Amended in Assembly April 5, 2016

Amended in Assembly March 17, 2016

California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 2039

Introduced by Assembly Member Ting

February 16, 2016

An act to amend Section 118286 of the Health and Safety Code, and to repeal and add Article 3.3 (commencing with Section 47115) of Chapter 1 of Part 7 of Division 30 of the Public Resources Code, relating to solid waste.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 2039, as amended, Ting. Solid waste: home-generated sharps.

(1) The stated purpose of the California Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989, administered by the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, is to reduce, recycle, and reuse solid waste generated in the state to the maximum extent feasible in an efficient and cost-effective manner to conserve water, energy, and other natural resources. That act requires a pharmaceutical manufacturer selling or distributing medication that is intended to be self-injected at home to submit, on an annual basis, to the department a plan supporting the safe collection and proper disposal of specified waste devices, known as home-generated sharps.

This bill would require a producer of home-generated sharps or a stewardship organization designated by the producer to submit a home-generated sharps stewardship plan by July 1, 2018, to the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery. The bill would require the plan to provide for the development and implementation of a recovery program to reduce the generation of, and manage the end of life of, home-generated sharps, and to include specified elements, including provisions to meet specified minimum collection rates for the home-generated sharps subject to the plan.

This bill would provide for the review and approval of the plan by the department. The bill would require the department upon the date a plan is approved, to post on its Internet Web site a list of producers covered by the approved plan.

This bill would require a producer or stewardship organization, by April 1, 2020, and every year thereafter, to prepare and submit to the department an annual report describing the activities carried out pursuant to its plan during the previous calendar year. The department would be required to review begin insert and either approve or disapprove end insert the report and, if the annual report does not demonstrate the achievement of the required collection rate increase, would authorize the department to impose a civil penalty on the producer or stewardship organization or to require the program to take additional actions with regard to improving and increasing the number of home-generated sharps collection points, ensuring accessibility to those points, and providing additional education and outreach activities.

This bill would require a producer or stewardship organization submitting a plan to the department to pay the department an annual administrative fee in an amount that is sufficient to cover the department’s full costs of administering and enforcing these provisions. The bill would require the department to deposit the fees in the Safe Sharps Disposal Account, which the bill would establish in the Integrated Waste Management Fund, for the department’s expenditure upon appropriation by the Legislature, to administer and enforce the bill’s requirements.

This bill would authorize the department to impose an administrative civil penalty on a person who violates the bill’s requirements. The department would be required to deposit all penalties collected into the Safe Sharps Disposal Penalty Account, which the bill would create in the Integrated Waste Management Fund, available upon appropriation by the Legislature, to enforce the bill’s requirements.

The bill would require the department, by February 1, 2018, to appoint a stakeholder advisory committee to provide specific recommendations and strategic guidance to producers and stewardship organizations. The bill would also require the stakeholder advisory committee to annually report to the department on the progress of the producers’ and stewardship organizations’ implementation of the bill’s provisions.

(2) The Medical Waste Management Act, administered by the State Department of Public Health, prohibits a person from knowingly placing home-generated sharps waste in certain types of containers, requires that home-generated sharps waste be transported only in a sharps container, as defined in that act, or another container approved by the department or local enforcement agency, and requires that this waste be managed only at specified locations.

This bill would additionally allow home-generated sharps waste to be managed at a facility or collection point operated pursuant to an approved home-generated sharps stewardship plan.

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.  

(a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:

(1) The United States Environmental Protection Agency

begin delete estimates that about 9 million people in the United States currently
use disposable needles (sharps) at home to deliver medications to
treat a variety of diseases and conditions, including diabetes,
cancer, multiple sclerosis, migraines, and allergies. United States
households use more than 3 billion disposable needles and syringes
each year. end delete begin insert (EPA) has determined that improper management of
discarded sharps can pose a health risk to the public, waste
workers, janitors, and others. Specifically, the EPA cites a risk of
transmission of diseases such as HIV, hepatitis, tetanus, and
syphilis. In an October 2004 report entitled Community Options
for Safe Needle Disposal, the EPA states that approximately 3
billion sharps are used in the home and that sharps users do not
always understand the safest disposal methods. Additionally, a
review of several studies, including one by the Department of
Resources Recycling and Recovery, indicates that approximately
43 percent of all self-injectors throw sharps in the trash. end insert

(2) Since 2008, it has been illegal in California for individuals
to throw away home-generated sharps. While the state banned
needles from trash disposal in 2008, there is still no consistent,
statewide program that is sustainably funded or has high levels of
effectiveness in California. As a result, thousands of pounds of
illegally disposed sharps enter the municipal waste stream each
year, putting many people at risk of injury or infection.

