BILL NUMBER: AB 1001 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 28, 2013
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 8, 2013
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 3, 2013
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Gordon
(Coauthor: Assembly Member Stone)
FEBRUARY 22, 2013
An act to amend Sections 14505, 14515.5, 14538, 14549.5,
14550, 14553, 14560.5, 14571.2, 14571.8, 14573, 14574, 14575, 14581,
and 14583 of, to amend, repeal, and add Section 14585 of, to add
Sections 14526.8, 14528.2, 14528.3, 14560.2, 14571.6.5, and 14580.5
to, and to add Division 12.5 (commencing with Section 17000) to,
Section 14538 of the Public Resources Code,
relating to recycling, and making an appropriation therefor
recycling .
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1001, as amended, Gordon. Recycling centers :
voluntary beverage containers.
(1) Existing
Existing law, the California Beverage Container
Recycling and Litter Reduction Act, requires a distributor to pay a
redemption payment for every beverage container sold or offered for
sale in the state to the Department of Resources Recycling and
Recovery. The department is required to deposit those amounts in the
California Beverage Container Recycling Fund. The act
defines the term beverage as including specified types of beverages
that are sold in aluminum beverage containers, glass beverage
containers, plastic beverage containers, or bimetal containers. A
violation of the act is a crime.
This bill would define the term "regulated beverage" as a beverage
that meets the definition of beverage under the act, but is sold in
a beverage container that is not one of those containers. The bill
would also include, as a regulated beverage, 100% fruit juice in a
container that is 46 ounces or more in volume and vegetable juice in
a container that is more than 16 ounces in volume.
The bill would require a distributor of regulated beverage
containers to submit a plan, by January 1, 2014, to the department
for the implementation of a takeback and recycling system
incorporating specified elements to implement the plan, and to
annually demonstrate to the department that not less than 80% of the
regulated beverages sold by the distributor in this state are
recycled and that the regulated beverage containers sold by the
distributor are made from material containing not less than 35%
postconsumer recycled content. The bill would authorize the
department to require a distributor to pay an annual administrative
fee that would be required to be set at an amount that is adequate to
cover the department's full costs of administering and enforcing
this program. The bill would require the department to deposit the
fees into the Regulated Beverage Account, which the bill would
establish in the State Treasury. The bill would authorize the
department to expend the moneys in the Regulated Beverage Account,
upon appropriation by the Legislature, to cover the department's
costs to implement the program.
The bill would allow a distributor, in lieu of submitting and
implementing a takeback and recycling system, to elect to pay a
redemption payment to the department pursuant to the act and to
otherwise comply with the act. The bill would require the department
to deposit the redemption payments by distributors for voluntary
beverage containers into the Voluntary Beverage Container Fund, which
the bill would create in the State Treasury. The bill would
continuously appropriate the money in the Voluntary Beverage
Container Fund to the department for the payment of refund values and
administrative fees to processors for voluntary beverage containers,
and as a reserve for contingencies, thereby making an appropriation.
The bill would also provide that the money in the Voluntary Beverage
Container Fund may be expended by the department for the
administration of the act only upon appropriation by the Legislature.
The bill would require the department to establish a separate
processing fee account in the Voluntary Beverage Container Fund for
voluntary beverage containers and would require all amounts paid as
processing fees for those voluntary beverage containers be deposited
in that account. The bill would continuously appropriate those funds
to the department for purposes of making processing payments for
voluntary beverage containers. The bill would require the department,
once every 3 months, to set aside funds estimated to be needed for
the expenditures specified above. The bill would continuously
appropriate the remainder of those funds to the department to pay
handling fees for voluntary beverage containers and to make payments
for the collection of voluntary beverage containers by curbside
programs and neighborhood dropoff programs. The bill would make other
conforming changes to the act with regard to voluntary beverage
containers.
(2) The
The act requires the department to certify recycling
centers and requires, as a condition of certification, that if one or
more certified entities have operated at the same location within
the past 5 years, the operations at the location of the recycling
center exhibit, to the satisfaction of the department, a pattern of
operation in compliance with the requirements of the act.
