Amended in Assembly March 21, 2013

California Legislature—2013–14 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 1370

Introduced by Assembly Member Patterson

February 22, 2013

An act to amend Section 14581 of the Public Resources Code, relating to recycling.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 1370, as amended, Patterson. Recycling: beverage containers.

Existing law specifies the manner in which moneys in the California Beverage Container Recycling Fund, a continuously appropriated fund, are expended begin insert , including authorizing the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery to annually expend up to $5,000,000 for a statewide public education and information campaign. The department is required to convene a specified advisory committee before expending those funds end insert .

This bill would begin delete delete obsolete provisions and would make a technical, nonsubstantive change. end delete begin insert repeal the authorization of the department to spend those funds in that manner and would make conforming changes. end insert

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee:  begin delete no end delete begin insert yes end insert . State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.  

Section 14581 of the Public Resources Code is
amended to read:

14581.  

(a) Subject to the availability of funds and in
accordance with subdivision (c), the department shall expend the
moneys set aside in the fund, pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section
14580, for the purposes of this section in the following manner:

(1) For each fiscal year, the department may expend the amount
necessary to make the required handling fee payment pursuant to
Section 14585.

(2) Fifteen million dollars ($15,000,000) shall be expended
annually for payments for curbside programs and neighborhood
dropoff programs pursuant to Section 14549.6.

(3) (A) Fifteen million dollars ($15,000,000), plus the
proportional share of the cost-of-living adjustment, as provided in
subdivision (b), shall be expended annually in the form of grants
for beverage container litter reduction programs and recycling
programs issued to either of the following:

(i) Certified community conservation corps that were in
existence on September 30, 1999, or that are formed subsequent
to that date, that are designated by a city or a city and county to
perform litter abatement, recycling, and related activities, if the
city or the city and county has a population, as determined by the
most recent census, of more than 250,000 persons.

(ii) Community conservation corps that are designated by a
county to perform litter abatement, recycling, and related activities,
and are certified by the California Conservation Corps as having
operated for a minimum of two years and as meeting all other
criteria of Section 14507.5.

(B) The grants provided pursuant to this paragraph shall not
comprise more than 75 percent of the annual budget of a
community conservation corps.

(4) (A) Ten million five hundred thousand dollars ($10,500,000)
may be expended annually for payments of five thousand dollars
($5,000) to cities and ten thousand dollars ($10,000) for payments
to counties for beverage container recycling and litter cleanup
activities, or the department may calculate the payments to counties
and cities on a per capita basis, and may pay whichever amount
is greater, for those activities.

(B) Eligible activities for the use of these funds may include,
but are not limited to, support for new or existing curbside
recycling programs, neighborhood dropoff recycling programs,
public education promoting beverage container recycling, litter
prevention, and cleanup, cooperative regional efforts among two
or more cities or counties, or both, or other beverage container
recycling programs.

(C) These funds shall not be used for activities unrelated to
beverage container recycling or litter reduction.

(D) To receive these funds, a city, county, or city and county
shall fill out and return a funding request form to the department.
The form shall specify the beverage container recycling or litter
reduction activities for which the funds will be used.

(E) The department shall annually prepare and distribute a
funding request form to each city, county, or city and county. The
form shall specify the amount of beverage container recycling and
litter cleanup funds for which the jurisdiction is eligible. The form
shall not exceed one double-sided page in length, and may be
submitted electronically. If a city, county, or city and county does
not return the funding request form within 90 days of receipt of
the form from the department, the city, county, or city and county
is not eligible to receive the funds for that funding cycle.

(F) For the purposes of this paragraph, per capita population
shall be based on the population of the incorporated area of a city
or city and county and the unincorporated area of a county. The
department may withhold payment to a city, county, or city and
county that has prohibited the siting of a supermarket site, caused
a supermarket site to close its business, or adopted a land use policy
that restricts or prohibits the siting of a supermarket site within its
jurisdiction.

(5) One million five hundred thousand dollars ($1,500,000) may
be expended annually in the form of grants for beverage container
recycling and litter reduction programs.

(6) (A) The department shall expend the amount necessary to
pay the processing payment established pursuant to Section 14575.
The department shall establish separate processing fee accounts
in the fund for each beverage container material type for which a
processing payment and processing fee are calculated pursuant to
Section 14575, or for which a processing payment is calculated
pursuant to Section 14575 and a voluntary artificial scrap value is
calculated pursuant to Section 14575.1, into which account shall
be deposited both of the following:

(i) All amounts paid as processing fees for each beverage
container material type pursuant to Section 14575.

