BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1647
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Date of Hearing: May 16, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 1647 (Gordon) - As Amended: May 2, 2012
Policy Committee: Natural
ResourcesVote:5-1
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill changes the hearing process for alleged waste tire
facility and hauling violations from an Office of Administrative
Hearing process to an informal hearing process administered by
the Department of Recycling and Resources Recovery (Calrecycle).
Specifically, this bill:
1)Authorizes Calrecycle to revoke, suspend or deny a waste
facility permit or waste tire hauler registration, for up to
three years, if, after an informal hearing, the director finds
fraud or certain violations.
2)Authorizes Calrecycle to conduct informal hearings for civil
liability cases for alleged violation of waste tires laws that
have been made by the department through administrative
accusations.
3)Establishes mandatory notification procedures and response
timelines Calrecycle must follow regarding potential permit
revocations, suspensions or denials, administrative
accusations and civil liability decisions.
FISCAL EFFECT
Net costs of a minor, likely absorbable amount to Calrecycle
hear cases within given timeframes and provide notices (special
fund). (While Calrecycle will face new workload as a result of
this bill, it will also see a reduction in current workload
resulting from preparation of cases for formal hearing before
the Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH), per existing law.
The net effect will likely be a near wash.)
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COMMENTS
1)Rationale . The author describes a recent phenomenon of
unpermitted, fly-by-night operations that illegally accept
waste tires, bale them and export the bales, oftentimes in
violation of the laws of the receiving country, where the
tires are burned for fuel and derivative products. The author
relays reports of permitted waste tire facilities that have
seen a nearly 50% drop in the volume of waste tires they
receive, presumably because the waste tires are going to
illegal operations. The author notes that the current process
to address such violations, which requires a formal hearing
before the Office of Administrative Hearings, takes at least
six months, during which time the illegal waste tire operators
continue their illicit activity. The author intends this bill
to provide Calrecycle the ability to quickly hear and resolve
such matters internally, as it does with violations of solid
waste laws.
2)Background . The Office of Administrative Hearings is a
quasi-judicial tribunal that hears administrative disputes by
providing independent Administrative Law Judges (ALJs) to
conduct hearings for state and local government agencies.
When there is disagreement with an action intended to be taken
by certain government agencies against an individual or
business, such as a Calrecylce action against a waste tire
facility or hauler, a hearing before OAH may be requested.
Calrecycle reports that hearings before OAH occur no sooner
than six months after being requested.
According to Calrecycle, Californians generate about 44
million waste tires yearly. In the past, most of California's
waste tires were deposited in landfills or dumped in illegal
tire piles. To reduce such wasteful or illegal disposal, the
Legislature enacted in 1990 the Waste Tire Recycling
Management Program. Administered by Calrecycle, the program
encourages the diversion of waste tires through a number of
activities, including:
a) Conducting/funding research into new technologies that
increase the useful lifespan of tires.
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b) Conducting/funding research into waste tire product
development and applications.
c) Assessing market demand for waste tire products.
d) Assessing market demand for waste tire products.
e) Undertaking, on its own and in conjunction with state
and local public agencies, waste tire demonstration
projects.
f) Providing marketing, grants, and technical assistance to
business and to state and local public end users of
waste-tire products.
g) Developing waste tire engineering curriculum for use at
universities and in continuing education for professionals.
Today, about 75% of waste tires are diverted to other useful
purposes, such as incineration in cement kilns and application
as paving material.
The program is funded by a fee on the sale of each new tire.
Currently, the fee is $1.75 per tire, $0.75 of which goes to
the Air Pollution Control Fund for use by the Air Resources
Board for air pollution activities. The remainder of fee
revenues is used by Calrecycle to administer the waste tire
recycling program.
3)Support. This bill is supported by Californians Against Waste
and the Northern California Industry Association, whose
members are subject to Calrecycle regulation.
4)There is no opposition formally registered to this bill.
Analysis Prepared by : Jay Dickenson / APPR. / (916) 319-2081
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