BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1846
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Date of Hearing: April 30, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Mike Gatto, Chair
AB 1846 (Gordon) - As Amended: April 22, 2014
Policy Committee: Natural
ResourcesVote:9-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill clarifies and strengthens the enforcement provisions
under the California Beverage Container Recycling and Litter
Reduction Act (Bottle Bill). Specifically, this bill:
1)Provides a certified recycling center or processor shall not
pay or claim any refund value, processing payment, or
administrative fee on beverage containers if the center knew,
or should have known, that the containers are ineligible for
redemption.
2)Adds the authority for CalRecycle to suspend or permanently
revoke eligibility of a certified recycling center to receive
handling fees at one or more recycling centers as one of the
disciplinary actions available under the Bottle Bill.
FISCAL EFFECT
Negligible costs, if any, for increased CalRecycle enforcement
authority.
COMMENTS
1)Rationale. In the summer of 2011, CalRecycle, in coordination
with the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA),
initiated a pilot program to survey and document vehicles
importing out-of-state beverage container material into
California through all 16 CDFA Border Protection Stations.
During the first 60 calendar days of the pilot program, the
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information gathered indicated that over 2,500 vehicles,
including 378 rental trucks filled to capacity, imported
out-of-state beverage container material through these
stations. Based on this data, CalRecycle estimates at least
$7 million fraudulent redemption activity annually.
According to the author, this bill seeks to strengthen
CalRecycle's Bottle Bill enforcement authority by clarifying
it is illegal to redeem out-of-state material or any other
ineligible material for California redemption value (CRV).
2)Background. The Bottle Bill provides consumers with
convenience and a financial incentive for recycling beverage
containers. Consumers pay a deposit, the CRV, on each beverage
container they purchase. Retailers collect the CRV from
consumers when they buy beverages. The dealer retains a small
percentage of the deposit for administration and remits the
remainder to the distributor, who also retains a small portion
for administration before remitting the balance to CalRecycle.
When consumers return their empty beverage containers to a
recycler (or donate them to a curbside or other program), the
deposit is paid back as a refund.
The current CRV is 5 cents for containers that hold fewer than
24 ounces and 10 cents for containers that hold 24 ounces or
more. California's current recycling rate is 80 %.
3)Structural Deficit. According to CalRecycle, the Bottle Bill
is currently operating under an approximately $100 million
annual structural deficit, mainly caused by historically high
recycling rates, along with mandated program payments and
outstanding General Fund loans.
Program expenditures exceed program revenues under the current
mandated expenditure and revenue structure. Fraud also
contributes to the structural deficit.
When the Bottle Bill does not have adequate funding,
CalRecycle is required to proportionally reduce many of the
program's expenditures evenly among program participants, with
the exception of CRV redemption for consumers.
Analysis Prepared by : Jennifer Galehouse / APPR. / (916)
319-2081
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