BILL ANALYSIS Ó
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de León, Chair
AB 1594 (Williams) - Solid waste: recycling: diversion: green
material.
Amended: August 4, 2014 Policy Vote: EQ 5-1
Urgency: No Mandate: No
Hearing Date: August 4, 2014 Consultant:
Marie Liu
This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill Summary: AB 1594 would re-classify the use of green
material as alternative daily cover (ADC) at a landfill as
disposal instead of diversion through recycling beginning
January 1, 2020.
Fiscal Impact: Potential revenue losses of no more than $2
million, and possibly significantly less, to the Integrated
Waste Management Fund as a result of excluding green material
used as ADC from the tipping fee.
Background: The California Integrated Waste Management Act of
1989 (act) requires that each city or county to have an
implementation schedule for diverting 25% of solid waste from
landfill disposal or transformation by January 1, 1995, and
diverting 50% of solid waste by January 1, 2020 through source
reduction, recycling, and composting activities. It is the
policy goal of the state that 75% of solid waste be diverted by
2020. The act currently classifies the use of solid waste for
beneficial reuse in the construction and operation of a solid
waste landfill, including the use as ADC, constitutes diversion
through recycling and is not considered disposal (PRC §41781.3).
Section 41821 of the Public Resources Code requires a local
jurisdiction to report annually to the Department of Resources
Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) on its progress in reducing
solid waste disposal.
Section 48000 of the Public Resources Code requires that each
operator of a disposal fee pay a quarterly fee based on the
amount of solid waste disposed of at each site and sets that fee
currently at $1.40 per ton. This fee is commonly referred to as
AB 1594 (Williams)
Page 1
the "tipping fee." This fee is deposited into the Integrated
Waste Management Fund.
Proposed Law: This bill would define the use of green material
for ADC as disposal rather than diversion through recycling
beginning January 1, 2020.
Beginning on August 1, 2018, annual reports from local
jurisdictions must include information on how the local
jurisdiction intends to divert green material that is currently
being used as ADC. Beginning in 2020, if the reclassification of
green material used as ADC would result in a local jurisdiction
missing its diversion targets under the act, then that local
jurisdiction must include in its annual report an identification
of barriers to recycling green materials and a plan to address
those barriers.
This bill would exempt green waste used as ADC from the tipping
fee required for other solid waste disposal.
Staff Comments: This bill would require additional review of
annual reports and diversion compliance. However, CalRecycle
estimates that there will be a minor and absorbable increase in
workload as this review is incorporated into the existing annual
review of local jurisdiction's implementation plans.
This bill would create an exemption for the tipping fee for
green material used as ADC. The tipping fee is used for the
management and oversight of landfills. The use of green
materials as ADC, whether counted as diversion or not, has
impacts on landfill operations, such as methane production, that
must be addressed by activities paid for by the Integrated Waste
Management Fund. By excluding green materials used as ADC from
the tipping fee, this bill will result in unfunded cost
pressures to the Integrated Waste Management Fund. In 2012, 1.61
million tons of green material was used as ADC. If there was a
tipping fee assessed on this amount, it would result in $2.25
million in revenue. However, the potential lost revenue should
be much lower than this maximum presuming that a significant
amount of green material will no longer be used for ADC. Staff
notes that CalRecycle anticipates the Integrated Waste
Management Fund to have a future imbalance.
Recommended Amendments: Subdivision (e) of Section 41781.3 makes
a reference to a subparagraph that has been deleted in the
AB 1594 (Williams)
Page 2
August 4th version of the bill. Staff recommends that this
reference in subdivision (e) be deleted.