BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1136
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Date of Hearing: May 5, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON AGING AND LONG-TERM CARE
Cheryl Brown, Chair
AB 1136
(Steinorth) - As Introduced February 27, 2015
SUBJECT: Reusable grocery bag and recycled paper bag: fee:
exemptions.
SUMMARY: Exempts seniors and post-secondary students from fees
required for reusable bags. Specifically, this bill: expands
eligibility for receipt of a no-cost reusable grocery bag or a
recycled paper bag at the point of sale to:
1)A customer who is 65 years of age or older; and,
2)A customer who can demonstrate proof of current attendance at
a California college or university.
EXISTING LAW (Suspended pursuant to submission of a referendum
petition, though becomes effective if the referendum measure is
approved at the November 8, 2016 election.):
1)Establishes Chapter 5.3 of the Public Resources Code
regulating single-use carryout bags which defines:
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a. "Recycled paper bag" as a paper carryout bag provided by
a store to a customer at the point of sale and contains a
minimum of 40% postconsumer recycled materials. For a bag
with the capacity to hold eight pounds or less, the bag
must contain at least 20% postconsumer recycled materials.
A recycled paper bag must be accepted for recycling in a
majority of households in curbside recycling programs in
the state, as well as have specified information printed on
the bag.
b. "Reusable grocery bag" as bag with a handle that is
designed for at least 125 uses, has a volume capacity of at
least 15 liters, is machine washable or made from a
material that can be cleaned and disinfected, is labeled
with the name of the manufacturer, country of origin, and
states that it is reusable.
c. "Single-use carryout bag" as a bag made of plastic,
paper, or other material that is provided by a store to a
customer at the point of sale. Exempts from this
definition: a bag provided by a pharmacy for a prescription
purchase; a non-handled bag used to protect an item from
damaging or contaminating other items when placed in a
recycled paper bag or reusable grocery bag; and,
dry-cleaning or garment bags.
d. "Store" as a retail establishment that is:
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i. a full-line, self-service retail establishment with
gross annual sales of at least $2,000,000 that sells a
line of dry groceries, canned goods, or nonfood items,
and some perishable items; or,
ii. has at least 10,000 square feet of retail space
that generates sales or use tax pursuant to the
Bradley-Burns Uniform Local Sales and Use Tax Law and has
a pharmacy; or,
iii. is a convenience food store, food-mart, or other
entity that is engaged in the retail sale of a limited
line of goods, generally including milk, bread, soda, and
snack foods, and that holds a Type 20 or Type 21 license
issued by the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control;
or,
iv. is a convenience food store, food-mart, or other
entity that is engaged in the retail sale of goods
intended to be consumed off the premises, and that holds
a Type 20 or
Type 21 license issued by the Department of Alcoholic
Beverage Control.
2)Prohibits stores from making single-use carryout bags
available at the point of sale on and after January 1, 2015 at
stores defined in Section d. i and ii above, or on and after
July 1, 2016 for stores described in Section d. iii and iv
above.
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3)Authorizes a store to make a reusable or recycled paper bag
available at the point of sale for no less than ten cents.
4)Allows compostable bags to be distributed for no less than ten
cents in jurisdictions which have authorized their use, and
provide curbside collection of food-waste for composting.
5)Requires a store to provide a reusable bag or recycled paper
bag at no charge to any customer using California Special
Supplemental Food Program for Women, Infants and Children
(WIC) benefit program, CalFresh benefits, California Food
Assistance Program benefits, or cash aid benefits.
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown.
COMMENTS:
Author's Statement: "Senior citizens and college students are
two of the most financially-vulnerable populations in
California. According to United States Census Bureau
statistics, those over the age of 65 and college students living
off-campus face poverty rates as high as 20% and 47%,
respectively. They are especially affected by regressive taxes
and fees, whose costs hurt low income earners most. Last year's
plastic bag ban recognized the need to protect low income groups
from the mandatory paper bag fee, and exempted customers using
WIC vouchers or Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards from the
paper bag fee.
"AB 1136 will help protect students and seniors by expanding the
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fee exemption to include seniors and postsecondary students.
According to Census Bureau statistics, those over the age of 65
and college students living off-campus face high rates of
poverty. The poverty status of many seniors is compounded by
the fact that many live off of a fixed-income, supported heavily
by Social Security.
"For students, the costs of tuition, housing, and impending
student debt further complicate their economic situation. While
the Legislature is contemplating ways to make higher education
more affordable, especially for lower-middle class students, an
exemption from this fee is movement in the right direction.
"Including seniors and students will relieve them of the
regressive cost they would face when electing to use the
environmentally conscious option of a paper bag."
Current status of the plastic bag ban in California:
Implementation of the plastic bag ban is currently "on hold."
SB 270 was signed by Governor Brown on September 30, 2014.
Immediately afterward, opponents of the law launched an effort
to overturn the measure. Corporations from South Carolina,
Texas and New Jersey contributed to an effort to collect
signatures to place the matter on the November, 2016 General
Election Ballot. In order to qualify for the ballot, the ban on
single-use plastic bags referendum needed 504,760 valid petition
signatures, equal to five% of the total votes cast for governor
in the November 2010 gubernatorial election. A referendum can
qualify via random sampling of petition signatures if the
sampling projects a number of valid signatures greater than 110
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percent of the required number. The plastic bag ban referendum
needed at least 555,236 projected valid signatures to qualify by
random sampling, and it exceeded that threshold in an
announcement from the Secretary of State on February 24th this
year. Therefore, at this time, the provisions of law addressed
by AB 1136 have been suspended, and will not go into effect
unless the referendum in November of 2016 passes. AB 1136
amends codes currently suspended at least through November 8th
of 2016.
