BILL ANALYSIS Ó
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de León, Chair
SB 1249 (Hill) - Hazardous waste: shredder waste
Amended: April 22, 2014 Policy Vote: EQ 5-1
Urgency: No Mandate: Yes (see staff comment)
Hearing Date: May 12, 2014 Consultant: Marie Liu
This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill Summary: SB 1249 would authorize the Department of Toxic
Substances Control (DTSC) to adopt regulations on management
standards for metal shredding facilities, metal shredder
residue, or treated metal shredder residue. This bill would
authorize DTSC to establish a fee that is sufficient to
reimburse specified costs.
Fiscal Impact:
Likely initial annual costs of at least $300,000 from the
Hazardous Waste Control Account (special) for two years to
DTSC to conduct the required analysis, prepare the required
finding, and potentially develop regulations.
Likely ongoing annual costs of up to $200,000 from the
Hazardous Waste Control Account (special) to DTSC for
regulation of metal shredding facilities.
Unknown fee revenue to the Hazardous Waste Control Account
(special) either from fees under existing hazardous waste
law or under new regulations for metal shredding facilities.
Unknown costs and revenues, possibly in the hundreds of
thousands of dollars, from the Waste Discharge Permit Fund
(special) to the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB)
related to the permitting of landfills that accept
designated waste or metal shredding residue.
Background: The California Hazardous Waste Control Act of 1972
(HWCA/act) directs DTSC to regulate the handling, processing,
and disposal of hazardous and extremely hazardous waste to
protect the public, livestock, and wildlife from hazards to
health and safety. Under the act, facilities that treat, store,
handle, and/or dispose of hazardous waste are required to be
permitted by the DTSC. The hazardous waste facility permit
specifies specific requirements for the facility to ensure safe
SB 1249 (Hill)
Page 1
operation. The act also implements federal tracking requirements
for the handling and transportation of hazardous waste from
generation to ultimate disposition. DTSC activities under this
act are funded by fees.
The Integrated Waste Management Act requires materials that
require special handling to be removed from major appliances and
vehicles in which they are contained before crushing for
transport or transferring to a baler or shredder for recycling.
Between 1986 and 1992, the Department of Health Services Toxic
Substances Control Division (predecessor to DTSC) issued
conditional nonhazardous waste classifications (also referred to
as "f letters") to seven metal shredder facilities in California
who treated their metal shredder waste (MSW) by encapsulating
the MSW into cement pellets. Under these f letters, once
treated, the MSW can be disposed of as nonhazardous waste.
Treated MSW often is used as alternative daily cover at
landfills. F letters remain in effect indefinitely unless
revoked by DTSC. Six of these metal shredding facilities remain
active. As part of its Metal Recycling Initiative, DTSC has
discovered two additional smaller or mobile shredders that do
not have permits or an f letter.
Proposed Law: This bill would authorize DTSC to adopt
regulations that establish management standards for metal
shredding facilities, MSW, and treated MSW if DTSC takes
specified actions, including to:
Prepare an analysis regarding the types and amounts of
hazardous waste involved in metal shredding, the potential
hazards to human health or safety or to the environment, the
complexity of the activity and necessary training for
operators, the chemical or physical hazards of metal
shredding, and the type of accidents that may occur, and the
hazards that the activity poses to nearby land uses.
Preliminary and final analyses shall be made available to
the public according to specified deadlines, all of which
precede the adoption of regulations.
Make a specific finding regarding the proposed regulations
or the existing requirements based on the analysis, before
DTSC issues its notice proposing the adoption of the
regulations.
Consider MSW and treated MSW as hazardous, unless the
analysis finds that such a classification is not necessary
SB 1249 (Hill)
Page 2
in order to protect human health or safety or the
environment.
Require MSW, if classified as nonhazardous under the
regulations, to be disposed of in a composite-lined portion
of a solid waste landfill that is regulated by waste
discharge requirements by the SWRCB for discharges of
designated waste, MSW, or treated MSW.
