BILL NUMBER: AB 1103 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 11, 2016
AMENDED IN SENATE JULY 16, 2015
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 19, 2015
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Dodd
FEBRUARY 27, 2015
An act to amend Section 42649.8 of, and to add Sections
42649.88, 42649.89, 42649.9, 42649.91, and 42649.92 to,
Sections 41821.5 and 41953 of, to amend and renumber Section
41952 of, and to add Section 41952 to, the Public Resources
Code, relating to solid waste.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1103, as amended, Dodd. Solid waste: organic waste.
disposal.
The California Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989,
administered by the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery,
generally regulates the disposal, management, and recycling of solid
waste. Existing law requires exporters, brokers, and transporters of
recyclables or compost to submit periodic information to the
department on the types, quantities, and destinations of materials
that are disposed of, sold, or transferred.
This bill would additionally require a self-hauler, as defined, to
submit that information to the department.
Existing law prohibits a person, other than the authorized
recycling agent of the city or county, from removing specified
materials that have been segregated from solid waste materials and
placed at a designated recycling collection location for residential
curbside collection programs authorized by a city, county, or local
agency for the purposes of collection and recycling. Existing law
authorizes a court, in a civil action by a recycling agent against a
person alleged to have violated that or another specified law, to
either allow treble damages or award a civil penalty, as specified,
against the unauthorized person removing the recyclable material, and
to allow treble damages or award a civil penalty, as specified,
against a person for a second violation and subsequent violations.
This bill would prohibit a person, other than the solid waste
enterprise duly authorized by a city, county, or other local
governmental agency, subject to these same penalties and damages,
from collecting, removing, or transporting solid waste generated on
residential, commercial, or industrial premises located within the
city, county, or local governmental jurisdiction. The bill would
require a court, if a plaintiff prevails in a civil action brought
pursuant to these and related provisions, to award to the plaintiff
reasonable attorneys' fees, expert witness fees, and costs incurred
in the course of the litigation.
Existing law, on and after April 1, 2016, requires a business that
generates a certain amount of organic waste to arrange for recycling
services specifically for organic waste, and requires each city,
county, or regional agency approved by the Department of Resources
Recycling and Recovery to implement an organic waste recycling
program designed to divert organic waste generated by those
businesses, except as specified. Existing law defines the term
"organic waste" for purposes of those provisions to include food
waste.
This bill would require a person who transports a certain amount
of food waste to be registered by the department, except as
specified. The bill would require a registered transporter to
maintain a record of food waste transported that contains specified
documents and information, and to certify, under penalty of perjury,
to the accuracy of the record. By expanding the application of the
crime of perjury, the bill would impose a state-mandated local
program. The bill would authorize the department to impose fees on
registered transporters for vehicles used to transport food waste for
the department's reasonable regulatory costs in administering these
provisions regulating the diversion of food waste, as specified. The
bill would require food waste transporters and facilities to report
specified information to the department at least quarterly,
including, among other things, the quantity of food waste transported
or received, as applicable. The bill would subject a registered
transporter of food waste to a civil penalty, payable to the
department, for a violation of these provisions. The bill would
require a jurisdiction or other local governmental agency to inspect
vehicles that are used by transporters to transport food waste. By
imposing additional duties on local governmental agencies, the bill
would impose a state-mandated local program.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local
agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
This bill would provide that with regard to certain mandates no
reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that,
if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains
costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall
be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes no .
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 41821.5 of the
Public Resources Code is amended to read:
41821.5. (a) Disposal facility operators shall submit information
on the disposal tonnages by jurisdiction or region of origin that
are disposed of at each disposal facility to the department, and to
counties that request the information, in a form prescribed by the
department. To enable disposal facility operators to provide that
information, solid waste handlers and transfer station operators
shall provide information to disposal facility operators on the
origin of the solid waste that they deliver to the disposal facility.
(b) (1) Recycling and composting operations and facilities shall
submit periodic information to the department on the types and
quantities of materials that are disposed of, sold, or transferred to
other recycling or composting facilities, end users inside of the
state or outside of the state, or exporters, brokers, or transporters
for sale inside of the state or outside of the state.
(2) Exporters, brokers, brokers,
self-haulers, and transporters of recyclables or compost shall
submit periodic information to the department on the types,
quantities, and destinations of materials that are disposed of, sold,
or transferred. For purposes of this section, "self-hauler"
means a person or entity that generates and transports, utilizing its
own employees and equipment, more than one cubic yard per week of
its own recyclables, organics, or compostable material to a location
or facility that is not owned and operated by that person
or entity.