(3) Sharps in the trash pose serious health risks to law
enforcement, firefighters, parks and recreation workers, hotel
housekeepers, sanitation workers, water treatment facility operators,
and the general public. In addition to the immediate risk of a needle
stick injury, sharps put individuals at risk of acquiring blood-borne
infectious diseases, such as hepatitis or HIV. Individuals who
suffer a needle stick injury must receive immediate treatment and
followup care, including multiple lab tests and medications.

(4) When sanitation workers encounter sharps, productivity
suffers and costs increase. When workers sustain a needle stick
injury, the costs of care are borne by the waste management
company, the workers’ compensation insurer, and ultimately,
taxpayers and ratepayers.

(5) The California Legislature has adopted a 50 percent diversion
requirement for each local jurisdiction, and a policy goal of the
state that 75 percent of solid waste be source reduced, recycled,
or composted. Sanitation workers are increasingly hand-sorting
solid waste in an effort to meet the diversion requirements. Despite
repeated efforts to engineer protective gloves to prevent needle
sticks, the absence of a consistent sharps disposal policy in this
state is increasing the workplace danger for sanitation workers.

(6) In 2011, Assembly Bill 341 was enacted, declaring the 75
percent statewide policy goal and requiring the Department of
Resources Recycling and Recovery to submit a report to the
Legislature with regulatory and legislative recommendations for
achieving the goal. The report, which was issued in August 2015,
contains five priority strategies. One of the priority strategies
identified by the report is “extended producer responsibility,” also
known as “product stewardship.” Additionally, the report identifies
hazardous materials, which include sharps, as a problem waste
stream and recommends managing this problem product through
extended producer responsibility.

(b) It is the intent of the Legislature, in enacting the Safe
Home-Generated Sharps Recovery Program, as established by
Article 3.3 (commencing with Section 47115) of Chapter 1 of Part
7 of Division 30 of the Public Resources Code, to ensure affordable
and convenient sharps collection opportunities, which, in turn, will
help prevent the improper management of those sharps.

SEC. 2.  

Section 118286 of the Health and Safety Code is
amended to read:

118286.  

(a) A person shall not knowingly place
home-generated sharps waste in any of the following containers:

(1) Any container used for the collection of solid waste,
recyclable materials, or greenwaste.

(2) Any container used for the commercial collection of solid
waste or recyclable materials from business establishments.

(3) Any roll-off container used for the collection of solid waste,
construction, and demolition debris, greenwaste, or other recyclable
materials.

(b) Home-generated sharps waste shall be transported only in
a sharps container, or other containers approved by the enforcement
agency, and shall only be managed at any of the following:

(1) A household hazardous waste collection facility pursuant
to Section 25218.13.

(2) A “home-generated sharps consolidation point” as defined
in subdivision (b) of Section 117904.

(3) A medical waste generator’s facility pursuant to Section
118147.

(4) A facility through the use of a medical waste mail-back
container approved by the United States Postal Service.

(5) A facility or other home-generated sharps collection point
operated pursuant to a home-generated sharps stewardship plan
approved pursuant to Article 3.3 (commencing with Section 47115)
of Chapter 1 of Part 7 of Division 30 of the Public Resources Code.

SEC. 3.  

Article 3.3 (commencing with Section 47115) of
Chapter 1 of Part 7 of Division 30 of the Public Resources Code
is repealed.

SEC. 4.  

Article 3.3 (commencing with Section 47115) is added
to Chapter 1 of Part 7 of Division 30 of the Public Resources Code,
to read:

 

Article 3.3.  Safe Home-Generated Sharps Recovery Program

 

47115.  

For purposes of this article, the following terms have
the following meanings:

(a) “Consumer” means a person who purchases or owns
home-generated sharps.

