BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                       



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          |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE            |                  SB 1401|
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                                 THIRD READING


          Bill No:  SB 1401
          Author:   Simitian (D)
          Amended:  4/21/10
          Vote:     21

           
           SENATE ENV. QUALITY COMMITTEE  :  6-0, 4/5/10
          AYES:  Simitian, Runner, Corbett, Lowenthal, Pavley,  
            Strickland
          NO VOTE RECORDED:  Hancock

           SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE  :  Senate Rule 28.8


           SUBJECT  :    Beverage containers:  redemption payments

           SOURCE  :     Author


           DIGEST  :    This bill changes, from 90 to 80 days, the  
          timeline for notifications and actions required when the  
          Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery makes a  
          determination upon its review of the California Beverage  
          Container Recycling Fund that there is not adequate funds  
          to pay the refund values and necessary disbursements.

           ANALYSIS  :    Existing law, under the California Beverage  
          Container Recycling and Litter Reduction Act (Section 14500  
          et seq. of the Public Resources Code (PRC):

          1. Establishes refund value and redemption payments for  
             beverage containers. 

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          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 (Sections 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.

          2. Adjusts the timeline for the notifications and actions  
             required after DRRR review of the fund status.

          3. Makes technical and conforming changes.

           Comments  
           
           This bill makes technical and clarifying changes to  
          provisions of AB 7 X8 (Assembly Budget Committee), Chapter  
          5, Statutes of 2009-10, Eighth Extraordinary Session, to  
          aid in implementation for DRRR.

          AB 7 X8 made changes to the Bottle Bill Program to address  
          a shortfall in program funding.  The bill:

          1. Accelerated California Refund Value payments by  
             distributors in order to provide a $100 million one-time  
             revenue increase in the current fiscal year.

          2. Made program participant's "whole" for the second half  







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             of fiscal year 2010-11, authorized program payments  
             retroactive to January 1, 2010.

          3. 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.

          4. 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 (Section 14581 of the  
             Public Resources Code).

           FISCAL EFFECT :    Appropriation:  No   Fiscal Com.:  Yes    
          Local:  No

          TSM:mw  4/27/10   Senate Floor Analyses 

                       SUPPORT/OPPOSITION:  NONE RECEIVED

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