(3) The information in the reports submitted pursuant to this
subdivision may be provided to the department on an aggregated
facility-wide basis and may exclude financial data, such as contract
terms and conditions (including information on pricing, credit terms,
volume discounts and other proprietary business terms), the
jurisdiction of the origin of the materials, or information on the
entities from which the materials are received. The department may
provide this information to jurisdictions, aggregated by company,
upon request. The aggregated information, other than that aggregated
by company, is public information.
(c) The department shall adopt regulations pursuant to this
section requiring practices and procedures that are reasonable and
necessary to implement this section, and that provide a
representative accounting of solid wastes and recyclable materials
that are handled, processed, or disposed. Those regulations approved
by the department shall not impose an unreasonable burden on waste
and recycling handling, processing, or disposal operations or
otherwise interfere with the safe handling, processing, and disposal
of solid waste and recyclables. The department shall include in those
regulations both of the following:
(1) Procedures to ensure that an opportunity to comply is provided
prior to initiation of enforcement authorized by Section 41821.7.
(2) Factors to be considered in determining penalty amounts that
are similar to those provided in Section 45016.
(d) Any person who refuses or fails to submit information required
by regulations adopted pursuant to this section is liable for a
civil penalty of not less than five hundred dollars ($500) and not
more than five thousand dollars ($5,000) for each violation of a
separate provision or, for continuing violations, for each day that
the violation continues.
(e) Any person who knowingly or willfully files a false report, or
any person who refuses to permit the department or any of its
representatives to make inspection or examination of records, or who
fails to keep any records for the inspection of the department, or
who alters, cancels, or obliterates entries in the records for the
purpose of falsifying the records as required by regulations adopted
pursuant to this section, is liable for a civil penalty of not less
than five hundred dollars ($500) and not more than ten thousand
dollars ($10,000) for each violation of a separate provision or, for
continuing violations, for each day that the violation continues.
(f) Liability under this section may be imposed in a civil action,
or liability may be imposed administratively pursuant to this
article.
(g) (1) Notwithstanding Title 5 (commencing with Section 3426) of
Part 1 of Division 4 of the Civil Code and Article 11 (commencing
with Section 1060) of Chapter 4 of Division 8 of the Evidence Code,
all records that the facility or operator is reasonably required to
keep to allow the department to verify information in, or
verification of, the reports required pursuant to subdivisions (a)
and (b) and implementing regulations shall be subject to inspection
and copying by the department, but shall be confidential and shall
not be subject to disclosure under the California Public Records Act
(Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 6250) of Division 7 of Title 1
of the Government Code).
(2) Notwithstanding Title 5 (commencing with Section 3426) of Part
1 of Division 4 of the Civil Code and Article 11 (commencing with
Section 1060) of Chapter 4 of Division 8 of the Evidence Code, an
employee of a government entity may, at the disposal facility,
inspect and copy records related to tonnage received at the facility
on or after July 1, 2015, and originating within the government
entity's geographic jurisdiction. Those records shall be limited to
weight tags that identify the hauler, vehicle, quantity, date, type,
and origin of waste received at a disposal facility. Those records
shall be available to those government entities for the purposes of
subdivision (a) and as necessary to enforce the collection of local
fees, but those records shall be confidential and shall not be
subject to disclosure under the California Public Records Act
(Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 6250) of Division 7 of Title 1
of the Government Code). Names of haulers using specific landfills
shall not be disclosed by a government entity unless necessary as
part of an administrative or judicial enforcement proceeding to fund
local programs or enforce local franchises.
(3) A government entity may petition the superior court for
injunctive or declaratory relief to enforce its authority under
paragraph (2). The times for responsive pleadings and hearings in
these proceedings shall be set by the judge of the court with the
object of securing a decision as to these matters at the earliest
possible time.
(4) For purposes of this section, a government entity is an entity
identified in Section 40145 or an entity formed pursuant to Section
40976.
(5) For purposes of this subdivision, "disposal" and "disposal
facility" have the same meanings as prescribed by Sections 40120.1
and 40121, respectively.
(6) Nothing in this subdivision shall be construed to limit or
expand the authority of a government entity that may have been
provided by this section and implementing regulations as they read on
December 31, 2015.
(7) The records subject to inspection and copying by the
department pursuant to paragraph (1) or by an employee of a
government entity pursuant to paragraph (2) may be redacted by the
operator before inspection to exclude confidential pricing
information contained in the records, such as contract terms and
conditions (including information on pricing, credit terms, volume
discounts, and other proprietary business terms), if the redacted
information is not information that is otherwise required to be
reported to the department.
(h) Notwithstanding the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (Title
2.5 (commencing with Section 1633.1) of Part 2 of Division 3 of the
Civil Code), reports required by this section shall be submitted
electronically, using an electronic reporting format system
established by the department.
(i) All records provided in accordance with this section shall be
subject to Section 40062.
