BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 2153|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 2153
Author: Cristina Garcia (D), et al.
Amended: 8/31/16 in Senate
Vote: 27 - Urgency
SENATE ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY COMMITTEE: 5-1, 8/3/16
AYES: Wieckowski, Hill, Jackson, Leno, Pavley
NOES: Gaines
NO VOTE RECORDED: Bates
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 5-2, 8/11/16
AYES: Lara, Beall, Hill, McGuire, Mendoza
NOES: Bates, Nielsen
SENATE ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY COMMITTEE: 5-2, 8/31/16
AYES: Wieckowski, Hill, Jackson, Leno, Pavley
NOES: Gaines, Bates
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 55-16, 6/2/16 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT: The Lead-Acid Battery Recycling Act of 2016
SOURCE: Author
DIGEST: This bill establishes new fees on lead-acid batteries
to fund contamination cleanup caused by lead-acid batteries.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
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1) Governs, under the federal Resource Conservation and
Recovery Act (RCRA) of 1976, the disposal of hazardous waste:
a) Through regulation, sets standards for the treatment,
storage, transport, tracking and disposal of hazardous
waste in the United States.
b) Authorizes states to carry out many of the functions
of the federal law through their own hazardous waste laws
if such programs have been approved by the United States
Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA).
2) Enacts the California Hazardous Waste Control Act (HWCA) of
1972, which:
a) Regulates the handling, transport and disposal of
hazardous waste and authorizes the Department of Toxic
Substances Control (DTSC) to implement and enforce HWCA
and RCRA.
b) Prohibits the disposal of a lead-acid battery at a
solid waste facility, or on or in any land, surface
waters, watercourses, or marine waters.
This bill establishes new fees on lead-acid batteries to fund
contamination cleanup caused by lead-acid batteries.
Specifically, this bill:
1) Requires a replacement lead-acid battery dealer to accept
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from a consumer a used lead-acid battery for recycling,
requires dealers to collect a refundable deposit on the sale
of new batteries and requires consumers to be refunded the
deposit if the lead-acid battery is returned within 45 days
after purchase.
2) Requires a lead-acid battery dealer to conspicuously post a
written notice stating that the dealer is required by law to
accept used lead-acid batteries and charge a fee on all
replacement lead-acid battery sold.
3) Provides that DTSC provide notice of an alleged violation of
the noticing requirement no less than 60 days before the
issuance of an order or filing an action imposing a civil
penalty and provides that if a person corrects the alleged
violation before the order or action is filed the department
shall not impose the penalty.
4) Requires a lead-acid battery dealer to charge a
non-refundable $1 California Battery Fee on each lead-acid
battery sold to a person buying a replacement lead-acid
battery, except as specified.
5) Requires all replacement lead-acid batteries to have a
recycling symbol.
6) Requires a lead-acid battery dealer to collect the
California Battery Fee at the time of sale and authorizes the
dealer to retain 1.5% of the fee.
7) Requires each manufacturer to remit to the BOE a $1
Manufacturer Battery Fee for each lead-acid battery sold at
retail to a person in California. Sunsets the $1
manufacturing after five years.
8) At the point of the manufacturing fee sunsets, increases the
consumer fee to $2.
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9) Requires all California Battery Fee and Manufacturer Battery
Fee revenues be remitted to BOE for administration of the fee
and the remainder to be deposited into the Lead-Acid Battery
Cleanup Fund.
10)Continuously appropriates all funds in the Lead-Acid Battery
Cleanup Fund to DTSC to fund only the following activities:
investigation, site evaluation, cleanup, remedial action,
removal, monitoring, or other response actions at any area of
the state that is reasonably suspected to have been
contaminated by the operation of a lead acid battery
recycling facility and repayment of General Fund loans for
lead contamination cleanup.
11) States that "this article does not create a private cause
of action. Nothing in this article shall be construed to
affect, expand , alter or limit any requirements, duties,
rights, or remedies under other law, or limit the state or
any other party from bringing any cause of action that may
exist under any law."
12)Prohibits funds from the Lead-Acid Battery Cleanup Fund from
funding Green Chemistry as it relates to lead-acid batteries
or for any other purposes not specified above.
13)Provides a loan of $1.2 million from the California Tire
Management Fund for the initial administration of this act
that is to be paid back from the proceeds of the fee.
14)Requires all penalties to be deposited into the Lead-Acid
Battery Cleanup Fund.
15)Establishes this as an urgency act in order to increase the
cleanup of toxic materials and prevent additional toxic
pollution at the earliest possible time.
Background
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Health Impacts Associated With Lead. Lead is a toxic metal,
which doesn't break down in the environment and accumulates in
our body. High levels of lead have been found in jewelry,
especially inexpensive children's jewelry.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
there is no safe blood level in children. Lead is a leading
environmental threat to children's health in the United States.
