BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 700
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
Senator Jerry Hill, Chair
2013-2014 Regular Session
BILL NO: SB 700
AUTHOR: Wolk
AMENDED: April 15, 2013
FISCAL: Yes HEARING DATE: April 17, 2013
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT: Joanne Roy
SUBJECT : NATURAL RESOURCES: PARKS: CARRYOUT BAGS
SUMMARY :
Existing law , under the At-Store Recycling Program (Public
Resources Code §42250 et seq.) (part of the California
Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989):
1) Requires operators of stores, defined as supermarkets and
stores over 10,000 square feet that includes a pharmacy, to
establish an at-store recycling program. Under the
program:
a) Plastic bags provided by the store must include a
label encouraging customers to return the bag to the
store for recycling.
b) Clearly labeled and easily accessible recycling bins
for plastic bags must be provided.
c) All plastic bags collected must be recycled in a
manner consistent with the local jurisdiction's
recycling plan.
d) The store must maintain records relating to the
program for at least three years and must make the
records available to the local jurisdiction or the
Department of Resources Recovery and Recycling
(CalRecycle) upon request.
e) The operator of the store must make reusable bags
available to customers.
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2) Requires plastic carryout bag manufacturers to develop
educational materials to encourage reducing and recycling
of plastic carryout bags and make those materials available
to stores.
3) Allows cities and counties to adopt, implement, and enforce
local laws related to local curbside or drop-off recycling
programs.
4) Authorizes a city, county, or the state to levy fines for
stores in violation of this law.
5) Defines "reusable bag" as a bag with handles and made of
either cloth or durable plastic. Requires a reusable bag
made of plastic to be at least 2.25 mils thick and
specifically designed for multiple uses.
6) Sunsets the above provisions on January 1, 2020.
This bill establishes the Local Environmental Enhancement Act,
which includes the following:
1) Establishes the Local Environmental Enhancement Fund
requiring monies in the fund to be expended by the Natural
Resources Agency upon appropriation by the Legislature for
purposes of this act.
2) Requires the Natural Resources Agency to issue grants to
cities and counties for local parks and programs for
purposes of reducing and cleaning up litter.
3) Requires the grants be used for specified purposes,
including operating and maintenance costs, park
acquisitions such as parks in disadvantaged communities,
protecting and restoring park cultural and historical
resources, local park improvement or rehabilitation
projects, litter abatement and cleanup programs.
4) Provides that a local government, which has an ordinance
stating that the bag tax imposed pursuant to this act does
not apply to that local jurisdiction, may not be awarded
such a grant.
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5) Prohibits a local government from applying for a grant
amount that is more than the total revenue generated in
that local jurisdiction by the bag tax.
6) Defines "retail establishment" as a business that sells
food for consumption on or off the premises or a business
that sells beer, wine, or distilled spirits for consumption
off the premises where alcohol is sold.
7) Defines "single-use carryout bag" as a bag made of plastic,
paper, or other material that is provided by a store to a
customer at the point of sale and that is not a reusable
grocery bag.
8) Defines "reusable grocery bag" as a bag made of cloth or
other machine washable fabric that has handles or a durable
plastic bag with handles that is at least 2.25 mils thick,
contains at least 20% postconsumer recycled material and is
designed for multiple uses.
9) Requires a retail establishment to charge $0.05 for a
single-use carryout bag to a customer.
10)Requires the retail establishment to retain $0.005 of each
bag charge.
11)Authorizes the retail establishment to retain an additional
$0.005 if it meets specified requirements such as crediting
the consumer at least $0.05 for each carryout bag provided
by the consumer for packaging his/her purchases at the time
of sale.
12)Requires the Board of Equalization to collect the
single-use carryout bag charges, adopt regulations related
to reporting and transmitting the charges, and track
revenues in the Local Environmental Enhancement Fund.
13)Provides that the act does not preempt local governments
from adopting laws related to single-use carryout bags.
COMMENTS :
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1) Purpose of Bill . According to the author, of the billions
of single-use shopping bags annually used in this state,
many of the bags are improperly disposed, resulting in
environmental harm and visual blight. The goals of SB 700
are to: reduce use of single-use shopping bags, both paper
and plastic; use tax revenues to achieve an environmental
purpose; allow local community choice to opt out of a
statewide program or to design their own; and, retain
consumer choice to use reusable bags or pay a tax on
single-use plastic or paper bags.
The author believes that SB 700 could generate approximately
$100-200 million annually and reduce single-use carryout
bags in the state by 70-80%.