This bill would authorize the department to waive this requirement
if it makes a specified determination.
(3) Existing law requires the department to annually review and
recalculate commingled rates paid for beverage containers and
postfilled containers paid to curbside recycling programs, collection
programs, and recycling centers.
This bill would prohibit the department from recalculating
commingled rates for the 2014, 2015, and 2016 calendar years paid to
recycling centers and would prohibit recycling centers from paying
any refund value at a commingled rate.
(4) Existing law specifies requirements for the reports, claims,
and information required to be submitted to the department pursuant
to the act.
This bill would require the department to make available a process
for electronically submitting these reports, claims, and other
information and would require those reports, claims, and other
information to be submitted electronically to the department pursuant
to that process. The bill would make conforming changes with regard
to the electronic submission of reports and payments to the
department.
(5) Existing law specifies procedures for the reduction of the
processing fee for PET containers, as defined. Existing law also
requires all rigid plastic bottles and rigid plastic containers to be
labeled with a code that indicates the resin used to produce the
rigid plastic bottle or rigid plastic container.
This bill would revise the definition of the term "PET container"
for purposes of the act to include a plastic beverage container
labeled with the term PETE.
(6) The act defines "convenience zone" for the purposes of the act
and requires that every convenience zone be served by at least one
certified recycling center, with specified operating hours. Existing
law authorizes the department to designate a convenience zone in an
area where there is no supermarket and to grant an exemption from the
convenience zone requirements of the act.
This bill would define the term "unserved convenience zone" and
would require the department to provide assistance and incentives to
reduce the number of unserved convenience zones to less than 5% of
total convenience zones by January 1, 2015.
This bill would permit the department to authorize an operator of
a certified recycling center to be open for business less than 30
hours per week, but not less than 20 hours per week, if the recycling
center is located in an unserved convenience zone, as defined, that
has been unserved for at least 6 continuous months.
(7) Existing law prohibits a lease entered into by a dealer to
contain a leasehold restriction that prohibits or results in the
prohibition of the establishment of a recycling location. Existing
law prohibits the department from making any payments, grants, or
loans, to a city or county that has adopted or is enforcing a land
use restriction that prevents the siting or operation of a certified
recycling center at a supermarket site.
This bill would prohibit a person from entering into a lease with
a supermarket on or after January 1, 2014, that prohibits the
operation of a certified recycling center or inhibits the ability of
that supermarket to operate as, or contract with, a certified
recycling center. This bill would also prohibit a city or county that
receives any revenue pursuant to the Bradley-Burns Uniform Local
Sales and Use Tax Law from a transaction conducted by a supermarket
from prohibiting the siting of a certified recycling center in the
parking lot of a supermarket.
(8) After setting aside funds for the payment of refund values and
administrative fees, and for a reserve for contingencies, the act
provides that the remaining moneys in the fund are continuously
appropriated to the department for expenditure for designated
programs, grants, and fee payments, including annually expending
$15,000,000 for grants for beverage container programs to certain
community conservation corps and $1,500,000 for grants for beverage
container programs.
This bill would increase the amount the department is authorized
to spend for grants for beverage container programs to certain
community conservation corps to $21,000,000 and would delete the
authorization to expend that $1,500,000 for those other grants,
thereby making an appropriation.
(9) The act continuously appropriates to the department the amount
necessary to pay handling fees to provide an incentive for the
redemption of empty beverage containers in convenience zones.
Existing law specifies procedures for determining the number of
containers for which a handling fee may be paid and requires the
department to set the amount of the handling fee using a specified
method, but requires the per-container handling fee to be set until
March 1, 2013, at an amount that is not less than the amount of the
per-container handling fee that was in effect on July 1, 2011.
This bill would make inoperative the existing provisions regarding
the methods for setting and calculating handling fees on July 1,
2014, and would repeal those provisions on January 1, 2015. The bill
would provide that for beverage containers returned for recycling on
and after July 1, 2014, the handling fee would equal specified
amounts, based on the amount of beverage containers a recycling site
handles each month. The bill would make an appropriation by changing
the terms and conditions under which the department is authorized to
make payments from a continuously appropriated fund.
