BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 655 Page 1 Date of Hearing: April 15, 2015 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE Henry T. Perea, Chair AB 655 Quirk - As Amended April 6, 2015 SUBJECT: Rendering: inedible kitchen grease: additional fee. SUMMARY: Increases a registration fee for transporters of inedible kitchen grease (IKG), and makes technical non-substantive changes. Specifically, this bill: 1)Places existing non-codified legislative findings and declarations into the statute. 2)Increases the per vehicle registration fee for transporters of IKG from $300 up to $350 per year, while keeping the cap on total fees per registered transporter of [inedible] kitchen grease at $3,000 per year. 3)Makes technical non-substantive changes. EXISTING LAW requires a licensed renderer to keep records for two years, encompassing specific information in connection to the receipt of IKG provided by a registered transporter; requires all records retained by a licensed renderer or registered transporter to be maintained at the renderer and AB 655 Page 2 transporter's regular place of business; requires records to be provided on demand by any peace officer and authorizes any peace officer to inspect any premises maintained by a licensed renderer or transporter at any time during normal business hours to ensure compliance with record maintenance requirements. Imposes various fines, as specified, on any licensed renderer or registered transporter who fails to keep specified records, or any renderer or transporter who refuses to exhibit any required records upon demand by any peace officer; prohibits any person from engaging in the transportation of IKG without being registered with California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) and without being in possession of a valid registration certificate issued by DMV; and, prohibits any person who is not a registered transporter or licensed renderer of IKG to transport that product from any location within the state to any location outside of California. CDFA is authorizes to charge an IKG transporter registration fee of up to $300 per vehicle. These requirements become inoperative July 1, 2020, and are repealed January 1, 2021, unless a later enacted statute becomes effective prior to that date. FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown. This bill is keyed fiscal by Legislative Counsel. COMMENTS: According to the author, the IKG program needs additional funds for enforcement purposes. The hauling of IKG takes little capital investment to enter into, making it an easy potential operation for fly by night operators. The theft of IKG or the unlawful dumping of IKG or interceptor grease occurs depending on the price of the product - the higher the price the more theft and the lower the price the more dumping. The proper disposal of some of these products may require the operator to incur the cost of tipping fees, so when product prices are low, some operators improperly dispose of the product in various illicit methods, such as, dumping into sewer lines, open fields, water bodies or even into other commercial food holding tanks, passing the cost onto the public or other operators. AB 655 Page 3 This increase in the registration fee is intended to assist CDFA in increasing their enforcement actions to stop the theft or illegal disposal of these products. This has been an ongoing problem that the Legislature, with the industry's support and assistance, has tried to correct through increased fines and larger industry fees to pay for enforcement. Under this CDFA program, some registration renewals have been denied due to the improper pass actions by the registrant. Lack of sufficient and effective enforcement has been a continuing issue for preventing this illegal activity. By increasing the registration fee, the industry and CDFA hope to more effectively provide enforcement on IKG transporters by providing more inspections of them and their records. The committee may wish to ask the author if he anticipates further amendments to this measure should it pass out of committee. The committee may wish to consider a technical amendment to make the reference to IKG consistent within the section. On page 2, line 24, inserting "inedible" in front of kitchen grease would conform to the other product references in the section. PREVIOUS LEGISLATION: AB 1566 (Holden), Chapter 595, Statutes of 2014, updated the Food and Agricultural Code and Vehicle Code definitions, enforcement, fines, regulations, and transportation of IKG, in order to conform to each other, and extended the sunset of effected articles to January 1, 2021. AB 655 Page 4 AB 2378 (Huber), Chapter 303, Statutes of 2012, increased the civil and criminal fines for specified violations relating to the transport and recordkeeping of IKG. SB 513 (Canella), Chapter 337, Statutes of 2011, created the Rendering Industry Advisory Board (RIAB), including membership and duties, and made other non-related changes. AB 1249 (Galgiani), Chapter 280, Statutes of 2009, extended the sunset date to January 1, 2016, for the IKG administration fee for the program. REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION: Support Pacific Coast Rendering Association California Grain and Feed Association Opposition AB 655 Page 5 None on file. Analysis Prepared by:Jim Collin / AGRI. / (916) 319-2084