BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 158
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 1, 2013
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES
Wesley Chesbro, Chair
AB 158 (Levine) - As Amended: March 20, 2013
SUBJECT : Solid waste: single-use carryout bags
SUMMARY : Generally prohibits retail stores from providing
single-use plastic bags to customers. Requires retailers to
make reusable grocery bags, as defined, available for purchase
by customers.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Establishes the At-Store Recycling Program, which:
a) Requires operators of stores, defined as supermarkets
and stores over 10,000 square feet that includes a
pharmacy, to establish an at-store recycling program.
Under the program:
i) Plastic bags provided by the store must include a
label encouraging customers to return the bag to the
store for recycling.
ii) Stores must provide clearly labeled and easily
accessible recycling bins for plastic bags.
iii) All plastic bags collected must be recycled in a
manner consistent with the local jurisdiction's recycling
plan.
iv) The store must maintain records relating to the
program for at least three years and must make the
records available to the local jurisdiction or the
Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery
(CalRecycle) upon request.
v) The operator of the store must make reusable bags
available to customers.
a) Requires plastic carryout bag manufacturers to develop
educational materials to encourage reducing and recycling
of plastic carryout bags and make those materials available
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to stores.
b) Authorizes a city, county, or the state to levy fines
for stores in violation of this law.
c) Sunsets the above provisions on January 1, 2020.
1)Establishes the Toxics in Packaging Prevention Act, which:
a) Prohibits a person from offering for sale or for
promotional purposes in this state a product in a package
that includes a regulated metal in the package itself or in
a packaging component if the regulated metal has been
intentionally introduced into the package or packaging
component during manufacturing or distribution.
b) Defines "regulated metal" as lead, mercury, cadmium, or
hexavalent chromium.
c) Defines "package" as any container, produced either
domestically or in a foreign country that provides a means
of marketing, protecting, or handling a product from its
point of manufacture to its sale or transfer to a consumer,
including a unity package, an intermediate package, or a
shipping container. "Package" also includes unsealed
receptacles, including carrying cases, crates, cups, pails,
rigid foil and other trays, wrappers and wrapping films,
bags (including single-use carryout bags), and tubs.
d) Excludes reusable bags from the definition of "package."
THIS BILL :
1) Defines terms used in the bill, including:
a) "Recycled paper bag" as a paper carryout bag that
contains a minimum of 40% postconsumer recycled content
(except certain smaller bags may contain at least 20%
postconsumer content); is accepted for recycling in
curbside programs in a majority of households that have
access to curbside recycling programs; is compostable; and
has printed on the bag the name of the manufacturer, the
location where manufactured, and the minimum percentage of
post-consumer content.
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b) "Reusable grocery bag" before June 30, 2016, means a
bag made of cloth or other machine washable fabric with
handles, or durable plastic bag with handles that is at
least 2.25 mils thick and designed for multiple uses. On
and after July 1, 2016, is a bag designed and manufactured
for at least 125 uses, machine washable or made from a
material that can be cleaned and disinfected, and contains
certain information on a tag attached to the bag. After
July 1, 2017, is also a plastic bag with at least 20%
postconsumer material designed for at least 125 uses, and
meets certain requirements.
c) "Single-use carryout bag" as a bag made of plastic,
paper, or other material that is provided by a store to a
customer at the point-of-sale and that is not a reusable
grocery bag. Single-use carryout bag does not include a
bag provided at a pharmacy to a customer purchasing
prescription medication or a nonhandled bag used to
protect a purchased item from damage or from contaminating
other purchased items when placed in a recycled paper bag
or reusable grocery bag.
d) "Store" as either a full-line, self-service retail
store with gross annual sales of $2 million or more that
sells certain food items; a store with at least 10,000
square feet that generates sales or use taxes and includes
a licensed pharmacy; or a convenience food store,
foodmart, or other entity engaged in the retail sale of a
limited line of goods that generally includes milk, bread,
soda, and snack foods and holds a liquor license, as
specified.
2) Prohibits a store, on and after January 1, 2015, from
providing a single-use carryout bag to a customer at the
point-of-sale.
3) Requires a store, on and after January 1, 2016, to only
provide a reusable grocery bag, as defined, a customer, which
may be made available for purchase.
4) Authorizes a store to make a recyclable paper bag, as
defined, available for purchase.
5) Authorizes a store to make a compostable reusable grocery
bag, as defined, available for purchase.
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6) Requires a store to provide a customer participating in the
California Special Supplemental Food Program for Women,
Infants, and Children with a reusable grocery bag or recycled
paper bag at no cost.
7) Postpones compliance with the above provisions (bullets 2-5)
for convenience food stores and foodmarts that hold a liquor
license until July 1, 2016.