(10) Since a violation of the act is a crime, the bill would
impose a state-mandated local program by creating new crimes with
regard to the submission of information to the department.
(11) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse
local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this
act for a specified reason.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: yes no
. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program:
yes no .
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 14538 of the Public
Resources Code is amended to read:
14538. (a) The department shall certify the operators of
recycling centers pursuant to this section. The director shall adopt,
by regulation, a procedure for the certification of recycling
centers, including standards and requirements for certification.
These regulations shall require that all information be submitted to
the department under penalty of perjury. A recycling center shall
meet all of the standards and requirements contained in the
regulations for certification. The regulations shall require, but
shall not be limited to requiring, that all of the following
conditions be met for certification:
(1) The operator of the recycling center demonstrates, to the
satisfaction of the department, that the operator will operate in
accordance with this division.
(2) (A) If one or more certified entities
have operated at the same location within the past five years, the
operations at the location of the recycling center exhibit, to the
satisfaction of the department, a pattern of operation in compliance
with the requirements of this division and regulations adopted
pursuant to this division.
(B) The department shall waive the requirements of subparagraph
(A) if the department determines that the new operator applicant has
no relationship or affiliation to a previous certified entity that
operated at the same location.
(3) The operator of the recycling center notifies the department
promptly of any material change in the nature of his or her
operations which conflicts with information submitted in the operator'
s application for certification.
(b) A certified recycling center shall comply with all of the
following requirements for operation:
(1) The operator of the recycling center shall not pay a refund
value for, or receive a refund value from any processor for, any food
or drink packaging material or any beverage container or other
product that does not have a refund value established pursuant to
Section 14560.
(2) The operator of a recycling center shall take those actions
that satisfy the department to prevent the payment of a refund value
for any food or drink packaging material or any beverage container or
other product that does not have a refund value established pursuant
to Section 14560.
(3) Unless exempted pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 14572,
a certified recycling center shall accept, and pay at least the
refund value for, all empty beverage containers, regardless of type.
(4) A certified recycling center shall not pay any refund values,
processing payments, or administrative fees to a noncertified
recycler.
(5) A certified recycling center shall not pay any refund values,
processing payments, or administrative fees on empty beverage
containers or other containers that the certified recycling center
knew, or should have known, were coming into the state from out of
the state.
(6) A certified recycling center shall not claim refund values,
processing payments, or administrative fees on empty beverage
containers that the certified recycling center knew, or should have
known, were received from noncertified recyclers or on beverage
containers that the certified recycling center knew, or should have
known, come from out of the state.
(7) A certified recycling center shall prepare and maintain the
following documents involving empty beverage containers, as specified
by the department by regulation:
(A) Shipping reports that are required to be prepared by the
recycling center, or that are required to be obtained from other
recycling centers.
(B) Consumer transaction receipts.
(C) Consumer transaction logs.
(D) Rejected container receipts on materials subject to this
division.
(E) Receipts for transactions with beverage manufacturers on
materials subject to this division.
(F) Receipts for transactions with beverage distributors on
materials subject to this division.
(G) Documents authorizing the recycling center to cancel empty
beverage containers.
(H) Weight tickets.
(8) In addition to the requirements of paragraph (7), a certified
recycling center shall cooperate with the department and make
available its records of scrap transactions when the review of these
records is necessary for an audit or investigation by the department.
(c) The department may recover, in restitution pursuant to
paragraph (5) of subdivision (c) of Section 14591.2, payments made
from the fund to the certified recycling center pursuant to Section
14573.5 that are based on the documents specified in paragraph
(7), (7) of subdivision (b), that are
not prepared or maintained in compliance with the department's
regulations, and that do not allow the department to verify claims
for program payments.
(d) The department may certify a recycling center that will
operate less than 30 hours a week, as specified in paragraph (2) of
subdivision (b) of Section 14571. All matter omitted in this version
of the bill appears in the bill as amended in the Assembly, May 8,
2013. (JR11)