BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1159
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Date of Hearing: May 20, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Jimmy Gomez, Chair
AB
1159 (Gordon) - As Amended April 21, 2015
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|Policy |Natural Resources |Vote:|9 - 0 |
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| |Environmental Safety and Toxic | |6 - 0 |
| |Materials | | |
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Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: NoReimbursable: No
SUMMARY:
This bill establishes a product stewardship program for
home-generated medical sharps and household batteries until
January 1, 2024, and requires CalRecycle to adopt regulations by
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January 1, 2017, as specified. Specifically, this bill:
1) Requires CalRecycle, by March 1, 2017, to appoint a
stakeholder advisory committee for each to provide
technical feedback, and requires the stakeholder advisory
committee to report to CalRecycle as specified.
2) Requires a product stewardship organization to submit a
product stewardship plan to CalRecycle by July 1, 2017.
Provides time limits and specified requirements of
CalRecycles' review and approval process. Provides any
product stewardship plan not approved by January 1, 2018 is
not in compliance.
3) Requires a product stewardship organization submitting a
product stewardship plan to pay CalRecycle an annual
administrative fee, which shall be set at an appropriate
amount to cover CalRecycle's administrative costs.
Creates the Product Stewardship Account and Product
Stewardship Penalty Subaccount.
4) Allows CalRecycle or a court to assess a civil penalty
on any person in violation of the provisions of this bill.
5) Requires each product stewardship organization to
annually report to CalRecycle on the activities carried out
pursuant to the product stewardship plan. Requires
CalRecycle, by July 1, 2023, to report to the Legislature
with evaluations of the product stewardship organizations,
financial information and overall cost savings.
6) Sunsets the provisions of this bill on January 1, 2024.
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FISCAL EFFECT:
Ongoing CalRecycle staffing costs of $385,000 and one-time costs
of $8,000 (Product Stewardship Account/ Waste Management
Account).
COMMENTS:
1)Rationale. According to the author, this bill establishes the
Product Stewardship Pilot Program, to require producers and
product stewardship organizations of home-generated sharps
waste or household batteries to develop and implement a
product stewardship plan.
The author further states, both of these products are widely
used, lack convenient disposal and recycling opportunities for
consumers, and have significant and indisputable end-of-life
impacts.
This bill sets performance goals for the disposal and
recycling of both products.
2)Background. In California, household batteries are classified
as universal waste, which include materials that DTSC has
determined are hazardous waste that are ubiquitous and contain
mercury, lead, cadmium, copper, or other substances hazardous
to human and environmental health. Since 2006, universal waste
has been prohibited from disposal in solid waste landfills.
Currently, local household hazardous waste collection programs
are the primary outlet for proper management of universal
waste and other hazardous wastes generated by households,
including batteries. Cost estimates to manage waste batteries
average around $800 per ton (with some costing up to $2,700
per ton), amounting to tens of millions of dollars each year.
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An estimated one million Californians inject medications
outside traditional health care facilities, which generate
approximately 389 million sharps each year. The numbers of
patients using injectable medications will continue to grow
because it is an effective delivery method. The most common
home use of sharps is to manage diabetes. Other reasons to
home-inject include multiple sclerosis, infertility,
migraines, allergies, hemophilia, and medications for pets.
California was one of the first states to address the problems
of sharps with the passage of SB 1305 (Figueroa), Chapter 64,
Statutes of 2006 to prohibit the disposal of medical sharps in
California's landfills. Although illegal, most used needles
still end up in household trash and pose a significant risk of
injury and/or infection to custodial workers and solid waste
employees.
3)Product Stewardship/Expanded Producer Responsibility (EPR).
Product stewardship refers to a policy model that includes
manufacturers in the end-of-life management for products that
they produce.
According to the California Product Stewardship Council, EPR
is a strategy to place a shared responsibility for end-of-life
product management on all entities involved in the product
chain. Successful EPR programs result in products that are
better designed for reuse and recycling, make recycling more
convenient for consumers, reduce illegal disposal of hazardous
materials, and encourage the use of recycled materials in new
products.
In 2007, CalRecycle adopted strategic directives to guide
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solid waste management in California. Strategic Directive 5:
Producer Responsibility states that "it is a core value of
[CalRecycle] that producers assume the responsibility for the
safe stewardship of their materials in order to promote
environmental sustainability."
4)Previous Legislation. Similar legislation, AB 2284
(Williams), would have required producers of non-rechargable
household batteries to develop and implement a plan to collect
and manage batteries sold in the state. This bill was
significantly amended in this committee to create three
battery recycling pilot projects and moved to the Senate but
was never heard in the Senate Environmental Quality Committee.
AB 403 (Stone, 2013) would have required businesses that sell
medical sharps to establish a product stewardship plan for the
end of life management of home-generated medical sharps. At
the request of the author, his bill remained in this Committee
without a hearing.
5)Related Legislation. AB 45 (Mullin), also on today's agenda,
requires jurisdictions that provide for residential collection
and disposal of solid waste to increase the collection and
diversion of household hazardous waste.
Analysis Prepared by:Jennifer Galehouse / APPR. / (916)
319-2081
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