(b) “Distributor” means a person that sells sharps or provides
sharps for free to the general public for home use, which may
include, but is not limited to, a retailer, a veterinarian, or a health
clinic, health dispensary, or health facility licensed under Division
2 (commencing with Section 1200) of the Health and Safety Code.

(c) “Home-generated sharps” means hypodermic needles,
syringes with needles attached, pen needles, intravenous needles,
lancets, or any other similar device intended to self-inject
medication at home.

(d) “Home-generated sharps stewardship plan” or “plan” means
a plan submitted by an individual producer or by a stewardship
organization on behalf of one or more producers.

(e) “Producer” means, with regard to home-generated sharps
that are sold, offered for sale, or distributed in the state, one of the
following:

(1) The person who manufactures home-generated sharps and
who sells, offers for sale, or distributes those home-generated
sharps in the state under that person’s own name or brand.

(2) If there is no person who is a producer of the home-generated
sharps for purposes of paragraph (1), the producer of the
home-generated sharps is the owner or licensee of a trademark or
brand under which the home-generated sharps are sold or
distributed in the state, whether or not the trademark is registered.

(3) If there is no person who is a producer of the sharps for
purposes of paragraphs (1) and (2), the producer of those sharps
is the person who imports the home-generated sharps into the state
for sale or distribution.

(f) “Program” means the program implementing an approved
home-generated sharps stewardship plan.

(g) “Retailer” means a person that sells home-generated sharps
in the state to a consumer. A sale includes, but is not limited to, a
transaction conducted through sales outlets, catalogs, or the Internet
or any other similar electronic means.

(h) “Stewardship organization” means a nonprofit organization
created by one or more producers begin delete the governing board of which
includes three additional members, appointed by the director, one
representing from each of the following entities: end delete begin insert to act as an agent
on behalf of the producers to design, submit, and administer a
product stewardship plan pursuant to this article. end insert

begin delete

(1) A local government.

end delete begin delete

(2) A retailer.

end delete begin delete

(3) A solid waste hauler.

end delete

(i) “Stakeholder” means a person who will be subject to, or
participate in, the program that will be implemented by a proposed
home-generated sharps stewardship plan, including, but not limited
to, consumers, retailers, distributors, and health care providers and
facilities.

47115.2.  

On or before January 1, 2018, the department shall
adopt regulations implementing this article.

47115.4.  

(a) On or before February 1, 2018, the department
shall appoint a stakeholder advisory committee to provide specific
recommendations and strategic guidance to producers and
stewardship organizations. The stakeholder advisory committee
shall report annually to the department on the progress of the
producers’ and stewardship organizations’ implementation of this
article.

(b) Members of the advisory committee shall include members
from the environmental community, solid waste haulers, local
governments, retailers, and other key stakeholders.

(c) The stakeholder advisory committee shall be independent
of the producers and stewardship organizations. The advisory
committee’s expenses shall be paid by its members and not the
producers or stewardship organizations.

(d) A producer or stewardship organization shall have no control
over the stakeholder advisory committee or its activities.

47116.  

A pharmaceutical manufacturer that sells or distributes
a medication in the state that is usually intended to be self-injected
at home through the use of a home-generated sharp shall submit,
on or before July 1 of each year, to the department, or its successor
agency, a plan that describes how the manufacturer supports the
safe collection and proper disposal of the home-generated sharps.

47117.  

(a) On or before July 1, 2018, a producer or a
stewardship organization designated by a producer shall submit a
home-generated sharps stewardship plan to the department. The
home-generated sharps stewardship plan shall also be posted on
the Internet Web site of the producer or stewardship organization.
The plan shall provide for the implementation of the plan for each
calendar year, commencing January 1, 2019.

(b) The producer or stewardship organization shall consult with
the stakeholder advisory committee during the development of the
home-generated sharps stewardship plan, including soliciting and
responding to stakeholder advisory committee comments, and shall
document those comments in the plan.

(c) The home-generated sharps stewardship plan shall provide
for the development and implementation of a recovery program
to reduce the generation of, and manage the end of life of,
home-generated sharps in an environmentally sound and medically
safe manner, including collecting, transporting, processing, and
recycling or disposing. The plan shall include, at a minimum, all
of the following elements:

(1) Contact information for all participating producers.

(2) Procedures for calculating the amount, by weight, of the
home-generated sharps subject to the plan.

