BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de Le�n, Chair
SB 254 (Hancock and Correa) - Solid waste: used mattresses:
recycling and recovery.
Amended: April 15, 2013 Policy Vote: EQ 6-3
Urgency: No Mandate: No
Hearing Date: April 29, 2013 Consultant:
Marie Liu
This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill Summary: SB 254 would require a mattress recycling
organization to develop and implement a manufacturer and
retailer stewardship program to recover and recycle used
mattresses.
Fiscal Impact:
Ongoing costs of approximately $500,000 to the Integrated
Waste Management Fund (Special Fund) in FY 2014-15 first to
draft regulations and guidance documents and for review and
certification of the mattress recycling organization and its
plan then for ongoing oversight and enforcement.
Ongoing revenues of approximately $500,000 to the Used
Mattress Recycling Account beginning in FY 2015-16 for
reimbursement of state costs.
Background: The Product Stewardship for Carpets Program requires
manufactures of carpet sold in California to submit a carpet
product stewardship plan to the Department of Resources
Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) that demonstrates how it
will manage waste carpet. A similar program also exists for
paint under the Architectural Paint Recovery Program.
Proposed Law: This bill would establish the Used Mattress
Recovery and Recycling Act (act). Specifically, the act would:
By July 1, 2014, allow a qualified industry or association
to request to be certified as a mattress recycling
organization (organization) by CalRecycle.
By January 1, 2015, require that all manufacturers and
retailers of mattresses offered for sale in California
register with the organization.
Require the organization to develop and submit to
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CalRecycle, for approval, a plan for recycling used
mattresses, and means to fund that plan, by April 1, 2015.
Require the organization to annually submit a budget to
CalRecycle beginning July 1, 2015.
Require the organization to reimburse CalRecycle for all
its cost in implementing the act on a quarterly basis.
Require the organization to establish a mattress recycling
charge that shall be added to the purchase price of a
mattress at the point of sale. Any retailer that sells a
mattress to a consumer shall collect the charge then remit
it to the organization.
Require CalRecycle to place specific information about the
organization and the program on its website.
Require a retailer, beginning July 1, 2014, to offer
consumers the option to have a used mattress picked up for
recovery, at no cost to the consumer, at the time of
delivery of a new mattress.
Allow CalRecycle to impose an administrative civil penalty
for violations of this act. All penalties shall be deposited
into the Mattress Recovery and Recycling Penalty Account
within the Integrated Waste Management Fund and may be
expended, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to
administer and enforce the act.
Related Legislation: SB 1118 (Hancock, 2012) would have
established mattress recycling goals for the state. SB 1118
failed passage on the Senate Floor.
Staff Comments: Based on CalRecycle's experience with other
extended producer responsibility programs, the department
believes that its costs will be approximately $500,000 for two
Integrated Waste Management Specialists, one Staff Programmer
Analyst, one Accounting Officer, and a half Staff Counsel
position first to develop the program and associated regulations
and guidance documents. Later, these positions would then be
needed for oversight and enforcement activities including
creating, maintaining, and publishing a database for compliant
manufactures and reviewing annual reports.
This bill intends to be cost neutral to the state by requiring
the organization to reimburse CalRecycle for its costs on a
quarterly basis. However, there are certain initial costs that
will occur before there is an organization that CalRecycle can
request reimbursement from (such as certifying the organization)
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or before the organization has generated funds to pay for any
reimbursements (such as reviewing the initial recovery and
recycling plan and associated budget). Staff believes
clarification is needed on whether these initial costs are
intended to be paid by the industry, and if so, how. Staff notes
that initial costs can be covered with an upfront fee, such as
an application fee.
This bill would direct any assessed penalties to be used to help
fund the administration and enforcement of the act. Staff notes
that generally allowing program implementation to be paid for by
fines and penalties can be a perverse incentive, or at least
create the illusion of a perverse incentive, for overly
aggressive enforcement. However, because this bill requires
CalRecycle's ongoing costs to be fully reimbursable by the
organization, there would be no incentive for overly aggressive
enforcement.