Amended in Senate June 1, 2016

Amended in Senate May 11, 2016

Amended in Senate July 16, 2015

Amended in Assembly May 19, 2015

California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly BillNo. 1103


Introduced by Assembly Member Dodd

February 27, 2015


An act to amend 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: 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, asbegin delete defined,end deletebegin insert specified,end insert to submit that information to the department.

Existing law prohibits a person, other thanbegin delete theend deletebegin insert anend insert authorized recyclingbegin delete agent of the city or county,end deletebegin insert agent,end insert 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 andbegin delete recycling.end deletebegin insert recycling or at a designated recycling collection location by any commercial or industrial entity.end insert Existing law authorizes a court, in a civil action by a recycling agent against a person alleged to have violatedbegin delete that or another specified law,end deletebegin insert these laws,end insert 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 abegin insert higherend insert civil penalty, as specified, against a person for a second violation and subsequent violations.

This bill would prohibit a person,begin delete other than the solid waste enterprise duly authorized by a city, county, or other local governmental agency,end delete subject to these same penalties and damages, from collecting, removing, or transporting solid waste generatedbegin insert by another personend insert on residential, commercial, or industrial premises located withinbegin delete theend deletebegin insert aend insert city, county, or local governmentalbegin delete jurisdiction.end deletebegin insert jurisdiction, except in compliance with applicable law, as defined. The bill would apply those same penalties and damages in any civil action against a person alleged to have violated, or to have knowingly participated in the violation of, the segregated recycling laws specified above.end insert 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.

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

P2    1

SECTION 1.  

Section 41821.5 of the Public Resources Code
2 is amended to read:

3

41821.5.  

(a) Disposal facility operators shall submit
4information on the disposal tonnages by jurisdiction or region of
5origin that are disposed of at each disposal facility to the
6department, and to counties that request the information, in a form
7prescribed by the department. To enable disposal facility operators
8to provide that information, solid waste handlers and transfer
9station operators shall provide information to disposal facility
10operators on the origin of the solid waste that they deliver to the
11disposal facility.

P3    1(b) (1) Recycling and composting operations and facilities shall
2submit periodic information to the department on the types and
3quantities of materials that are disposed of, sold, or transferred to
4other recycling or composting facilities, end users inside of the
5state or outside of the state, or exporters, brokers, or transporters
6for sale inside of the state or outside of the state.

7(2) Exporters, brokers, self-haulers, and transporters of
8recyclables or compost shall submit periodic information to the
9department on the types, quantities, and destinations of materials
10that are disposed of, sold, or transferred.begin delete For purposes of this
11section,end delete
begin insert The department shall develop regulations implementing
12this section that defineend insert
“self-hauler”begin delete meansend deletebegin insert to include, at a
13minimum,end insert
a person or entity that generates and transports, utilizing
14its own employees and equipment, more than one cubic yard per
15week of its ownbegin delete recyclables, organics, or compostable materialend delete
16begin insert food wasteend insert to a location or facility that is not owned and operated
17by that person or entity.

18(3) The information in the reports submitted pursuant to this
19subdivision may be provided to the department on an aggregated
20facility-wide basis and may exclude financial data, such as contract
21terms and conditions (including information on pricing, credit
22terms, volume discounts and other proprietary business terms), the
23jurisdiction of the origin of the materials, or information on the
24entities from which the materials are received. The department
25may provide this information to jurisdictions, aggregated by
26company, upon request. The aggregated information, other than
27that aggregated by company, is public information.

28(c) The department shall adopt regulations pursuant to this
29section requiring practices and procedures that are reasonable and
30necessary to implement this section, and that provide a
31 representative accounting of solid wastes and recyclable materials
32that are handled, processed, or disposed. Those regulations
33approved by the department shall not impose an unreasonable
34burden on waste and recycling handling, processing, or disposal
35operations or otherwise interfere with the safe handling, processing,
36and disposal of solid waste and recyclables. The department shall
37include in those regulations both of the following:

38(1) Procedures to ensure that an opportunity to comply is
39provided prior to initiation of enforcement authorized by Section
4041821.7.

P4    1(2) Factors to be considered in determining penalty amounts
2that are similar to those provided in Section 45016.

3(d) Any person who refuses or fails to submit information
4required by regulations adopted pursuant to this section is liable
5for a civil penalty of not less than five hundred dollars ($500) and
6not more than five thousand dollars ($5,000) for each violation of
7a separate provision or, for continuing violations, for each day that
8the violation continues.

9(e) Any person who knowingly or willfully files a false report,
10or any person who refuses to permit the department or any of its
11representatives to make inspection or examination of records, or
12who fails to keep any records for the inspection of the department,
13or who alters, cancels, or obliterates entries in the records for the
14purpose of falsifying the records as required by regulations adopted
15pursuant to this section, is liable for a civil penalty of not less than
16five hundred dollars ($500) and not more than ten thousand dollars
17($10,000) for each violation of a separate provision or, for
18continuing violations, for each day that the violation continues.

19(f) Liability under this section may be imposed in a civil action,
20or liability may be imposed administratively pursuant to this article.

21(g) (1) Notwithstanding Title 5 (commencing with Section
223426) of Part 1 of Division 4 of the Civil Code and Article 11
23(commencing with Section 1060) of Chapter 4 of Division 8 of
24the Evidence Code, all records that the facility or operator is
25reasonably required to keep to allow the department to verify
26information in, or verification of, the reports required pursuant to
27subdivisions (a) and (b) and implementing regulations shall be
28subject to inspection and copying by the department, but shall be
29confidential and shall not be subject to disclosure under the
30California Public Records Act (Chapter 3.5 (commencing with
31Section 6250) of Division 7 of Title 1 of the Government Code).

