BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 403
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Date of Hearing: May 8, 2013
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Mike Gatto, Chair
AB 403 (Stone) - As Amended: April 18, 2013
Policy Committee: Environmental
Safety and Toxic Materials Vote: 5-2
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill requires businesses that sell devices intended for the
self-injection of medication (medial sharps) to establish a
product stewardship plan for home-generated medical waste.
Specifically, this bill:
1) Establishes a product stewardship program for home generated
hypodermic needles, syringes with needles attached, pen
needles, intravenous needles, or any other similar device
intended to self-inject medication at home.
2) Requires medical sharps producers to develop and implement a
program to collect transport and process home-generated
medical sharps by April 1, 2015.
3) Requires CalRecyle to review and approve the producers'
stewardship plans within 90 days of receipt. If the plan is
not complete, the submitter must revise and resubmit the plan
within 90 days.
4) Allows medical sharp producers to join a non-profit
stewardship organization to jointly prepare and execute
stewardship plans.
5) Requires on or before July 1, 2017, and each year thereafter,
the producer or product stewardship organization to submit a
report.
6) Requires the producer or product stewardship organization to
submit an annual administrative fee, to be established by
CalRecyle, to cover the full costs of administering and
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enforcing this bill.
7) Establishes administrative civil penalties for any person who
violates the requirement of this act of $1,000 per violation
and $10,000 per violation if the violation is intentional,
knowing, or negligent.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)Calrecyle may impose an annual fee in an amount sufficient to
cover the full costs of administering this stewardship
program, which are estimated to be:
a) One-time costs of $500,000 to develop administrative
regulations, review product stewardship plans and develop
collections rates for 2018 and beyond.
b) On-going costs of $125, 000 per year to administer the
program.
COMMENTS
1)Rationale. According to the California Product Stewardship
Council, sharps in the trash pose serious health risks to
sanitation workers, water treatment facility operators and the
general public. This bill will ensure more needles are
properly disposed by providing a system of affordable and
convenient collection opportunities.
2)Background. An estimated one million Californians inject
medications outside traditional health care facilities, which
generate approximately 389 million sharps each year. The
numbers of patients using injectable medications will continue
to grow because it is an effective delivery method. The most
common home use of sharps is to manage diabetes. Other
reasons to home-inject include multiple sclerosis,
infertility, migraines, allergies, hemophilia and medications
for pets.
California was one of the first states to address the problems
of sharps with the passage of SB 1305 (Figueroa, Chapter 64,
Statutes of 2006) to prohibit the disposal of medical sharps
in California's landfills. Although illegal, most of these
used needles still end up in household trash and pose a
significant risk of injury and/or infection to children,
custodial workers and solid waste employees.
AB 403
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Analysis Prepared by : Jennifer Galehouse / APPR. / (916)
319-2081