DTSC's authority to develop regulations would sunset on January
1, 2017; however any regulations adopted before January 1, 2017
may be revised at a later date
This bill would invalidate all "f letters" issued before January
1, 2014 on January 1, 2017.
This bill would authorize DTSC to collect an annual fee from all
metal shredding facilities subject to the Hazardous Waste
Control Act that is sufficient to reimburse the department's
costs related to specified activities.
Staff Comments: Staff notes that there are basically three
potential scenarios that could occur should this bill become
law: (1) DTSC does not attempt to develop regulations so that
when the f letters are rescinded in 2017, all MSW would be
treated as hazardous waste; (2) DTSC conducts the analysis
required by the bill and determines that MSW should be treated
as hazardous waste under the HWCA; or (3) DTSC conducts the
analysis and determines that it is appropriate to adopt
regulations that would allow MSW or treated MSW to be disposed
of as not hazardous.
Staff believes that scenario 1 is unlikely as DTSC has already
undertaken actions to study MSW for the purpose of properly
regulating its disposal.
Under scenario 2, DTSC would incur onetime costs of
approximately $300,000 annually for two years for two additional
PYs to conduct the required analysis. Upon DTSC's determination
that the MSW and treated MSW should be treated as a hazardous
waste, metal shredding facilities would then have to be
permitted and regulated as a hazardous waste generator under the
HWCA. The workload increase to issue and enforce these permits
would depend on the number of facilities that choose to continue
to operate in California. Staff believes that an increase to
SB 1249 (Hill)
Page 3
DTSC's ongoing cost under this scenario would likely be modest.
There are existing fees associated with the HWCA that should
cover any increases in ongoing costs.
Under scenario 3, DTSC would incur the onetime costs to conduct
the required analysis plus costs to develop the regulations.
Additionally, if DTSC decides to develop regulations to consider
treated MSW as not hazardous, it would be a discretionary action
subject to CEQA. Complying with CEQA would likely add
significant unknown costs. Thus, initial costs under this bill
would be at least $300,000 annually for two years. Once
regulations were developed, DTSC would anticipate approximately
$200,000 in ongoing costs plus additional unknown analytical
costs necessary for enforcement. These ongoing costs are likely
to be more than ongoing costs under scenario 2, therefore likely
ongoing costs for this bill is no more than $200,000 annually.
Additionally under scenario 3, this bill would require that MSW
be disposed of in a composite-lined landfill that is regulated
by waste discharge requirements for discharges of designated
waste, MSW, or treated MSW. According to the SWRCB, there are no
landfills currently permitted for discharges of designated waste
or untreated MSW, though there are landfills that can receive
treated waste. Should DTSC's regulations result in the need for
SWRCB to permit additional landfills, SWRCB is likely to incur
costs in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, depending on the
number of affected landfills, if any, which is unknown. These
costs would at least be partly recovered through permit fees
assessed by the SWRCB.
This bill allows DTSC to establish a new annual fee that is
sufficient to cover the cost of specified activities in regards
to MSW. The author's intent in this section is to allow full fee
recovery in all the discussed scenarios. However, staff notes
that if DTSC decides to regulate MSW as a hazardous waste
(scenario 1 and 2), DTSC's existing hazardous regulations and
related fee authority would apply and no new fee authority would
be needed. Thus, staff recommends that new fee authority only
needs to apply if DTSC adopts new regulations for MSW (scenario
3). Additionally, staff recommends that in order to fully
capture all costs associated with the development and
implementation of regulations regarding metal shredding
facilities and activities, the bill should allow DTSC to
establish a fee that is sufficient, but does not exceed, the
SB 1249 (Hill)
Page 4
costs of implementing Section 25150.9 and Section 25150.9.1
(which are added by this bill) rather than a specified list of
activities. Staff also recommends that the bill explicitly allow
DTSC to recover the cost of any activities related to this bill
that are taken before the adoption of the fee schedule.
This bill is a state-mandated local program as it creates a new
crime. However, this is not a reimbursable state mandate.