2) Background . The use of single-use carryout bags, whether
they be plastic, paper, or biodegradable, have negative
effects on the environment, including litter, solid waste
generation and effects on wildlife. Single-use paper bags
have been found to result in greater greenhouse gas
emissions, atmospheric acidification, water consumption,
and ozone production than single-use plastic bags.
Although plastic represents a relatively small fraction of the
overall waste stream in California, plastic waste is the
predominate form of marine debris. Plastics are estimated
to compose 60-80% of all marine debris and 90% of all
floating debris. According to the California Coastal
Commission, the primary source of marine debris is urban
runoff, of which lightweight plastic bags and plastic film
are particularly susceptible. Due to the interplay of
ocean currents, marine debris preferentially accumulates in
certain areas throughout the ocean. The North Pacific
Central Gyre is the ultimate destination for much of the
marine debris originating from the California coast. A
study by the Algalita Marine Research Foundation found an
average of more than 300,000 plastic pieces per square mile
of the Gyre and that the mass of plastic was six times
greater than zooplankton floating on the water's surface.
Most plastic marine debris exists as small plastic
particles due to excessive UV radiation exposure and
subsequent photo-degradation. These plastic pieces are
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ingested by aquatic organisms and have already negatively
affected over 250 animal species worldwide. In addition,
hydrophobic chemicals present in the ocean in trace amounts
(e.g., from contaminated runoff and oil and chemical
spills) have an affinity for, and can bind to, plastic
particles and may also enter and accumulate in the food
chain through the same mechanism.
3) Local bag ordinances . Approximately 70 local governments
throughout California have adopted ordinances banning
plastic bags including San Francisco, San Jose, Long Beach,
Los Angeles County, Santa Clara County, Alameda County and
others. Most of these cities and counties also require
stores to charge a fee for a paper carryout bag, and a few
have banned both single-use plastic and paper carryout
bags.
This bill does not preempt local governments from adopting
their own ordinances related to single-use carryout bags.
SB 700 authorizes local governments to adopt ordinances to
not have this bill's bag tax imposed in a local
jurisdiction, but with the caveat that those local
jurisdictions that choose to do so are ineligible for
grants pursuant to this act.
4) Reducing single-use bag consumption, but for how long ? The
author notes that this bill is based on successful programs
in Washington, D.C. and elsewhere that use collected
fees/taxes on bags to achieve an environmental purpose.
The Washington, D.C. Council created the Anacostia River
Cleanup and Protection Act of 2009 which imposes a $0.05
tax on paper and plastic grocery bags which reduced bag
consumption significantly, with estimates ranging between
67-80% over a couple of years. Fiscal Year 2011 was the
first full budget cycle for the D.C.'s bag tax. According
to the District's chief financial officer, the city
collected $1.8 million in 2011 from the tax and $1.6
million in 2012 which would indicate a reduction in the
consumption of bags for the first two years.
However, concern has been raised that such a program may
have a "rebound effect" experienced by other governments
that levy a bag tax - meaning that although there may be an
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initial decrease in single-use bag consumption, the number
of bags consumed may reverse and increase after the initial
shock of the tax wears off.
For example, in 2002 Ireland established a ?15-cent tax per
plastic grocery bag. Annual consumption of bags initially
dropped 94% from 328 bags to 21 bags per capita. However,
annual consumption increased to 33 bags per capita by 2007.
To address the uptrend, the government raised the bag tax
to ?22-cents in July 2007. Consumption fell to 26 bags per
capita the same year and decreased further to18 bags per
capita by 2010.
Similarly, Italy enacted a tax of ?13-cent per bag in 2002.
Annual consumption fell from 1.3 billion bags to 20
million bags the next year. However, bag consumption
subsequently bounced back to 140 million bags, and like
Ireland, Italy raised the tax to ?22-cents per bag in 2007.
Is it reasonable to consider that a similar rebound effect
may be in store for California should SB 700 be enacted?
5) Reusable bags are not perfect . Concern has been raised
that reusable grocery bags may have public health
implications. For example, reusable bags can harbor
bacteria such as coliform bacteria, but washing the
reusable bags can eliminate 99.9% of bacteria. However, a
2011 study examining reusable bags in California and
Arizona showed that 97% of people reported that they never
wash their bags.
In addition, Jonathan Klick and Joshua Wright, from University
of Pennsylvania and George Mason University, respectively,
did a more recent study on the public health impact of
plastic bag bans and found that emergency-room admissions
related to E.coli infections increased in San Francisco
after the ban compared to nearby counties that did not show
the increase. The San Francisco ban was also associated
with increases in salmonella and other bacterial
infections. Similar effects were found in other California
local jurisdictions that adopted similar ordinances.