32(2) Notwithstanding Title 5 (commencing with Section 3426)
33of Part 1 of Division 4 of the Civil Code and Article 11
34(commencing with Section 1060) of Chapter 4 of Division 8 of
35the Evidence Code, an employee of a government entity may, at
36the disposal facility, inspect and copy records related to tonnage
37received at the facility on or after July 1, 2015, and originating
38within the government entity’s geographic jurisdiction. Those
39records shall be limited to weight tags that identify the hauler,
40vehicle, quantity, date, type, and origin of waste received at a
P5    1disposal facility. Those records shall be available to those
2government entities for the purposes of subdivision (a) and as
3necessary to enforce the collection of local fees, but those records
4shall be confidential and shall not be subject to disclosure under
5the California Public Records Act (Chapter 3.5 (commencing with
6Section 6250) of Division 7 of Title 1 of the Government Code).
7Names of haulers using specific landfills shall not be disclosed by
8a government entity unless necessary as part of an administrative
9or judicial enforcement proceeding to fund local programs or
10enforce local franchises.

11(3) A government entity may petition the superior court for
12injunctive or declaratory relief to enforce its authority under
13paragraph (2). The times for responsive pleadings and hearings in
14these proceedings shall be set by the judge of the court with the
15object of securing a decision as to these matters at the earliest
16possible time.

17(4) For purposes of this section, a government entity is an entity
18identified in Section 40145 or an entity formed pursuant to Section
1940976.

20(5) For purposes of this subdivision, “disposal” and “disposal
21facility” have the same meanings as prescribed by Sections 40120.1
22and 40121, respectively.

23(6) Nothing in this subdivision shall be construed to limit or
24expand the authority of a government entity that may have been
25provided by this section and implementing regulations as they read
26on December 31, 2015.

27(7) The records subject to inspection and copying by the
28department pursuant to paragraph (1) or by an employee of a
29government entity pursuant to paragraph (2) may be redacted by
30the operator before inspection to exclude confidential pricing
31information contained in the records, such as contract terms and
32conditions (including information on pricing, credit terms, volume
33discounts, and other proprietary business terms), if the redacted
34information is not information that is otherwise required to be
35reported to the department.

36(h) Notwithstanding the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act
37(Title 2.5 (commencing with Section 1633.1) of Part 2 of Division
383 of the Civil Code), reports required by this section shall be
39submitted electronically, using an electronic reporting format
40system established by the department.

P6    1(i) All records provided in accordance with this section shall be
2subject to Section 40062.

3

SEC. 2.  

Section 41952 of the Public Resources Code is
4amended and renumbered to read:

5

41957.  

Nothing in this chapter limits the right of any person
6to donate, sell, or otherwise dispose of his or her recyclable
7materials.

8

SEC. 3.  

Section 41952 is added to the Public Resources Code,
9to read:

10

41952.  

Nobegin delete person, other than the solid waste enterprise duly
11authorized by a city, county, or other local governmental agency,end delete

12begin insert personend insert shall collect, remove, or transport solid waste generatedbegin insert by
13another personend insert
on residential, commercial, or industrial premises
14located withinbegin delete theend deletebegin insert aend insert city, county, or local governmentalbegin delete jurisdiction.end delete
15
begin insert jurisdiction, except in compliance with applicable law. For
16purposes of this section, “applicable law” includes, but is not
17limited to, a municipal ordinance regulating the handling of solid
18waste.end insert

19

SEC. 4.  

Section 41953 of the Public Resources Code is
20amended to read:

21

41953.  

(a) In any civil action by abegin insert person, including, but not
22limited to, a local governmental agency or itsend insert
recyclingbegin delete agentend delete
23begin insert agent,end insert against a person alleged to have violated Section 41950 or
2441951, or bybegin delete an authorizedend deletebegin insert a person, including, but not limited to,
25a local governmental agency or aend insert
solid waste enterprisebegin insert authorized
26by the local governmental agency to handle solid waste,end insert
against
27a person alleged to havebegin delete violatedend deletebegin insert violated, or to have knowingly
28participated in the violation of,end insert
Section 41952, the court may either
29allow treble damages, as measured by the market value of the
30recyclable material removed, or award a civil penalty of not more
31than two thousand dollars ($2,000), whichever is greater, for each
32unauthorized removal, against the unauthorized person removing
33the recyclablebegin delete material.end deletebegin insert material or solid waste.end insert

34(b) In any civil action by abegin insert person, including, but not limited
35to, a local governmental agency or itsend insert
recyclingbegin delete agentend deletebegin insert agent,end insert
36 against a person alleged to have violated Section 41950 or 41951,
37or bybegin delete an authorizedend deletebegin insert a person, including, but not limited to, a local
38governmental agency or aend insert
solid waste enterprisebegin insert authorized by the
39local governmental agency to handle solid waste,end insert
against a person
40alleged to havebegin delete violatedend deletebegin insert violated, or to have knowingly participated
P7    1in the violation of,end insert
Section 41952, for a second, or subsequent,
2time in any 12-month period, the court may either allow treble
3damages, as measured by the market value of the recyclable
4material removed, or award a civil penalty of not more than five
5thousand dollars ($5,000), whichever is greater, for each
6unauthorized removal against the unauthorized person removing
7the recyclablebegin delete material.end deletebegin insert material or solid waste.end insert

8(c) If a plaintiff prevails in a civil action brought pursuant to
9this chapter, the court shall award to the plaintiff reasonable
10attorneys’ fees, expert witness fees, and costs incurred in the course
11of the litigation.



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