BILL ANALYSIS
SB 1401
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
Senator S. Joseph Simitian, Chairman
2009-2010 Regular Session
BILL NO: SB 1401
AUTHOR: Simitian
AMENDED: March 24, 2010
FISCAL: Yes HEARING DATE: April 5, 2010
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT: Caroll
Mortensen
SUBJECT : CALIFORNIA CONTAINER RECYCLING AND LITTER
REDUCTION ACT
SUMMARY :
Existing law , under the California Beverage Container
Recycling and Litter Reduction Act (Act) (Public Resources
Code (PRC) 14500 et seq.):
1)Establishes refund value and redemption payments for
beverage containers.
2)Requires a distributor to pay a redemption payment for every
beverage container sold or offered for sale in the state to
the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (DRRR)
and DRRR is required to deposit those amounts in the
California Beverage Container Recycling Fund (fund). The
money in the fund is continuously appropriated to DRRR for
the payment of refund values and processing fees.
3)Requires DRRR to review the fund status of the fund every
three months to ensure that funds are adequate to make
expenditures according the Act ( 14560 and 14581) and make
specified determinations.
4)Authorizes funding for specified purposes to increase
beverage container recycling including public education and
recycling grants.
This bill :
1)Requires that the status reports on fund review to include
fund balances and be posted on DRRR's Internet Web Site.
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2)Adjusts the timeline for the notifications and actions
required after DRRR review of the fund status.
3)Clarifies that if DRRR encumbered funds between January 1,
2010 and March 8, 2010, for certain expenditures that were
'suspended' for calendar years 2010 and 2011 through AB8X 7,
those expenditures are allowable. (The bill took effect on
March 8, 2010).
4)Makes technical and conforming changes.
COMMENTS :
1)Purpose of Bill . This bill makes technical and clarifying
changes to provisions of AB8X 7 passed by the Legislature
and signed by the Governor on March 8, 2010, to aid in
implementation for DRRR.
AB8X 7 made changes to the Bottle Bill Program to address a
shortfall in program funding. The bill:
Accelerated California Refund Value payments by
distributors in order to provide a $100 million one-time
revenue increase in the current fiscal year.
Made program participant's "whole" for the second half
of FY 2010-11, authorized program payments retroactive to
January 1, 2010.
Capped processing fee offsets made by the DRRR to
manufacturers for the 2010 and 2011 calendar years at
2008 calendar year levels, resulting in approximately $9
million in current year savings and $18 million in budget
year savings.
Identified additional savings of approximately $28
million in the current year (and approximately $56
million in the budget year) via two-year suspensions of
various continuous appropriations (Public Resources Code
Section 14581).
2)Related Legislation . AB 2718 (Adams), in Assembly Natural
Resources Committee, proposes various amendments to the
Bottle Bill Program, including changes related to
convenience zones.
SOURCE : Senator Simitian
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SUPPORT : None on file
OPPOSITION : None on file