8) Requires a reusable grocery bag producer to certify to
CalRecycle by January 1, 2016, and every two years thereafter
that the bag meets the definition of a reusable grocery bag
and requires a producer to submit a fee to CalRecycle with
each certification to cover CalRecycle's costs associated
with the reusable bag certification and reporting
requirements.
9) Requires CalRecycle to publish a list on its website by July
1, 2016 of all reusable grocery bags that are in compliance
with the requirements in this bill, along with specified
information about the producer of the reusable bags.
10)Authorizes CalRecycle to perform audits and inspections of a
producer and to test any reusable bag to determine compliance
with the reusable bag requirements.
11)Authorizes CalRecycle to enter into an agreement with other
states that conduct inspections to provide enforcement of
these requirements. Establishes civil penalties for
violating the reusable grocery bag certification
requirements.
12)Requires CalRecycle to submit a report to the Legislature by
January 1, 2017, regarding the effectiveness of this program
and recommendations for statutory changes to increase
effectiveness, which must include specified information
(e.g., compilation of state cleanup data to evaluate
pollution reduction, number and types of violations).
13)Authorizes a city, county, city and county, or the state to
impose civil liability of $500 for the first violation of
these requirements, $1,000 for the second violation, and
$2,000 for the third and subsequent violations. These
penalties do not apply to the above certification procedures
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for reusable grocery bags.
FISCAL EFFECT : While this bill has not been reviewed by a
fiscal committee, this bill is substantially similar to AB 298
(Brownley) of the 2011-2012 Session. Based on the Senate
Appropriations analysis of AB 298, this bill may have a one-time
cost of around $200,000 to CalRecycle to develop regulations
(Integrated Waste Management Fund); ongoing costs of about
$600,000 per year to review and enforce reusable bag standards
on manufacturers, offset by fee revenues (Integrated Waste
Management Fund); and, minor ongoing costs to CalRecycle to
enforce the prohibition on single-use bags (Integrated Waste
Management Fund).
COMMENTS :
1)Purpose of Bill . According to the author:
Nearly one-third of Californians [live in] more than 67
cities and counties [that] have taken action on single-use
bags by passing local ordinances that ban the use of these
bags. Seven chain grocers, including Whole Foods and
Trader Joe's, have also made a business decision to use
only paper or reusable bags.
The environmental impact of single-use plastic bags is
well-documented, plastic bags comprise 10 percent of marine
debris and take more than 1,000 years to break down?
Reusable bags have a lower overall impact than single-use
bags.
2)Background . Every year California taxpayers spend around $25
million disposing of the 19 billion plastic bags used
annually. Although plastic represents a relatively small
fraction of the overall waste stream in California by weight,
plastic is the most prevalent form of marine debris. Plastics
are estimated to compose 60-80 percent of all marine debris
and 90 percent of all floating debris. According to the
California Coastal Commission, the primary source of marine
debris is urban runoff, of which lightweight plastic bags and
plastic film are particularly susceptible. Due to the
interplay of ocean currents, marine debris tends to accumulate
in certain areas of the ocean. The North Pacific Central Gyre
is where much of the marine debris originating from the
California coast ends up. A study by the Algalita Marine
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Research Foundation found an average of more than 300,000
plastic pieces per square mile of the Gyre and that the mass
of plastic was six times greater than zooplankton floating on
the water's surface.
Most plastic marine debris exists as small plastic particles
due to excessive UV radiation exposure and subsequent
photo-degradation. These plastic pieces are ingested by
marine organisms and have been proven to negatively affect
over 250 animal species worldwide. In addition, hydrophobic
chemicals present in the ocean in trace amounts (e.g., from
contaminated runoff and oil and chemical spills) have an
affinity for, and can bind to, plastic particles and may also
enter and accumulate in the food chain through the same
mechanism.
3)Local bag responses . Nearly 70 cities and counties throughout
California have adopted ordinances banning plastic bags
including San Francisco, San Jose, Long Beach, Los Angeles
County, Santa Clara County, Alameda County. Many of these
local governments also require stores to charge a fee for a
paper carryout bag, and a few have banned both single-use
plastic and paper carryout bags. AB 158 would provide
uniformity throughout the state; however, the bill does not
pre-empt local ordinances relating to single-use bags as long
as the ordinances do not conflict with the requirements of the
bill.
4)Related legislation . AB 2058 (Levine) of 2007 would have
prohibited the free dispensing of carryout plastic bags by a
store to its customers, unless the store can demonstrate to
the California Integrated Waste Management Board (CIWMB) that
70% of the plastic bags it dispensed had been diverted from
the waste stream. AB 2058 was held in Senate Appropriations
Committee.
SB 531 (DeSaulnier) of 2009 would have required manufacturers
of plastic carryout bags to consult with various entities,
including the CIWMB, when developing specified educational
materials to encourage the reduced use or recycling of those
bags, and authorized the CIWMB to modify those materials. SB
531 was held in Assembly Natural Resources Committee without
further action.