Discussion: AB 1136 proposes to include seniors and college
students in the exemptions to mandatory point-of-sale fees for
grocery bags distributed at grocery, and other stores. Last
year, SB 270 (Padilla, Chapter 850, Statutes of 2014) was passed
to curb the state's reliance upon single-use plastic bags which
have become a ubiquitous reminder of our collective grocery
shopping and other consumerism as an estimated 14 billion bags a
year - only 5% of which are recycled, become litter, or jam
machinery at recycling centers, costing California more than $25
million annually.
SB 270 prohibits stores from making single-use carryout bags
available at the point of sale, authorizes a store to make a
reusable grocery bag or recycled paper bag available at the
point of sale, but requires that these bags may not be sold to a
consumer for less than $0.10.
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SB 270 provided an exemption for people using California Special
Supplemental Food Program for Women, Infants and Children
benefits, CalFresh benefits (federally known as Supplemental
Nutrition Assistance Program [SNAP] benefits), California Food
Assistance Program benefits, or cash aid benefits. There were
no exemptions drafted into the initiative for people on limited,
or fixed incomes beyond those expressed above.
Seniors and poverty: Depending upon the way poverty is
measured, California has one of, if not the highest poverty rate
amongst people over the age of 65 in the nation. Nearly one in
10 Californians over age 65 now lives in poverty. One in 20 has
poor diet quality due, in part, to limited funds to buy food.
Over 20 percent of low-income Californians over the age of 65
could not afford to put food on the table or had to forego other
basic needs in order to eat during 2009.
It is well documented that the effects of the nation's recent
economic difficulties have been devastating for seniors who tend
only to be capable of deploying limited coping strategies during
periods of economic downturns. The rapid expansion of this
population and the corresponding increase in vulnerabilities
within it, demands ongoing scrutiny as statewide policies
evolve, as public policies can both alleviate and exacerbate
poverty.
Poverty rates are especially high among racial and ethnic
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minorities. About 20%t of black and Hispanic older adults were
poor, compared to 7.6% of whites. Older adults with lower
levels of education are also more likely than those with more
education to live in poor families; 19.3% of elderly individuals
who did not complete high school lived in poverty in 2008,
compared to just 4.4% of four-year college graduates.
According to information provided by the author, college
students also endure some of the highest rates of poverty with
estimates placing at least 47% of California college students
living below the official poverty line. Recent data estimates
that about 2.4 million people are currently enrolled in one of
California's three statewide higher educational systems;
California Community Colleges, California State Universities, or
the University of California.
Coping Strategies: A person's choice of coping strategies with
regard to poverty strongly depends on age. Younger people are
more likely to choose an active strategy, such as finding a
supplementary job - one that hopefully doesn't interfere with
studies. Older people who are less likely to obtain employment,
are more likely to experience social isolation. Economizing or
reducing fixed, repetitive costs such as utilities provides some
relief. Using smaller refrigerators, limiting cooling/heating,
limiting transportation, and recycling are part of
well-documented comprehensive strategies. However, those
strategies may unwittingly expose modest consumers to other
emerging expenses. Take for instance, a smaller refrigerator
popular with older people and students. Less storage requires
more frequent shopping. More frequent shopping coupled with
limited public transportation rides could easily conspire to
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create an increased exposure to the ten cent fee demanded by the
plastic bag ban. As Californians adapt to the plastic bag ban,
many will become accustomed to carrying our own reusable bags.
Some will choose to simply pay the fee at the point of sale.
For those impoverished or living on limited fixed incomes, these
additional fees can become an annoying foil to the coping
strategies currently used by California's vast populations of
older, or enrolled, higher-education seeking people.
Previous Legislation
SB 405 (Padilla) from the 2013-14 Legislative Session was
substantially similar to SB 270. Generally, SB 405 prohibited
grocery stores from providing single-use plastic bags to
consumers and required stores to make reusable bags available
for purchase by customers. SB 405 died on the Senate Floor.
SB 700 (Wolk) from the 2013-14 Legislative Session would have
required retail establishments, as defined, to collect a fee of
5 cents for every single-use carryout bag provided to a
customer. The bill required that the fees be available for
grants to cities and counties for local parks and local programs
that reduce and cleanup litter. This bill was held in the
Senate Appropriations Committee.
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AB 158 (Levine) also from the 2013-14 Legislative Session, in
general, prohibited grocery stores from providing single-use
plastic bags to customers and required stores to make reusable
bags available for purchase by customers. AB 158 did not
contain a minimum fee for reusable bags. This bill was moved to
the Assembly inactive file by the author.
SB 1219 (Wolk), Chapter 384, Statutes of 2012, extended the
sunset of the At-Store Recycling Program requirements from
January 1, 2013 to January 1, 2020 and repealed the provisions
preempting local regulatory action related to the at-store
recycling program requirements.
Conflict: The committee has received notification from the
Legislative Counsel of California that AB 1136 conflicts with AB
190 and AB 191 by Assemblymember Harper. Conflicts are
typically addressed before reporting a bill out of the second
house, and the author is advised to work with Assemblymember
Harper to avoid chaptering conflicts.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
AB 1136
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Support
None on file.
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by:Robert MacLaughlin / AGING & L.T.C. / (916)
319-3990