If one of the goals of this bill is to increase the use of
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reusable bags, perhaps increasing people's awareness on
proper use and care of the reusable bags, like washing
them, would be beneficial.
6) Double-referral . SB 700 is double-referred to the Senate
Committees on Natural Resources & Water and Environmental
Quality. SB 700 passed the Senate Natural Resources
Committee on April 9, 2014 (6-2).
7) Related legislation . SB 405 (Padilla) prohibits stores, as
defined, from providing single-use plastic bags to
customers, requires stores to make available for purchase
reusable grocery bags, and authorizes stores to make
available for purchase recycled paper bags.
SB 405 and SB 700 are incompatible with one another. SB 405
bans single-use plastic bags in grocery stores but
authorizes paper bags to be sold and allows the store to
retain the fee. SB 700 requires a fee on both plastic and
paper single-use bags in grocery stores and restaurants,
and requires the revenue to be used for local public
purposes.
If both SB 405 and SB 700 are enacted, they will directly
conflict with each other. The Committee may wish to
consider supporting only one policy and move that measure
forward.
AB 158 (Levine) is similar to SB 405 and generally prohibits
grocery stores from providing single-use plastic bags to
customers, and requires stores to make reusable grocery
bags available for purchase by customers. AB 158 passed
out of Assembly Natural Resources Committee (6-3) on April
1, 2013.
8) Previous legislation . SB 1219 (Wolk), Chapter 384,
Statutes of 2012, extended the sunset of the At-Store
Recycling Program requirements from January 1, 2013 to
January 1, 2020 and repealed the provisions preempting
local regulatory action related to the at-store recycling
program requirements.
SB 1106 (Strickland) of 2012 prohibits the manufacture,
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distribution, and sale of reusable bags without a warning
label that both specifies the need for reusable bags to be
cleaned and disinfected between uses and outlines the
health risks associated with not cleaning or disinfecting
reusable bags between uses. SB 1106 failed in the Senate
Environmental Quality Committee April 23, 2012 (2-5).
AB 298 (Brownley) of 2012 would have generally prohibited
stores from providing single-use plastic bags to customers,
required stores to make reusable grocery bags, as defined,
available for purchase by customers, and created standards
for reusable bags. AB 298 was held on the Senate
Appropriations Committee suspense file.
AB 1834 (Brownley) of 2012 would have defined "reusable
bag" for purposes of the At-Store Recycling Program Law and
would have specified that on and after July 1, 2013, the
definition of what is a reusable bag under this bill will
become operative. Between January 1, 2013 until June 30,
2013, the current At-Store Recycling Program Law would have
remained operative. This bill would have become operative
only if SB 1219 (Wolk) became law. AB 1834 was placed on
the Senate inactive file and died on the Senate floor.
SB 915 (Calderon) of 2011 sets plastic bag reduction and
recycled content goals. A hearing in the Senate
Environmental Quality Committee was canceled at the request
of the author.
AB 2138 (Chesbro) of 2010 would have established recycling
and composting requirements for take-out food packaging,
including bags. AB 2138 was held on the Assembly
Appropriations Committee suspense file.
AB 1998 (Brownley) of 2010 would have repealed the at-store
recycling program and instead prohibited stores from
providing a single-use plastic carryout bag to a customer
and required stores to provide reusable bags for purchase
or recycled paper bags for a fee. AB 1998 failed in the
Senate on August 31, 2010 (14-21).
SB 531 (DeSaulnier) of 2009 would have required
manufacturers of plastic carryout bags to consult with
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various entities, including the California Integrated Waste
Management Board (CIWMB), when developing specified
educational materials to encourage the reduced use or
recycling of those bags, and authorized the CIWMB to modify
those materials. SB 531 was held in Assembly Natural
Resources Committee without further action.
AB 68 (Brownley) of 2009 and AB 87 (Davis) of 2009 both
would have required a 25-cent fee on the distribution of
single-use carryout bags. Both bills were held in the
Assembly Appropriations Committee.
AB 2058 (Levine) of 2007 would have prohibited the free
dispensing of carryout plastic bags by a store to its
customers, unless the store can demonstrate to CIWMB that
70% of the plastic bags it dispensed had been diverted from
the waste stream. AB 2058 was held in Senate
Appropriations Committee.
SOURCE : California Parks and Recreation Society
SUPPORT : None on file
OPPOSITION : None on file