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 AB 1782 Page 2 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 AB 1782 Page 3 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 Page 4 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