SEC. 2. Section 41952 of the Public
Resources Code is amended and renumbered to read:
41952. 41957. Nothing in this
chapter limits the right of any person to donate, sell, or otherwise
dispose of his or her recyclable materials.
SEC. 3. Section 41952 is added to the
Public Resources Code , to read:
41952. No person, other than the solid waste enterprise duly
authorized by a city, county, or other local governmental agency,
shall collect, remove, or transport solid waste generated on
residential, commercial, or industrial premises located within the
city, county, or local governmental jurisdiction.
SEC. 4. Section 41953 of the Public
Resources Code is amended to read:
41953. (a) In any civil action by a recycling agent against a
person alleged to have violated Section 41950 or 41951, or by an
authorized solid waste enterprise against a person alleged to have
violated Section 41952, the court may either allow treble
damages, as measured by the market value of the recyclable material
removed, or award a civil penalty of not more than two thousand
dollars ($2,000), whichever is greater, for each unauthorized
removal, against the unauthorized person removing the recyclable
material.
(b) In any civil action by a recycling agent against a person
alleged to have violated Section 41950 or 41951
41951, or by an authorized solid waste enterprise
against a person alleged to have violated Section 41952, for a
second, or subsequent time, subsequent, time
in any 12-month period, the court may either allow treble
damages, as measured by the market value of the recyclable material
removed, or award a civil penalty of not more than five thousand
dollars ($5,000), whichever is greater, for each unauthorized removal
against the unauthorized person removing the recyclable material.
(c) If a plaintiff prevails in a civil action brought pursuant to
this chapter, the court shall award to the plaintiff reasonable
attorneys' fees, expert witness fees, and costs incurred in the
course of the litigation.
SECTION 1. (a) The Legislature finds and
declares that a statewide system of accounting for the diversion of
food waste through the implementation and enforcement of statewide
standards for hauling, processing, and transferring of food waste is
critical to protect public health and safety, to reduce the disposal
of food waste in landfills, and to improve the environment through
the reduction of greenhouse gases. According to the State Air
Resources Board's May 2015 Short-Lived Climate Pollutant Reduction
Strategy concept paper, "The strategy will consider measures to meet
a goal of diverting 90 percent of organics from landfills through
source reduction and organics recycling by 2025."
(b) It is the intent of the Legislature that food waste material
be managed in a manner that is consistent statewide and that tracks
the movement of food waste through a regulated system to
significantly improve the state's ability to do both of the
following:
(1) Quantify progress toward greenhouse gas reduction goals
statewide.
(2) Report diversion levels for determining progress toward the
state's current 75 percent recycling goal.
SEC. 2. Section 42649.8 of the Public Resources
Code is amended to read:
42649.8. For purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall
apply:
(a) "Business" means a commercial or public entity, including, but
not limited to, a firm, partnership, proprietorship, joint stock
company, corporation, or association that is organized as a
for-profit or nonprofit entity, or a multifamily residential
dwelling, and including federal, state, county, and municipal
entities, special districts, schools, and colleges.
(b) "Commercial waste generator" means a business subject to
subdivision (a) of Section 42649.2.
(c) "Food waste" means discarded putrescible solid, semisolid, and
liquid food, including, but not limited to, fruit, vegetables,
cheese, meat, bones, poultry, seafood, bread, rice, pasta, oils, and
herbs, and any other putrescible matter produced from human food
production and preparation activities.
(d) "Individual self-hauler" means a self-hauler with only one
transporter vehicle that transports not more than one cubic yard of
food waste per week from not more than one location.
(e) "Organic waste" means food waste, green waste, landscape and
pruning waste, nonhazardous wood waste, and food-soiled paper waste
that is mixed in with food waste.
(f) "Organic waste generator" means a business subject to
subdivision (a) of Section 42649.81.
(g) "Rural jurisdiction" means a jurisdiction that is located
entirely within one or more rural counties, or a regional agency
comprised of jurisdictions that are located within one or more rural
counties.
(h) "Rural county" means a county that has a total population of
less than 70,000 persons.
(i) "Self-hauler" means a business that hauls more than one cubic
yard of its own food waste or hauls food waste from more than one
location, rather than contracting for that service, and "self-haul"
means to act as a self-hauler.
(j) "Transporter vehicle" means a vehicle that transports and
delivers food waste to an approved processing facility, and that is
operated by a business required to be registered pursuant to Section
42649.89.
SEC. 3. Section 42649.88 is added to the Public
Resources Code, to read:
42649.88. Any facility that is permitted or authorized by law to
receive food waste may participate in the diversion of food waste
pursuant to this chapter.
SEC. 4. Section 42649.89 is added to the Public
Resources Code, to read:
42649.89. (a) Except as expressly provided herein, it is unlawful
for any business to transport more than one cubic yard of food waste
per week or to transport food waste from more than one location
without being registered by the department as a transporter of food
waste. The following are exempt from the registration and related
requirements of this section:
(1) Licensed renderers lawfully operating pursuant to Chapter 5
(commencing with Section 19200) of Part 3 of Division 9 of the Food
and Agricultural Code.
