BILL ANALYSIS
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
1326 (Oropeza)
Hearing Date: 04/26/2010 Amended: 03/23/10
Consultant: Brendan McCarthy Policy Vote: EQ 4-2
_________________________________________________________________
____
BILL SUMMARY: SB 1326 appropriates $25 million from the E-Waste
Account to the California Conservation Corps (CCC) for the
collection and recovery of electronic devices. The bill
appropriates $5 million to the CCC from the Tire Recycling
Management Fund for the collection and recycling of waste tires.
This bill also reappropriates bond funds appropriated to the CCC
for local assistance in previous budget acts.
_________________________________________________________________
____
Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 Fund
California Conservation $10,000 Special
*
Corps electronic waste
recycling
Local conservation corps $15,000 Special
*
electronic waste recycling
Local conservation corps $5,000 Special
**
waste tire recycling
Reappropriation of local $17,200 Bond ***
assistance funds
* Electronic Waste Recovery and Recycling Account, Integrated
Waste Management Fund.
** California Tire Recycling Management Fund.
*** Proposition 84 bond funds.
_________________________________________________________________
____
STAFF COMMENTS: This bill meets the criteria for referral to the
Suspense file.
The California Conservation Corps (CCC) provides young people
between the ages of 18 and 23 work experience and educational
opportunities. Corpsmembers work on projects that conserve and
improve the environment, such as tree planting, trail building,
and brush clearance. Corpsmembers also provide assistance during
natural disasters, such as filling sandbags during floods.
The California Conservation Corps estimates about 4,000 men and
women (the equivalent of about 1,200 full-time positions)
participated in the program during the 2008-09 budget year.
Corpsmembers earn minimum wage and are assigned to work
approximately 40 hours per week. On average, corpsmembers stay
in the program for a little over seven months. The budget
provides funding for seven residential and 15 nonresidential
facilities throughout the state.
In addition to the CCC, there are also 12 certified local
conservation corps located in various communities throughout the
state. These local corps perform workforce development and
training activities similar to the CCC.
Under current law, the Department of Resources Recycling and
Recovery administers a program to reduce the disposal of
electronic products that often contain hazardous materials in
landfills or other inappropriate disposal of those products. To
this end, the department assesses a fee on the sale of specified
electronic devices. Revenues from this fee are deposited in the
Electronic Waste Recovery and Recycling Account (E-Waste
Account). Funds in the E-Waste Account are used to provide
recovery and recycling payments to qualified entities to cover
the cost of collecting and recycling electronic devices and
other activities to reduce hazardous substances in electronic
devices and encourage recycling of such devices. Currently,
revenues exceed expenditures and the E-Waste Account is
projected to have a fund balance of $137 million at the end of
the 2010-11 budget year. (The department is in the process of
reviewing the current fee level and may reduce it in the budget
year due to the large fund balance.)
This bill appropriates $25 million from the E-Waste Account to
the CCC for the collection and recycling of electronic devices
specified under current law. Of this amount, the CCC would use
$10 million for its own efforts to collect and recycle
electronic devices and the CCC would provide $15 million in
grants to local community conservation corps for projects to
collect and recycle electronic devices.
Under current law, the Department of Resources Recycling and
Recovery administers a program to encourage the recycling of
used tires and discourage the illegal dumping of used tires.
Under this program, the department provides a variety of
technical assistance, grants, and loans to businesses and local
governments. The program is funded by a fee assessed on the sale
of tires in the state. Fee revenues are deposited in the
California Tire Recycling Management Fund (Tire Fund).
Currently, the Tire Fund has a structural deficit, with revenues
less than expenditures by about $6 million in the budget year.
The Tire Fund has a projected fund balance of $26 million at the
end of the 2010-11 budget year. (There are about $27 million in
outstanding loans from the Tire Fund to the General Fund. The
proposed 2010-11 Budget Act includes a $10 million repayment to
the Tire Fund with a further $17 million repayment anticipated
in 2011-12.)
This bill appropriates $5 million from the Tire Fund to the CCC
for grants to local community conservation corps to collect and
recycle used tires consistent with the existing program. The
Tire Fund can accommodate the proposed appropriation in the
budget year. However, due to the structural deficit in the fund,
the appropriation will likely necessitate either an increase in
the fee or additional program reductions in future years.
The Budget Act of 2008 provides $23 million to the CCC from
Proposition 84 bond funds for local assistance grants to local
community conservation corps. In addition, the Budget Act of
2009 (as amended) provides $6.7 million in Proposition 84 bond
funds for local assistance grants to local community
conservation corps. Due to the statewide freeze on issuing new
general obligation bonds, the CCC has been unable to encumber
$17.2 million of these funds to date.
This bill reappropriates those funds and makes them available
for encumbrance until June 30, 2013.
This bill is identical to SB x8 30 which died in the Assembly.
Staff recommends the reappropriation language be removed from
the bill and included in the 2010 Budget Act, since this bill,
if enacted, will not go into effect until January 1, 2011.