BILL NUMBER: AB 888	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Bloom

                        FEBRUARY 26, 2015

   An act to add Chapter 5.9 (commencing with Section 42360) to Part
3 of Division 30 of the Public Resources Code, relating to waste
management.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 888, as introduced, Bloom. Waste management: plastic
microbeads.
   The Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986
(Proposition 65) prohibits any person, in the course of doing
business, from knowingly and intentionally exposing any individual to
a chemical known to the state to cause cancer or reproductive
toxicity without giving a specified warning, or from discharging or
releasing such a chemical into any source of drinking water, except
as specified. Existing law prohibits the sale of expanded polystyrene
packaging material by a wholesaler or manufacturer. Existing law
prohibits a person from selling a plastic product in this state that
is labeled with the term "compostable," "home compostable," or
"marine degradable" unless, at the time of sale, the plastic product
meets the applicable ASTM International standard specification.
   This bill would prohibit, on and after January 1, 2020, a person,
as defined, from selling or offering for promotional purposes in this
state a personal care product containing intentionally added plastic
microbeads, as specified. The bill would exempt from those
prohibitions the sale or promotional offer of a product containing
less than 1 part per million (ppm) by weight of plastic microbeads,
as provided.
   The bill would make a violator liable for a civil penalty not to
exceed $2,500 per day for each violation. The bill would authorize
the penalty to be assessed and recovered in a civil action brought in
any court of competent jurisdiction by the Attorney General or local
officials, or by a person in the public interest, as provided. The
bill would require 50% of the civil penalties collected in an action
brought pursuant to the act to be retained by the entity or person
who brough the action.
   The bill would establish the Plastic Pollution Fund in the State
Treasury. The bill would authorize the Department of Resources
Recycling and Recovery to expend the funds, upon appropriation by the
Legislature, to implement and administer the act and reduce plastic
pollution by, among other things, providing grants to local
governments or other entities. The bill would require 50% of all
civil penalties collected pursuant to the act, and any interest
earned on the money in the fund, to be deposited into the fund.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Chapter 5.9 (commencing with Section 42360) is added to
Part 3 of Division 30 of the Public Resources Code, to read:
      CHAPTER 5.9.  PLASTIC MICROBEADS NUISANCE PREVENTION LAW


