BILL NUMBER: AB 1784	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Quirk

                        FEBRUARY 18, 2014

   An act to amend Section 5342 of the Food and Agricultural Code,
and to amend Sections 14572 and 14595.5 of the Public Resources Code,
relating to beverage containers.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 1784, as introduced, Quirk. Beverage containers: enforcement.
   (1) The existing California Beverage Container Recycling and
Litter Reduction Act requires certified recycling centers, when
accepting an empty beverage container from a consumer, to pay the
refund value. A violation of the act is a crime.
   This bill would prohibit a certified recycling center from
accepting or paying a refund value to a consumer for more than 50
pounds of empty beverage containers submitted by that consumer to the
certified recycling center during a single 24-hour period. Since a
violation of this requirement would be a crime, the bill would impose
a state-mandated local program.
   (2) The act prohibits any person from paying, claiming, or
receiving any refund value or other specified payments of fees for
imported beverage container material, previously redeemed containers,
rejected containers, line breakage, or other ineligible material,
or, with intent to defraud, taking specified actions with regard to
redeeming ineligible containers.
   This bill would require the department, when implementing these
prohibitions, to consider proximity to the state border when
assigning employees to the department's audits of redemption centers.

   (3) Existing law requires a vehicle entering the state that
contains more than 25 pounds of empty beverage container material to
pass through the nearest plant quarantine inspection station and
obtain proof of inspection from the Department of Resources Recycling
and Recovery. The department is authorized to enter into an
interagency agreement with the Department of Food and Agriculture to
implement this requirement. Existing law authorizes plant quarantine
officers at plant quarantine inspection stations to, among other
things, ascertain the origin, quantity, and kinds of meat and meat
products, poultry and poultry products, eggs, and livestock
transported into or out of this state through the station.
   This bill would require the plant quarantine officers at plant
quarantine inspection stations to ascertain the origin and quantity
of high volumes of empty beverage containers transported by vehicles
entering the state.
   (4) 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: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 5342 of the Food and Agricultural Code is
amended to read:
   5342.   (a)     (1)    Plant
quarantine officers at plant quarantine inspection stations may
ascertain the origin, quantity, and kinds of meat and meat products,
poultry and poultry products, eggs, and livestock transported into or
out of this state through the stations. The operator of  any
  a  vehicle  which   that
 is transporting  any such commodity   one
of these commodities  into or out of the state through 
any   a  plant quarantine inspection station shall
stop and give this information upon request to a plant quarantine
officer at the plant quarantine inspection station.  Such
  The  request may be by a sign which is openly
displayed at the station or by any other means which is deemed by the
director as effective. 
   The 
    (2)     The  director may accept, on
behalf of the state, donations of money from any person to defray the
costs of the department under this  section  
subdivision  .  Any such   That  money
shall be paid into the State Treasury and credited to the Department
of Agriculture Fund. The director may limit expenditures under this
 section  subdivision  relating to
livestock to the amounts so donated for this purpose, and shall limit
expenditures under this section relating to poultry and poultry
products and eggs to the amounts so donated for this purpose. 
   (b) Plant quarantine officers at plant quarantine inspection
stations shall ascertain the origin and quantity of high volumes of
empty beverage containers transported by vehicles entering the state
for purposes of determining compliance with Section 14596 of the
Public Resources Code. 
  SEC. 2.  Section 14572 of the Public Resources Code is amended to
read:
   14572.  (a) (1) Except as provided in  subdivision (b)
  subdivisions (b) and (e)  , a certified recycling
center shall accept from any consumer or dropoff or collection
program any empty beverage container, and shall pay to the consumer
or dropoff or collection program the refund value of the beverage
container.
   (2) Except as provided in paragraph (3), the recycling center may
pay the refund value based on the weight of returned containers.
   (3) On and after September 1, 2013, for beverage containers
redeemed by consumers, a certified recycling center shall pay the
refund value using the applicable segregated rate, as defined in
paragraph (43) of subsection (a) of Section 2000 of Title 14 of the
California Code of Regulations, as that section read on September 1,
2013, which shall be based on the weight of the redeemed beverage
containers.
   (b) Any recycling center or processor that was in existence on
January 1, 1986, and that refused, as of January 1, 1986, to accept
at a particular location a certain type of empty beverage container
may continue to refuse to accept at the location the type or types of
empty beverage containers that the recycling center or processor
refused to accept as of January 1, 1986. A certified recycling center
that refuses, pursuant to this subdivision, to accept a certain type
or types of empty beverage containers is not eligible to receive
handling fees unless the center agrees to accept all types of empty
beverage containers and is a supermarket site. This subdivision does
not preclude the certified recycling center from receiving a handling
fee for beverage containers redeemed at supermarket sites that do
accept all types of containers.
   (c) The department shall develop procedures by which recycling
centers and processors that meet the criteria of subdivision (b) may
recertify to change the material types accepted.
   (d) (1) Only a certified recycling center may pay the refund value
to consumers or dropoff or collection programs. A person shall not
pay a noncertified recycler for empty beverage containers an amount
that exceeds the current scrap value for each container type, which
shall be determined in the following manner:
   (A) For a plastic or glass beverage container, the current scrap
value shall be determined by the department.
   (B) For an aluminum beverage container, the current scrap value
shall be not greater than the amount paid to the processor for that
aluminum beverage container, on the date the container was purchased,
by the location of end use, as defined in the regulations of the
department.
   (2) A person shall not receive or retain, for empty beverage
containers that come from out of state, any refund values, processing
payments, or administrative fees for which a claim is made to the
department against the fund.
   (3) Paragraph (1) does not affect curbside programs under contract
with cities or counties. 
   (e) A certified recycling center shall not accept or pay a refund
value to a consumer for more than 50 pounds of empty beverage
containers submitted by that consumer to the certified recycling
center during a single 24-hour period. 
  SEC. 3.  Section 14595.5 of the Public Resources Code is amended to
read:
   14595.5.  (a) (1)  No   A  person shall
 not  pay, claim, or receive  any   a
 refund value, processing payment, handling fee, or
administrative fee for any of the following:
   (A) Beverage container material that the person knew, or should
have known, was imported from out of state.
   (B) A previously redeemed container, rejected container, line
breakage, or other ineligible material.
   (2)  No   A  person shall  not 
, with intent to defraud, do any of the following:
   (A) Redeem or attempt to redeem an out-of-state container,
rejected container, line breakage, previously redeemed container, or
other ineligible material.
   (B) Return a previously redeemed container to the marketplace for
redemption.
   (C) Bring an out-of-state container, rejected container, line
breakage, or other ineligible material to the marketplace for
redemption.
   (D) Receive, store, transport, distribute, or otherwise facilitate
or aid in the redemption of a previously redeemed container,
out-of-state container, rejected container, line breakage, or other
ineligible material.
   (b) For purposes of implementing subdivision (a), the department
shall  take all reasonable   do both of the
following: 
    (1)     Consider proximity to the state's
border when assigning employees to the department's audits of
redemption centers. 
    (2)     Take all reasonable  steps to
exclude beverage container material imported from out of state,
previously redeemed containers, rejected containers, and line
breakage, when conducting surveys to determine a commingled rate
pursuant to Section 14549.5.
  SEC. 4.  No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because
the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school
district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or
infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty
for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the
Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the
meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
Constitution.