AB 68 (Brownley) of 2009 and AB 87 (Davis) of 2009 both would
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have required a 25-cent fee on the distribution of single-use
carryout bags. Both bills were held in the Assembly
Appropriations Committee.
AB 2138 (Chesbro) of 2010 would have established recycling and
composting requirements for take-out food packaging, including
bags. AB 2138 was held on the Assembly Appropriations
Committee suspense file.
AB 1998 (Brownley) of 2010 would have repealed the at-store
recycling program and instead prohibited stores from providing
a single-use plastic carryout bag to a customer and required
stores to provide reusable bags for purchase or recycled paper
bags for a fee. AB 1998 failed in the Senate on August 31,
2010 (14-21).
SB 915 (Calderon) of 2011 would have established plastic bag
reduction and recycled content goals. A hearing in the Senate
Environmental Quality Committee was canceled at the request of
the author.
AB 1834 (Brownley) of 2012 would have defined reusable bags.
This bill was held on the Senate Floor.
SB 1106 (Strickland) of 2012 would have prohibited the
manufacture, distribution, and sale of reusable bags without a
warning label that both specifies the need for reusable bags
to be cleaned and disinfected between uses and outlines the
health risks associated with not cleaning or disinfecting
reusable bags between uses. SB 1106 failed in the Senate
Environmental Quality Committee April 23, 2012 (2-5).
AB 298 (Brownley) of 2011 was substantially similar to AB 158.
AB 298 was held in the Senate Appropriations Committee.
SB 405 (Padilla) in the current Session is substantially
similar to AB 158. This bill is scheduled to be heard in the
Senate Environmental Quality Committee on April 3, 2013.
SB 700 (Wolk) in the current Session requires retail
establishments, as defined, to collect a fee of five cents for
every single-use carryout bag provided to a customer. The
bill requires that the fees be remitted to the Board of
Equalization to be deposited into the Local Environmental
Enhancement Fund. The fund will be available for grants to
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cities and counties for local parks and local programs that
reduce and cleanup litter. This bill authorizes the governing
body of a city or county to adopt an ordinance that exempts
the city or county from collecting the fee. Any city or
county that adopts such an ordinance is not eligible for grant
funding. This bill has been referred to the Senate Natural
Resources and Water Committee and the Senate Environmental
Quality Committee. It is scheduled to be heard in the Senate
Natural Resources and Water Committee on April 9, 2013.
5)Suggested amendments . The committee may wish to make a
number of amendments to the bill to add clarity; streamline
the requirements for reusable bags to reduce the burden on
producers and CalRecycle, as well as significantly reducing
CalRecycle's costs associated with the bill; and, specify that
the unfair business practices provisions of the Business and
Professions Code apply to this chapter. Specifically, the
amendments would:
a) Make various technical clarifying and cleanup changes to
the bill, including:
i) Clarifying the definition for paper bags and
single-use carryout bags;
ii) Striking out section 42282 and moving those
provisions into section 42281 to clarify the
implementation timeline for carryout bag requirements on
stores and making related clean-up changes to that
section;
iii) Requiring that the recycling symbol used for
reusable grocery bags is appropriate to the bag;
iv) Specifying the Federal Trade Commission guidelines
with which any environmental marketing claims must
comply; and,
v) Striking an unnecessary reference to reusable
grocery bags made from compostable plastic.
b) Consolidate the requirements for the use of postconsumer
recycled material for plastic reusable grocery bags.
c) Remove the certification requirements for reusable
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grocery bags and clarify CalRecycle's authority to inspect,
audit, and test reusable grocery bags, and make related
technical changes.
d) Clarify that all costs associated with inspections,
audits, and testing of reusable grocery bags by CalRecycle
shall be paid by the producer.
e) Specify that nothing in the bill limits the application
of the unfair business practices provisions of the Business
and Professions Code to producers and stores subject to the
requirements of the bill.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees,
AFL-CIO
Bag It
Californians Against Waste
California Coastal Coalition
California Coastkeeper Alliance
City of Encinitas
City and County of San Francisco
Clean Water Action/Clean Water Fund
Environment California
Environmental Working Group
Green Sangha
Heal the Bay
Long Beach Coalition for a Safe Environment
Los Angeles Waterkeeper
Monterey County Board of Supervisors
PlasticBagLaws.org
Plastic Pollution Coalition
Natural Resources Defense Council
Seventh Generation Advisors
Sierra Club California
State Lands Commission staff
Surfrider Foundation
Team Marine, Santa Monica High School
Turtle Island Restoration Network
United Food & Commercial Workers Western States Council
Valley Industry and Commerce Association
5 Gyres Institute
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Opposition
American Forest & Paper Association
Association of California Cities, Orange County
Analysis Prepared by : Elizabeth MacMillan / NAT. RES. / (916)
319-2092