(2) Transporters of agricultural byproducts destined for final
disposition on land in a manner that is specifically authorized by
the State Water Resources Control Board, or a Regional Water Quality
Control Board, provided such final disposition does not adversely
affect public health and safety or the environment.
(b) The department may impose fees on registered transporters of
food waste and individual self-haulers for transporter vehicles for
the reasonable regulatory costs to the department to administer the
provisions of this chapter regulating the diversion of food waste,
not to exceed the following:
(1) Except as specified in paragraph (2), three hundred dollars
($300) for each transporter vehicle.
(2) One hundred dollars ($100) for the transporter vehicle of an
individual self-hauler.
(c) A registered transporter shall procure and maintain insurance
coverage against claims for injuries to persons or damages to
property that may arise from, or in connection with, the performance
of the work of the transporter. A registered transporter shall
maintain commercial liability, commercial automobile liability,
workers' compensation, and pollution liability insurance policies, in
an amount and type as determined by the department, which amount
shall be no less than one million dollars ($1,000,000). A registered
transporter lawfully operating pursuant to a franchise, contract,
license, or permit issued by a local agency shall be deemed to have
satisfied the requirements of this subdivision.
(d) A transporter vehicle shall be inspected on a regular basis,
at a frequency and in accordance with standards developed by the
department, by the jurisdiction or other local governmental entity
permitting the transporter's operation. The inspection shall include,
but is not limited to, the vehicle's cleanliness, whether the
vehicle is watertight, whether the food waste is properly contained,
and whether the vehicle has been inspected pursuant to Section
34501.12 of the Vehicle Code. A transporter lawfully operating
pursuant to a franchise, contract, license, or permit issued by a
local agency shall be deemed to have satisfied the requirements of
this subdivision.
(e) A registered transporter shall comply with state or local laws
or requirements, including a local ordinance or agreement,
applicable to the collection, handling, or recycling of solid waste.
SEC. 5. Section 42649.9 is added to the Public
Resources Code, to read:
42649.9. (a) A registered transporter shall maintain a record of
transported food waste to document that food waste did not remain on
the premises of the generator for more than seven days, consistent
with, and subject to the exceptions provided in, Section 17331 of
Title 14 of the California Code of Regulations, and was handled in
accordance with the provisions of this chapter, as specified in
regulations to be adopted pursuant to subdivision (e).
(b) The record shall include a receipt indicating the acceptance
of the material at a permitted or approved facility, the quantity of
the material, and the jurisdiction of origin of the food waste. The
transporter shall certify, under penalty of perjury, that the record
is accurate.
(c) A registered transporter shall submit an electronic report to
the department, at least quarterly, containing all information
required to be reported pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section
42649.91.
(d) A registered transporter shall maintain all records required
pursuant to this section for a minimum of three years.
(e) The department may adopt regulations requiring practices and
procedures that are reasonable and necessary to provide an accounting
of food waste transported, handled, processed, or disposed. The
regulations shall not impose an unreasonable burden on the
transporting, safe handling, processing, and disposal of food waste.
SEC. 6. Section 42649.91 is added to the Public
Resources Code, to read:
42649.91. (a) The department shall compile a list of permitted
and approved facilities authorized to accept food waste and shall
also notify facilities and registered transporters of the
requirements relating to transportation of food waste by posting the
information on the department's Internet Web site.
(b) The department shall require a registered transporter or
facility that transports or receives food waste, as applicable, to
report information to the department at least quarterly concerning
the transportation and receipt of food waste, including all of the
following:
(1) The name of the transporter or facility.
(2) The jurisdiction of origin of the food waste.
(3) The quantity of the food waste transported or received in
weight or volume.
(4) The date and time the food waste was transported or received.
(5) The license plate number of the vehicle used for
transportation.
(6) Any other information required by the department.
SEC. 7. Section 42649.92 is added to the Public
Resources Code, to read:
42649.92. Any person who refuses or fails to submit information
required by regulations adopted pursuant to Sections 42649.88 to
42649.91, inclusive, is liable to the department for a civil penalty
of not less than five hundred dollars ($500) and not more than five
thousand dollars ($5,000) for each violation of a separate provision
or, for continuing violations, for each day that the violation
continues.
SEC. 8. No reimbursement is required by this
act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
Constitution for certain costs that may be incurred by a local agency
or school district because, in that regard, this act creates a new
crime or infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the
penalty for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section
17556 of the Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime
within the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
Constitution.
However, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that this
act contains other costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to
local agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made
pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division 4 of
Title 2 of the Government Code.