or charge for 
            service.

          2)Requires weighmasters to obtain a license with the Division of 
            Measurement Standards under the California Department of Food 
            and Agriculture (CDFA).

          3)Specifies certain persons who weigh and measure commodities 
            but are not weighmasters, such as: retailers weighing 
            commodities for sale in retail stores in the presence of 
            consumers; newspaper publishers weighing newspapers for sale 
            to dealers; and, recycling centers weighing salvage materials 
            for specified purposes.

          4)Requires weighmasters to keep, and preserve for four years, 
            all copies of certificates issued and make them available for 
            inspection, as specified.

          5)Governs the management of medical waste under the Act and 
            requires medical waste haulers to provide specified tacking 
            data to the California Department of Public Health (DPH).

           FISCAL EFFECT  :   Unknown.  This bill is keyed non-fiscal.

           COMMENTS  :   

           Purpose of this bill  .  According to the author, "AB 1782 








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          eliminates the duplicative requirement that medical waste 
          handlers record parcel weight information on weighmaster 
          certificates, as this information is already collected and 
          transmitted electronically to DPH.  To minimize public exposure 
          to potential biological hazards, California meticulously tracks 
          medical waste from the source of generation to the treatment 
          facility.  The information that DPH collects includes quantity 
          and type of waste and the dates the material leaves the 
          generating facility, arrives at the treatment facility, and 
          passes through any transfer facilities on the way.  

          "As a part of DPH's tracking system, licensed medical waste 
          haulers collect containers from waste generators and transport 
          them to a medical waste processing facility where they are 
          weighed.  Each container has a bar code label, which identifies 
          the customer.  As each container is weighed, the barcode is 
          scanned.  Both the customer information and weight are recorded 
          electronically for reporting and billing purposes.  Reports are 
          submitted to DPH on a quarterly basis and customers are billed 
          monthly.  Both waste haulers and waste treatment facilities are 
          responsible for transmitting information to DPH, creating an 
          extra level of accountability for both parties.

          "Besides DPH, CDFA also has jurisdiction over medical waste 
          through the weighmaster program.  The weighmaster program exists 
          to certify that, in a commercial transaction where the price 
          depends on the weight, the weight is accurate.  A weighmaster 
          may be a person or a business, and employees who perform the 
          actual weighing must be listed on the weighmaster application as 
          'deputy weighmasters.'  Despite the title, no particular 
          training is necessary, and one can become a weighmaster by 
          simply completing the application and paying the application 
          fee.

          "In certifying the weight of a parcel involved in a commercial 
          transaction, the weighmaster must issue a certificate.  These 
          certificates are to be retained by the weighmaster for 4 years 
          and must be produced should a weight and measures official wish 
          to inspect them.  Unlike at DPH, however, there is no 
          requirement that weighmaster certificates be transmitted to 
          CDFA, and CDFA has never, to the author's knowledge, asked to 
          inspect medical waste weighmaster certificates.

          "The weighmaster certificate records only a subset of the 
          information DPH requires.  DPH's requirements are more stringent 








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          than CDFA's, its electronic transmittal makes the system more 
          convenient and easier to use, and the information collected is 
          better tailored to the goal of protecting public health.  The 
          development of DPH's medical waste tracking system has 
          effectively made CDFA's requirements for medical waste obsolete. 
           AB 1782 eliminates the duplicative requirement to have a 
          licensed weighmaster certify a medical waste parcel's weight.

          "Though many businesses are licensed as weighmasters, law allows 
          for exemptions from the certificate requirement across a broad 
          range of industries, such as newspaper publishing, textiles, 
          garbage and refuse disposal, and recycling redemption.

          "The medical waste industry is somewhat unique, and writing out 
          a weighmaster certificate for each parcel of medical waste is 
          more onerous than most material that is transported by the 
          truckload.  While building materials, for instance, are often 
          weighed on the truck and use an actual or assumed truck tare 
          weight, medical waste must be transported in leak-resistant, 
          fully enclosed rigid containers, and each container is weighed 
          and scanned separately upon off-loading.

          "Current law requires that the scales used in medical waste 
          transactions be certified, or 'sealed,' by a CDFA-certified 
          sealer, and that scale inspection and sealing occur on an annual 
          basis.  This bill does not eliminate the sealing requirement, 
          nor does it change the fact that a person who knowingly uses an 
          incorrect weighing device for commercial purposes is guilty of a 
          misdemeanor.  Should a waste hauler intentionally misrepresent 
          the weight of a parcel of waste, either on the label or through 
          a report to DPH, that person is subject to penalties of up to 
          $10,000 per day per violation.

          "DPH's medical waste tracking system protects public health and 
          is tailored for the needs of the medical waste disposal 
          industry.  Neither is true of the weighmaster program.  
          Producing, signing, and retaining weighmaster certificates takes 
          up employee time and has no demonstrable benefit.  AB 1782 
          leaves waste handlers to focus on their primary 
          responsibility-the safe handling of medical waste."

           Background  .  Administered under CDFA, the Weighmaster 
          Enforcement Program assures that commercial transactions based 
          on quantities certified on a weighmaster certificate are 
          accurate. The program licenses as weighmasters, individuals or 








                                                                  AB 1782
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          firms who weigh or measure bulk commodities and issue 
          certificates of accuracy.

          The Weighmaster Enforcement Program seeks to provide customer 
          confidence when buying or selling bulk products based on 
          quantities represented on a weighmaster certificate by ensuring 
          uniformity, fairness and honest competition in the marketplace. 

          A weighmaster is a person or business that weighs, measures, or 
          counts a commodity and issues a written statement of that 
          quantity, referred to as a weighmaster certificate.  It is a 
          legal document used as the basis to buy or sell the commodity 
          described on the certificate. 

          All weighmaster certificates are required by law to have certain 
          information that must be completed prior to issuance.  Some of 
          the required information includes the name of the licensed 
          weighmaster company and a description of the commodity weighed, 
          measured or counted. Certificates must be dated and signed by a 
          deputy weighmaster. 

          To obtain a license the person or business must complete the 
          application form and submit it with the proper fees and other 
          required information to CDFA.  No person shall issue 
          certificates without first being licensed as a weighmaster. 

           REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION  :   

           Support 
           
          Waste Management

           Opposition 
           
          California Agricultural Commissioners and Sealers Association
           
          Analysis Prepared by  :    Rebecca May / B.,P. & C.P. / (916) 
          319-3301