When children are exposed to lead it has lifelong adverse
effects, such as lowered IQ scores, learning and hearing
disabilities, behavioral problems, difficulty paying attention,
hyperactivity and disrupted postnatal growth.
Lead exposure has decreased dramatically in the last 30 years
due to lead bans, but experts point out that there are
lead-poisoning hot spots throughout the country. The Los
Angeles County Department of Public Health has found the highest
concentration of blood lead levels in people under 21 years of
age in South Los Angeles that is adjacent to Vernon, where Exide
Technologies is located.
Lead-Acid Batteries. Lead-acid batteries are rechargeable
batteries made of lead plates situated in sulfuric acid within a
plastic casing. They are used globally for a wide range of
purposes, most commonly in vehicles like automobiles, boats,
trucks, and industrial vehicles. According to the U.S.
Geological Survey, the lead-acid battery industry accounted for
about 90% of reported U.S. lead consumption during 2015. The
average battery contains 17.5 pounds of lead and 1.5 gallons of
sulfuric acid.
For example, more than 25 million motor vehicles are registered
in California. Each vehicle currently still uses a lead-acid
battery. According to California BOE's estimates, based on 2012
Census data, lead-acid car battery sales in California are
approximately $1.6 billion. That is based on an estimate of
roughly 16 million batteries sold at an average cost of $100.
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The Past - Exide Technologies. The Exide Technologies (Exide)
battery recycling facility in Vernon, California, recycled lead
from used automotive batteries and other sources. The facility
could process about 25,000 automotive and industrial batteries
per day, providing a source of lead for new batteries. During
its decades of operation, the facility polluted the soil beneath
it with high levels of lead, arsenic, cadmium and other toxic
metals. It also has contaminated groundwater, released battery
acid onto roads and contaminated homes and yards in surrounding
communities with lead emissions. In March, 2015, Exide was
forced to close the facility and, under a state agreement with
DTSC, set aside $7.7 million to test homes and other structures
around the facility for pollution resulting from the facility.
DTSC estimates homes between 1.3 and 1.7 miles away from the
facility may potentially be affected by Exide's lead
contamination-somewhere between 5,000 - 10,000 residential
properties. Assuming cleanup costs of approximately $45,000 per
home, the total cost of cleanup in and around the Exide facility
is expected to top $500 million.
The Budget. In February, 2016, Governor Jerry Brown announced a
budget proposal to fund cleanup in the polluted communities
surrounding the shuttered Exide facility. The proposal includes
making $176.6 million available to DTSC to expedite and expand
testing and cleanup of residential properties, schools, daycare
centers and parks in the 1.7 mile radius around the facility and
remove contaminated soil at the properties that have the highest
lead levels and greatest potential to expose residents.
After the $176.6 million is expended, DTSC will need additional
funds to do complete the cleanup. Some estimates are $500
million dollars to conduct cleanups around Exide.
The Present - Quemetco West LLC. The Quemetco, Inc. facility in
the City of Industry recycles lead-acid batteries. The facility
has been in operation since 1959 and operates under several
different permits and regulations including:
Air Quality - overseen by the South Coast Air Quality
Management District.
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Water Quality - overseen by the Los Angeles Regional Water
Quality Control Board and the Los Angeles County Sanitation
District.
Hazardous Waste - overseen by the DTSC.
DTSC is currently overseeing an investigation to determine if
past airborne lead emissions impacted the area surrounding the
facility. Beginning in July 2016, DTSC has ordered numerous
corrective actions due to, among other things, its failure to
have a functioning leak-detection system and maintain its
containment building and failure to maintain an adequate
groundwater and surface water monitoring system.
It is unknown how much will be needed to remediate contamination
in the area surrounding the Quemetco plant. However, it is
likely to be very significant like the Exide cleanup the decades
of contamination caused by that plant.
Comments
1) Purpose of Bill. According to the author, "AB 2153 will
create a state mandated Lead-Acid (Car) Battery fee that will
serve as a funding mechanism for clean-up of areas
contaminated by lead-acid batteries. Consumers will be
charged a $1 fee per car battery at point of sale.
Manufacturers will pay a $1 fee on all batteries sold in the
state. The money from the fee can go to re-pay the
Governor's 176.6 million dollar loan, and will be used to
clean up areas of the state that have been contaminated by
the production and recycling of lead acid batteries."
2) What is the purpose of this bill? The author states that the
bill creates a fund to address contamination today rather
than wait years until litigation against the responsible
parties is complete. The author states that this bill does
not provide any relief for manufacturers but simply provides
them a credit against their liability in the future for the
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amount that they contribute to this Fund.