   42360.  The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
   (a) Plastic does not biodegrade into elements or compounds
commonly found in nature like other organic materials, but instead,
upon exposure to the elements photodegrades into smaller pieces of
plastic causing land and water pollution that is virtually impossible
to remediate.
   (b) Plastic pollution is the dominant type of anthropogenic debris
found throughout the marine environment.
   (c) Plastic pollution is an environmental and human health hazard
and a public nuisance.
   (d) Microplastics that are five millimeters or less in diameter
become bioavailable as soon as they enter the marine environment and
are ingested by marine organisms.
   (e) Microplastics are persistent organic compounds that attract
other pollutants commonly present in the environment, many of which
are recognized to have serious deleterious impacts on human health or
the environment, including DDT, DDE, PCBs, and flame retardants.
   (f) PAHs, PCBs and PBDEs from plastic transfer to fish tissue
during digestion and bioaccumulate, resulting in liver damage.
   (g) Fish that humans consume have been found to ingest
microplastics.
   (h) Consumer personal care products such as facial scrubs, soaps,
and toothpaste increasingly contain thousands of microplastics in the
form of plastic microbeads which are flushed down drains or make
their way into the environment by other means as part of their
intended use.
   (i) Some plastic microbeads in personal care products are not
recoverable through ordinary wastewater treatment and can be released
into the environment.
   (j) Plastic microbeads have been found in surface waters within
the United States, as well as in fish, marine mammals, and reptiles,
and in the digestive and circulatory systems of mussels and worms.
   (k) There are economically feasible alternatives to plastic
microbeads used in personal care products, as evidenced by the
current use of biodegradable, natural, abrasive materials in personal
care products such as beeswax, shells, nuts, seeds, and sand.
   42361.  As used in this chapter, the following terms have the
following meanings:
   (a) "Natural Exfoliant" means a substance occurring in and
generated by the natural environment and includes, but is not limited
to, the following substances: walnut shells, apricot hulls, sand,
clay, or beeswax.
   (b) "Person" means an individual, business, or other entity.
   (c) "Personal care product" means an article intended to be
rubbed, poured, sprinkled, or sprayed on, introduced to, or otherwise
applied to, the human body or any part thereof for cleansing,
beautifying, promoting attractiveness, or altering the appearance,
and an article intended for use as a component of such an article.
   (d) "Plastic microbead" means an intentionally added plastic
particle measuring five millimeters or less in every dimension.
   42362.  On and after January 1, 2020, a person shall not sell or
offer for promotional purposes in this state any personal care
products containing plastic microbeads.
   42363.  Section 42362 shall not apply to either of the following:
   (a) A person that sells or offers for promotional purposes a
personal care product containing plastic microbeads in less than 1
part per million (ppm) by weight.
   (b) A product containing natural exfoliants that does not contain
plastic microbeads.
   42364.  (a) A person who violates or threatens to violate Section
42362 may be enjoined in any court of competent jurisdiction.
   (b) (1) A person who has violated Section 42362 is liable for a
civil penalty not to exceed two thousand five hundred dollars
($2,500) per day for each violation in addition to any other penalty
established by law. That civil penalty may be assessed and recovered
in a civil action brought in any court of competent jurisdiction.
   (2) In assessing the amount of a civil penalty for a violation of
this chapter, the court shall consider all of the following:
   (A) The nature and extent of the violation.
   (B) The number of, and severity of, the violations.
   (C) The economic effect of the penalty on the violator.
   (D) Whether the violator took good faith measures to comply with
this chapter and when these measures were taken.
   (E) The deterrent effect that the imposition of the penalty would
have on both the violator and the regulated community as a whole.
   (F) Any other factor that justice may require.
   (c) Actions pursuant to this section may be brought by the
Attorney General in the name of the people of the state, by a
district attorney, by a city attorney, or by a city prosecutor in a
city or city and county having a full-time city prosecutor, or as
provided in subdivision (d).
   (d) Actions pursuant to this section may be brought by a person in
the public interest if both of the following requirements are met:
   (1) The private action is commenced more than 30 days from the
date that the person has given notice of an alleged violation of
Section 42362 that is the subject of the private action to the
Attorney General and the district attorney, city attorney, or
prosecutor in whose jurisdiction the violation is alleged to have
occurred, and to the alleged violator.
   (2) Neither the Attorney General, a district attorney, a city
attorney, nor a prosecutor has commenced and is diligently
prosecuting an action against the violation.
   (3) The court, in issuing any final order in any action brought
pursuant to this section, shall award costs of litigation, including
reasonable attorney and expert witness fees, to any prevailing or
substantially prevailing plaintiff.
   (e) Fifty percent of all civil penalties collected pursuant to
this section shall be paid to the office of the city attorney, city
prosecutor, district attorney, or Attorney General, whichever office
brought the action, or, in the case of an action brought by a person
under subdivision (d), to the person taking action in the public
interest.
   42365.  (a) The Plastic Pollution Fund is hereby established in
the State Treasury. The department may expend the funds in the
Plastic Pollution Fund, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to
implement and administer this chapter and for the purpose of reducing
plastic pollution.
   (b) In addition to any other money that may be deposited in the
Plastic Pollution Fund, all of the following amounts shall be
deposited in the fund:
   (1) Fifty percent of all civil penalties collected pursuant to
this chapter.
   (2) Any interest earned upon the money deposited into the Plastic
Pollution Fund.
   (c) The department may expend the funds in the Plastic Pollution
Fund by directly expending those funds, by transferring those funds
to other state agencies, or by providing grants to local governments
or other entities deemed eligible by the department, including, but
not limited to, nongovernmental organizations and conservation corps.

   42366.  This chapter does not alter or diminish any legal
obligation otherwise required in common law or by statute or
regulation, and this chapter does not create or enlarge any defense
in any action to enforce the legal obligation. Penalties and
sanctions imposed pursuant to this chapter shall be in addition to
any penalties or sanctions otherwise prescribed by law.