BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 1782 Page 1 ASSEMBLY THIRD READING AB 1782 (Hill) As Introduced February 21, 2012 Majority vote BUSINESS & PROFESSIONS 9-0 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Ayes:|Hayashi, Bill Berryhill, | | | | |Allen, Butler, Eng, | | | | |Hagman, Hill, Ma, Smyth | | | |-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------| | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- 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)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 by the Legislative Counsel. AB 1782 Page 2 COMMENTS : According to the author, "AB 1782 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. "The weighmaster certificate records only a subset of the information DPH requires. DPH's requirements are more stringent 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. "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 AB 1782 Page 3 $10,000 per day per violation." Analysis Prepared by : Rebecca May / B.,P. & C.P. / (916) 319-3301 FN: 0003191