(3) Provisions to meet the minimum collection rate for the
home-generated sharps subject to the plan, which shall be
determined in the following manner:

(A) On and after January 1, 2020, the minimum collection rate
shall be 20 percent of the begin delete number end delete begin insert amount, by weight, end insert of
home-generated sharps that are sold in the state during the 2017
calendar year by producers.

(B) On and after January 1, 2021, the minimum collection rate
shall be 40 percent of the begin delete number end delete begin insert amount, by weight, end insert of
home-generated sharps that are sold in the state during the 2017
calendar year by the producers.

(C) On and after January 1, 2022, the minimum collection rate
shall be 60 percent of the begin delete number end delete begin insert amount, by weight, end insert of
home-generated sharps that are sold in the state during the 2017
calendar year by the producers.

(D) On and after January 1, 2023, and annually thereafter, the
minimum collection rate shall be determined pursuant to Section
47120.

(4) A demonstration of sufficient funding for the home-generated
sharps stewardship program proposed by the plan, including a
funding mechanism for securing and disbursing funds to cover
administrative, operational, and capital costs.

(5) Coordination of the home-generated sharps stewardship
begin delete program end delete begin insert plan end insert with existing local begin delete medical waste end delete begin insert household
hazardous waste and other end insert collection programs, to the extent this
requirement is reasonably feasible and mutually agreeable.

(6) Programs to reduce the number of begin delete postconsumer end delete
begin insert home-generated end insert sharps that are illegally disposed of, and to
maximize the proper end-of-life management of home-generated
sharps, including the collection of home-generated sharps, as
practical, based on current medical waste program information.

(7) Education and outreach efforts for consumers, the medical
community, and retailers to promote the collection of
home-generated sharps. These efforts may include, but are not
limited to, developing, and updating as necessary, educational and
other outreach materials aimed at all retailers and distributors of
home-generated sharps. These materials shall be made available
to those parties and may include, but are not limited to, one or
more of the following:

(A) Signage that is prominently displayed and easily visible to
the consumer at the point of sale.

(B) Written materials and templates of materials for reproduction
by retailers to be provided to the consumer at the point of sale or
delivery, or both. These written materials shall include information
on the prohibition on the improper disposal of home-generated
sharps.

(C) Advertising or other promotional materials, or both, that
include references to home-generated sharps collection
opportunities and the prohibition on the improper disposal of
home-generated sharps.

(8) Methods for demonstrating to the department that the
program implemented pursuant to the plan achieves the maximum
improvement possible in achieving the minimum collection rate.

(9) The establishment of at least one home-generated sharps
collection point in every county in the state, but no less than one
home-generated sharps collection point for every 25,000 people
in each county.

begin insert

(10) Procedures for complying with all applicable state and
federal laws and regulations for the collection, consolidation,
transportation, and recycling or disposal of home-generated sharps
waste.

end insert

47118.  

(a) The department shall review a home-generated
sharps stewardship plan submitted pursuant to Section 47117 within
60 days of receipt. The department shall approve the plan if the
department determines the plan provides for the establishment of
a home-generated sharps stewardship program that meets the
requirements of Section 47117. If the department does not approve
the plan, the producer or stewardship organization shall resubmit
the plan within 60 days after receiving notice of disapproval from
the department.

(b) (1) The approved plan shall be a public record, except that
financial, production, or sales data reported to the department by
the producer or by the stewardship organization is not a public
record under the California Public Records Act (Chapter 3.5
(commencing with Section 6250) of Division 7 of Title 1 of the
Government Code) and shall not be open to public inspection.

(2) Notwithstanding paragraph (1), the department may release
financial, production, or sales data in summary form, if the
department does not disclose financial, production, or sales data
of individual producers.

(c) On or before January 1, 2019, or three months after a plan
is approved pursuant to subdivision (a), whichever is later, but no
later than April 1, 2019, the producer or stewardship organization
shall implement the home-generated sharps stewardship program
described in the approved plan.

47119.  

A retailer may voluntarily participate as a
home-generated sharps collection point pursuant to the
home-generated sharps stewardship program.

47120.  

On or before January 1, 2023, the department shall
consult with producers, stewardship organizations, the stakeholder
advisory committee, and all other stakeholders regarding the
program’s performance. The department shall set a fair and
reasonable minimum collection rate for the 2023 calendar year
and for each subsequent calendar year to achieve the goal of safely
managing home-generated sharps in this state.