However, in a letter submitted to the Assembly journal today,
the author states, "It is my intent in authoring this bill,
and the Legislature's intent in approving this legislation
that rather than further delaying funding for clean up by
choosing the costly path of litigation with an uncertain
outcome against battery manufacturers or other parties who
are not owners or operators of the battery recycling
facilities, that the State choose instead the collaborative
approach contained in this bill."
While a letter to the journal of one house does not hold the
weight of law, this letter states that it is the intent of
the Legislature that the State not pursue litigation against
responsible parties.
This statement is directly contrary to the statements made by
the Senate Environmental Quality Committee when this bill was
heard on August 3, 2016.
3) Limitations of the bill. The language in the bill has been
further constrained, contrary to the amendments taken in this
committee on August 3, 2016, to
allow the moneys generated by this bill to "fund ONLY the
following activities: investigation, site evaluation,
cleanup, remedial action, removal, monitoring, or other
response actions at any area of the state that is reasonably
suspected to have been contaminated by the operation of a
lead acid battery recycling facility" and repayment of
General Fund loans for lead contamination cleanup.
What about other costs associated with lead acid batteries
that are not directly linked to a lead acid battery recycling
center (of which there are only two in California)? What
about blood level testing and treatment in communities that
have a historic burden from the use, recycling, disposal of
lead acid batteries? What about social programs for those
communities to help offset the lifelong health and
educational impacts associated with the chronic poisoning of
these entire communities? What about biomonitoring to
establish what types of potential cumulative impacts may
exist? What about any other program that may benefit these
communities and the communities that are yet to be
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identified?
Additionally, the amendments of the bill reinstate language
removed by the Senate Environmental Quality Committee at the
August 3, 2016 hearing, prohibiting these funds from being
used for California to evaluate lead acid batteries as part
of the Safer Consumer Products program (Green Chemistry).
Why? Isn't it appropriate for the state to evaluate better
products that do not contaminate our state and risk public
health?
4) Temporary manufacturer fee for lifetime credit for
contribution. This bill only collects $1 per battery sold in
California for 5 years from manufacturers, but manufacturers
can claim the credit in perpetuity - that includes not only
legacy sites but contamination that hasn't even occurred yet.
As written this bill creates a state sponsored savings fund
for manufacturers.
5) How big is this problem? Does this bill do enough to address
it? And at what cost? This bill will generate a maximum of
$32 million dollars a year. It will take at least six years
to repay the General Fund loan and at least another 10 to
address the current estimated costs for remediation around
Exide. In July, it was announced that DTSC is now
investigating similar concerns around the Quemetco facility.
It is unknown what other sites may exist across the state
that may need remediation. This fee will not be sufficient
to address that need.
Does it make more sense to ask DTSC to give a thorough
evaluation over the interim of the potential need of the
state and craft a solution that will do what is needed for
California?
6) What does this bill accomplish? This bill creates a new
sources of revenue, collected at great administrative burden,
that is not likely to be eligible to do much more than repay
the $176 million General Fund loan appropriated in the year's
budget.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: Yes
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According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
Approximately $1.2 million for the first two years of
implementation and ongoing costs of approximately $1.6 million
annually (Battery Cleanup Fund) to the BOE for implementation
and administration of the program.
Minor costs to the Department of Toxic Substances Control
(Battery Cleanup Fund).
Up to $32 million in revenue from the fee assessment (Battery
Cleanup Fund).
SUPPORT: (Verified8/31/16)
Action Now
Auto Care Association
Battery Council International
California Automotive Wholesalers' Association
California Communities Against Toxics
California League of Conversation Voters
California Retailers Association
California Safe Schools
Californians Against Waste
Coalition For A Safe Environment
Del Amo Action Committee
Desert Citizens Against Pollution
Healthy Homes Collaborative
Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors
Los Angeles County Solid Waste Management Committee/Integrated
Waste
Management Task Force
Mothers of East Los Angeles
Natural Resources Defense Council
Resurrection Church
Society for Positive Action
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OPPOSITION: (Verified8/31/16)
Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association
Quemetco
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 55-16, 6/2/16
AYES: Alejo, Arambula, Atkins, Baker, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta,
Brown, Burke, Calderon, Campos, Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu,
Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh, Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier,
Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gomez,
Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Roger Hernández, Holden, Irwin,
Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Lopez, Low, McCarty, Medina, Mullin,
Nazarian, O'Donnell, Olsen, Quirk, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez,
Salas, Santiago, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Weber, Williams,
Wood, Rendon
NOES: Achadjian, Travis Allen, Brough, Grove, Harper, Jones,
Kim, Lackey, Maienschein, Mathis, Melendez, Obernolte,
Patterson, Steinorth, Wagner, Waldron
NO VOTE RECORDED: Bigelow, Chang, Dahle, Beth Gaines,
Gallagher, Hadley, Linder, Mayes, Wilk
Prepared by:Rachel Wagoner / E.Q. / (916) 651-4108
8/31/16 21:33:37
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