BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 423
Page 1
SENATE THIRD READING
SB
423 (Bates)
As Amended August 15, 2016
Majority vote
SENATE VOTE: (vote not relevant)
------------------------------------------------------------------
|Committee |Votes|Ayes |Noes |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Environmental |7-0 |Alejo, Dahle, | |
|Safety | |Arambula, Beth | |
| | |Gaines, Gray, Lopez, | |
| | |McCarty | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Appropriations |15-0 |Gonzalez, Bigelow, | |
| | |Bloom, Bonilla, | |
| | |Bonta, Chang, Eggman, | |
| | |Eduardo Garcia, | |
| | |Jones, Obernolte, | |
| | |Quirk, Santiago, | |
| | |Weber, Wood, McCarty | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
------------------------------------------------------------------
SB 423
Page 2
SUMMARY: Requires the California Department of Toxic Substances
Control (DTSC) to convene a Retail Waste Working Group to
identify regulatory and policy directives that need
clarification for managing consumer products, and adopt
consensus recommendations for waste reduction opportunities.
Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires DTSC to convene a Retail Waste Working Group
comprised of representatives of large retailers, small
retailers, district attorneys, certified unified program
agencies, nongovernment organizations, local governments,
other relevant state agencies as determined by DTSC,
manufacturers, reverse distributors, and other stakeholders to
consider and make findings and recommendations on the
following:
a) Regulatory and statutory requirements that may be
considered confusing or may need clarification or
specification when applied to the overall management by
manufacturer, distributor, supplier, vendor, retail, and
reverse logistics facilities of surplus household products
that are wastes, including those that can be considered
hazardous waste or medical waste when the waste
determination is made; and,
b) Consensus statutory or regulatory recommendations to
facilitate and increase the liquidation, and sale of
surplus household consumer products and waste reduction
opportunities for those products and to clarify waste
management requirements to encourage the management of
surplus household products by manufacturer, distributor,
supplier, vendor, retail, and reverse logistics facilities
in a manner that is protective of public health and the
environment.
SB 423
Page 3
2)Defines "surplus household consumer product" as a household
consumer product that cannot or will not be sold to a consumer
through that product's primary market.
3)Requires, by June 1, 2017, the Retail Waste Working Group to
report the findings and recommendations on the aforementioned
policy issues to the Legislature.
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, enactment of this bill would result in minor,
absorbable costs to DTSC.
COMMENTS:
Need for the bill: According to the author, when
pharmaceuticals, other health care products, and household
consumer products are not sold at an initial point of sale, the
products are often processed at a reverse distribution center
where the center performs various activities such as
consolidation, repackaging, donation, and disposal upon
completion of any of these management activities. The author
states that jurisdiction over these products at the point they
are considered discarded or recycled under current law,
including when they are considered stored or accumulated for
discard or recycling, can fall under either the Medical Waste
Management Act or hazardous and solid waste provisions of the
California Health and Safety Code. The author asserts that this
dual jurisdiction has led to confusion in the regulated
community.
The author states that multiple stakeholder discussions have
taken place on the issues of retail waste, including
over-the-counter pharmaceutical waste in California. This bill
provides goals for the Retail Waste Workgroup to work towards
developing consensus policy recommendations on these outstanding
waste management issues in California (CA). This will ensure
SB 423
Page 4
both the regulators and the regulated community have a defined
timeline by which agreement on these issues is to be attained.
Regulatory confusion: DTSC has authority over the management of
hazardous wastes and universal wastes. The California
Department of Public Health (CDPH) has authority over cosmetics,
pharmaceuticals and medical waste. The Department of Resources
Recycling and Recovery has authority over solid wastes.
Retail establishments argue that the various statutory and
regulatory requirements of when a product becomes a waste and
how it must be handled make it difficult for their employees to
determine the appropriate handling of a product. Retailers
argue that because of the complexity of the current regulatory
scheme, they are not separating products that may be able to be
donated or liquidated from those that are deemed waste if there
is any question that they may be risking violation of various
statutory waste handling requirements. The retailers assert
that the result is a far greater than necessary rate of disposal
or destruction of items that could have been retained for their
useful life.
Retail Waste Workgroup: Retailers that operate stores in
California and those that sell goods in California through the
Internet, mail-order catalogs, door-to-door sales and other
outlets are all subject to California's medical waste and/or
hazardous waste laws and regulations. In an effort to clarify
California's hazardous waste regulatory requirements, DTSC is
gathering information and developing an understanding of
hazardous waste management practices at various types of
retailers.
In 2015, DTSC created a Retail Waste Workgroup to identify
regulatory requirements that need clarification and to provide
that clarification. The Retail Waste Workgroup consists of
large and small retailers, district attorneys from multiple
SB 423
Page 5
counties, certified unified program agency representatives,
consultants, non-government organizations, CDPH and DTSC. This
bill is proposing to turn the fruits of those discussions into
policy recommendations for broader consumer product management
by codifying the Retail Waste Working Group and establishing a
date-certain for consensus policy recommendations to be made to
the Legislature.
Analysis Prepared by:
Paige Brokaw / E.S. & T.M. / (916) 319-3965 FN:
0004102