47121.  

Upon the date a plan is approved, the department shall
post on its Internet Web site a list of producers covered by the
approved plan. The department shall update this posting within 30
days of a change in compliance status of any producer.

47122.  

On or before April 1, 2020, and on or before April 1
of every year thereafter, each producer or stewardship organization
implementing a plan shall prepare and submit to the department
an annual report, as prescribed by the department, describing the
activities carried out pursuant to the plan during the previous
calendar year, commencing with the 2019 calendar year. The report
shall include a list of the specific recommendations from the
stakeholder advisory committee and an explanation for either
accepting or rejecting those recommendations.

47123.  

(a) The department shall review begin insert and either approve
or disapprove end insert the annual report or reports submitted pursuant to
Section 47122, including, but not limited to, reviewing the accuracy
of the list of home-generated sharps collection points that are
certified to be established pursuant to the applicable plan.

(b) If an annual report does not demonstrate that the applicable
program has achieved the collection rate increase required pursuant
to paragraph (3) of subdivision (c) of Section 47117, the
department may require the program to take additional actions
with regard to improving and increasing the number of
home-generated sharps collection points, ensuring accessibility to
those points, and providing additional education and outreach
activities.

(c) If the department does not begin insert approve or end insert disapprove a report
within 45 days of receipt, the report shall be deemed approved by
the department.

(d) The department shall make a report begin delete submitted to end delete begin insert approved
by end insert the department pursuant to this section available to the public
on the department’s Internet Web site for one year.

47125.  

(a) A producer or stewardship organization submitting
a plan to the department shall pay the department an annual
administrative fee pursuant to subdivision (b).

(b) The department shall impose the annual fee in an amount
that is sufficient to cover the department’s full costs of
administering and enforcing this article, including any program
development costs or regulatory costs incurred by the department
prior to the submittal of a plan. The department shall deposit the
fees in the Safe Sharps Disposal Account, which is hereby
established in the Integrated Waste Management Fund. The
department may expend the moneys in the Safe Sharps Disposal
Account, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to administer and
enforce this article.

47126.  

(a) The department shall enforce this article and may
impose an administrative civil penalty on a person who violates
this article in an amount of up to one thousand dollars ($1,000)
per violation per day.

(b) The department may impose an administrative civil penalty
on a person who intentionally, knowingly, or negligently violates
this article in an amount of up to ten thousand dollars ($10,000)
per violation per day.

(c) (1) The department may either impose the civil penalty
specified in subdivision (a) or (b) on a producer or stewardship
organization for which the annual report submitted does not
demonstrate that the minimum collection rate has been achieved
pursuant to paragraph (3) of subdivision (c) of Section 47117, or
require the producer or stewardship organization to take additional
actions to comply with this article pursuant to subdivision (b) of
Section 47123.

(2) In assessing a penalty pursuant to this subdivision on a
producer or stewardship organization, the department shall consider
any exigent circumstance that contributed to the producer or
stewardship organization not meeting the required minimum
collection rate.

(d) The department shall deposit all penalties collected pursuant
to this section into the Safe Sharps Disposal Penalty Account,
which is hereby created in the Integrated Waste Management Fund.
Upon appropriation by the Legislature, moneys deposited into the
Safe Sharps Disposal Penalty Account may be expended by the
department to enforce this article.

47127.  

(a) Except as provided in subdivision (c), an action
solely to increase the collection of home-generated sharps by a
producer, stewardship organization, or retailer that affects the types
or quantities being collected, or the cost and structure of any
program implementing a stewardship plan, is not a violation of
the statutes specified in subdivision (b).

(b) The following statutes are not violated by an action specified
in subdivision (a):

(1) The Cartwright Act (Chapter 2 (commencing with Section
16700) of Part 2 of Division 7 of the Business and Professions
Code).

(2) The Unfair Practices Act (Chapter 4 (commencing with
Section 17000) of Part 2 of Division 7 of the Business and
Professions Code).

(c) Subdivision (a) does not apply to an agreement establishing
or affecting the price of home-generated sharps or the output or
production of home-generated sharps or an agreement restricting
the geographic area or customers to which home-generated sharps
will be sold.