BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1359
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Date of Hearing: January 19, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 1359 (Skinner) - As Amended: January 4, 2012
Policy Committee: Natural
ResourcesVote:9-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill makes numerous technical, but, in some cases,
substantive, changes to the state's beverage container recycling
program. Most significantly, this bill:
1)Deletes reference to the "redemption rate" and requirements
related to its calculation.
2)Authorizes a beverage manufacturer to make one processing fee
payment to the department, instead of periodic payments, if
the manufacturer has displayed a pattern of compliance to the
department's satisfaction and the processor's projected annual
fees are less than $15,000.
FISCAL EFFECT
Negligible costs, if any.
COMMENTS
1)Rationale . This bill seeks to make changes to the statutes
governing the "bottle bill" program to delete obsolete
references, clarify existing law or codify existing practice.
For example, the bill deletes reference to the redemption
rate, which refers to the percentage of beverage containers of
all types sold that subsequently are turned in for recycling.
In the early years of the beverage container recycling
program, certain higher payments were triggered by specified
redemption rates, which statute required Calrecycle to track
and report. Statute no longer bases fee amounts on the
redemption rate, but nonetheless requires Calrecycle to track
AB 1359
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and report on that rate.
The author also indicates she intends this bill to be a
vehicle available to address problems with the bottle bill
program should any come to light during the next several
months.
2)Background. The Division of Recycling (DOR) within the
Department of Recycling and Resources Recovery (Calrecycle)
administers the Beverage Container Recycling Program, commonly
referred to as the "bottle bill" program. This program was
created more than 20 years ago by Chapter 1290, Statutes of
1986 (AB 2020, Margolin). The program encourages the voluntary
recycling of most beverage containers by guaranteeing a
minimum payment (the California Redemption Value (CRV)) for
each container returned to a certified recycler. Beverage
containers are subject to the CRV based on both the content of
the container (the beverage type, such as water or sports
drinks) and the container material (such as glass or plastic).
Several years ago, the fund into which CRV deposits are
made-the Beverage Container Recycling Fund-had fund balances
that exceeded the yearly cost of the bottle bill program by
tens of millions of dollars. This is because Californians
recycled beverage containers at a rate well below 80%-the rate
at which payments into the fund would equal payments out of
the fund. Much of the excess funds went to pay for programs
to support recycling. In addition, the excess fund balance
was repeatedly loaned, first to the General Fund and then to
the Air Pollution Control Fund to pay for implementation of
the state's greenhouse gas emissions reduction efforts.
More recently, recycling rates have increased well above 80%.
At the same time, purchases of beverage containers subject to
the CRV have declined. As a result, the BCRF was unable to
support the programs intended to facilitate recycling. Some
anticipate the bottle bill program will soon experience
additional funding shortfalls.
Analysis Prepared by : Jay Dickenson / APPR. / (916) 319-2081