(ii) Funds equal to the difference between the amount in clause
(i) and the amount of the processing payments established in
subdivision (b) of Section 14575, and adjusted pursuant to
paragraph (2) of subdivision (c) of, and subdivision (f) of, Section
14575, to reduce the processing fee to the level provided in
subdivision (e) of Section 14575, or to reflect the agreement by a
willing purchaser to pay a voluntary artificial scrap value pursuant
to Section 14575.1.

(B) Notwithstanding Section 13340 of the Government Code,
the moneys in each processing fee account are hereby continuously
appropriated to the department for expenditure without regard to
fiscal years, for purposes of making processing payments pursuant
to Section 14575.

begin delete

(7) Up to five million dollars ($5,000,000) may be annually
expended by the department for the purposes of undertaking a
statewide public education and information campaign aimed at
promoting increased recycling of beverage containers.

(8)

end delete

begin insert (7) end insert  Up to ten million dollars ($10,000,000) may be expended
annually by the department for quality incentive payments for
empty glass beverage containers pursuant to Section 14549.1.

begin delete

(9)

end delete

begin insert (8) end insert  (A) Up to ten million dollars ($10,000,000) may be
expended annually by the department for market development
payments for empty plastic beverage containers pursuant to Section
14549.2, until January 1, 2017.

(B) On and after January 1, 2012, in addition to the amount
specified in subparagraph (A), the department may expend the
amount calculated pursuant to subparagraph (C) for market
development payments for empty plastic beverage containers
pursuant to Section 14549.2.

(C) The department shall calculate the amount authorized for
expenditure pursuant to subparagraph (B) in the following manner:

(i) The department shall determine, on or before January 1,
2012, and annually thereafter, whether the amount of funds
estimated to be necessary pursuant to clause (ii) of subparagraph
(A) of paragraph (6) for deposit to a processing fee account
established by the department for plastic beverage containers to
make processing payments for plastic beverage containers for the
current calendar year is less than the total amount of funds that
were estimated to be necessary the previous calendar year pursuant
to clause (ii) of subparagraph (A) of paragraph (6) for deposit to
that processing fee account.

(ii) If the amount estimated to be necessary for the current
calendar year, as specified in clause (i), is less than the amount
estimated to be necessary for the previous calendar year, the
department shall calculate the amount of that difference.

(iii) The department shall expend an amount that is not greater
than 50 percent of the amount calculated pursuant to clause (ii)
for purposes of subparagraph (B).

(iv) If the department determines that the amount of funds
authorized for expenditure pursuant to this subparagraph is not
needed to make plastic market development payments pursuant to
subparagraph (B) in the calendar year for which that amount is
allocated, the department may expend those funds during the
following year.

(v) If the department determines that there are insufficient funds
to both make the market development payments pursuant to
subparagraph (B) and to deposit the amount required by clause (ii)
of subparagraph (A) of paragraph (6), for purposes of making the
processing payments and reducing the processing fees pursuant to
Section 14575 for plastic beverage containers, the department shall
suspend the implementation of this subparagraph and subparagraph
(B).

(D) Subparagraphs (B) and (C) shall remain operative only until
January 1, 2017.

(b) The fifteen million dollars ($15,000,000) that is set aside
pursuant to paragraph (3) of subdivision (a) is a base amount that
the department shall adjust annually to reflect any increases or
decreases in the cost of living, as measured by the Department of
Labor, or a successor agency, of the federal government.

(c) (1) If the department determines, pursuant to a review made
pursuant to Section 14556, that there may be inadequate funds to
pay the payments required by this division, the department shall
immediately notify the appropriate policy and fiscal committees
of the Legislature regarding the inadequacy.

(2) On or before 180 days, but not less than 80 days, after the
notice is sent pursuant to paragraph (1), the department may reduce
or eliminate expenditures, or both, from the funds as necessary,
according to the procedure set forth in subdivision (d).

(d) If the department determines that there are insufficient funds
to make the payments specified pursuant to this section and Section
14575, the department shall reduce all payments proportionally.

begin delete

(e) Prior to making an expenditure pursuant to paragraph (7) of
subdivision (a), the department shall convene an advisory
committee consisting of representatives of the beverage industry,
beverage container manufacturers, environmental organizations,
the recycling industry, nonprofit organizations, and retailers to
advise the department on the most cost-effective and efficient
method of the expenditure of the funds for that education and
information campaign.

end delete begin delete

(f)

end delete

begin insert (e) end insert  Subject to the availability of funds, the department shall
retroactively pay in full any payments provided in this section that
have been proportionally reduced during the period of January 1,
2010, through June 30, 2010.