BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 525
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 525 (Gordon)
As Amended April 25, 2011
Majority vote
NATURAL RESOURCES 8-0 APPROPRIATIONS 17-0
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|Ayes:|Chesbro, Brownley, |Ayes:|Fuentes, Harkey, |
| |Dickinson, Grove, | |Blumenfield, Bradford, |
| |Halderman, Huffman, | |Charles Calderon, Campos, |
| |Monning, Skinner | |Davis, Donnelly, Gatto, |
| | | |Hall, Hill, Lara, |
| | | |Mitchell, Nielsen, Norby, |
| | | |Solorio, Wagner |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Requires the Department of Resources Recycling and
Recovery (CalRecycle), as part of the California Tire Recycling
Act (Act), to dedicate at least 16% of its annual appropriation
from the Tire Recycling Management Fund (Fund) for market
development and new technology (MD/NT) activities to cities,
counties, and other local government agencies for the funding of
public works projects that use waste tires. The bill's
provisions sunset as of June 30, 2010.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Requires, pursuant to the Act, CalRecycle to administer a tire
recycling program that promotes and develops alternatives to
the landfill disposal of used whole tires. The tire recycling
program may include, among other things, the awarding of
grants, subsidies, and loans to businesses or other
enterprises, and public entities, involved in activities that
result in reduced landfill disposal or stockpiling of used
whole tires. Activities eligible for funding may include the
manufacturing of products made from used tires such as
rubberized asphalt and crash barriers.
2)The tire recycling program under the Act is funded by the
Fund. The Fund is supported by the California tire fee, which
is a $1.75 per tire charge imposed on a person who purchases a
new tire.
AB 525
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FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, this bill may result in CalRecycle redirecting an
unknown amount, potentially in the millions of dollars, to local
public works projects from other MD/NT activities eligible to
receive funding from the CalRecycle's tire program. The actual
amount of funding that is redirected as a result of this bill in
a given fiscal year is unknown but will depend upon: 1) the
amount the MD/NT appropriation included in the budget act for a
given year; and, 2) the non-public works tire program projects
that would have been funded, absent this bill.
CalRecycle indicates that its most-recent five-year tire
recycling plan calls for funding MD/NT activities in amounts
that vary from $21.4 million to $12.5 million per fiscal year.
Assuming those MD/NT funding amounts hold true, this bill would
result in funding for local public works project that varies
from $3.4 million to $2 million per fiscal year.
COMMENTS : According to CalRecycle, since passage of the Act in
1989, California has dramatically increased the number of waste
tires diverted from landfill disposal and sent to beneficial end
uses. CalRecycle estimates that in 2009, Californians generated
41.3 million waste tires. The beneficial use of 30 million of
these tires represents a recycling rate of 72.7% in 2009.
This bill revives a similar statute that was added by SB 1346
(Kuehl), Chapter 671, Statutes of 2002, extended by SB 369
(Simitian), Chapter 300, Statutes of 2006, which sunset on June
30, 2010. Reviving this statute is important because recycled
tires have a myriad of uses for public works projects. For
example, tires can be used for road paving, street resurfacing,
sidewalks, weed abatement, vibration-damping material in
light-rail systems, overpass fill, levee slurry walls, retaining
wall fill, roadway base fill, and bridge abutment fill. Use of
recycled tires for public works projects can also lead to
significant cost savings and added benefits. In particular for
road paving, use of recycled tires can provide improvements of
increased skid resistance, reduced road noise, and improved
riding qualities.
Under existing law, CalRecycle can award grants to public
entities involved in activities and applications that result in
reduced landfill disposal of used whole tires and reduced
AB 525
Page 3
illegal disposal or stockpiling of used whole tires. Without
the bill, CalRecycle can use this authority to award grants to
local government agencies for the funding of public works
projects. The purpose of the bill, however, is to specifically
authorize the funding of public works projects and to ensure
that there is at least a minimum level of funding.
Analysis Prepared by : Mario DeBernardo / NAT. RES. / (916)
319-2092
FN: 0001074