BILL ANALYSIS �
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1782|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1782
Author: Hill (D)
Amended: 8/16/12 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE BUSINESS, PROF. & ECON. DEV. COMM. : 8-0, 6/11/12
AYES: Price, Emmerson, Corbett, Correa, Hernandez,
Strickland, Vargas, Wyland
NO VOTE RECORDED: Negrete McLeod
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 69-0, 3/29/12 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Weighmasters: exemptions
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill, until January 1, 2017, specifies that
facilities handling medical waste in accordance with the
provisions of the Medical Waste Management Act are not
weighmasters, thus eliminating the requirement that medical
waste handler's record parcel weight information on
weighmaster certificates, and requires medical waste
handlers to report net weights, not estimates, to the
Department of Public Health (DPH).
Senate Floor Amendments of 8/16/12 sunset the bill on
January 1, 2017.
Senate Floor Amendments of 6/25/12 make technical changes
to the placement of the "net weight" language.
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ANALYSIS :
Existing law, the Business and Professions Code :
1. Requires that scales used in medical waste transactions
be certified, or "sealed," by a sealer certified by the
Department of Food and Agriculture (DFA).
2. Defines "weighmaster" as any person who weighs,
measures, or counts any commodity and issues a statement
of memorandum of the weight, measure, or count which is
used as the basis for either the purchase or sale of
that commodity or charge for service.
3. Specifies certain persons who weigh and measure
commodities, but are not weighmasters, include:
retailers weighing commodities for sale in retail stores
in the presence of consumers, individuals measuring the
amount of oil, gas, or fuel for purposes of royalty
consumption, newspaper publishers weighing newspapers
for sale to dealers, textile maintenance establishments
weighing in connection with the business of
establishments, county sanitation districts operating,
as specified, pest control operators, log scalers, and
weighing and recycling centers.
4. Requires weighmasters to obtain a license with the
Division of Measurement Standards under the DFA.
5. Requires weighmasters to keep and preserve for four
years all copies of certificates issued and make them
available for inspection, as specified.
Existing law, the Health and Safety Code :
1. Governs the management of medical waste under the
Medical Waste Management Act and requires medical waste
haulers to provide specified tracking data to the DPH.
2. Defines "medical waste" as waste that is generated or
produced as a result of any of the following actions:
diagnosis, treatment, or immunization of human beings or
animals.
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3. Provides that the tracking data (document) shall
include:
A. Business name, address, and telephone number.
B. Name of owner, operator, and contact person.
C. Hazardous waste transporter registration number.
D. Vehicle manufacturer name, vehicle model year,
vehicle identification number, and the license
plate number of each vehicle transporting medical
waste.
4. Requires a hazardous waste transporter or generator
transporting medical waste to maintain a completed
tracking document of all medical waste removed for
treatment or disposal. Further requires a hazardous
waste transporter or generator who transports medical
waste to a facility, other than the final medical waste
treatment facility, to also maintain tracking documents
which show the name, address, and telephone number of
the medical waste generator.
A. Requires at the time the medical waste is
received by a hazardous waste transporter, the
transporter must provide the medical waste
generator with a copy of the tracking document for
the generator's medical waste records.
B. Requires the transporter or generator
transporting medical waste shall maintain its copy
of the tracking document for three years.
5. Subjects a waste hauler that intentionally misrepresents
the weight of a parcel of waste, either on the label or
through a report to DPH, to penalties of up to $10,000
per day per violation.
This bill:
1. Specifies that facilities handling medical waste are not
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weighmasters.
2. Eliminates the requirement that medical waste handler's
record parcel weight information on weighmaster
certificates.
3. Requires medical waste handler's to report net weights,
not estimates to the DPH.
4. Sunsets on January 1, 2017.
Background
The California Medical Waste Act was created in 1990, to
establish and ensure statewide standards for uniformity in
regards to the handling and disposal of medical waste.
Medical waste refers to products that cannot be considered
general waste, are produced from healthcare facilities,
such as hospitals, clinics, doctors' offices, veterinary
hospitals and labs. As a part of DPH's tracking system,
licensed medical waste haulers collect containers from
waste generators and transport them to a medical waste
processing facility where they are weighed. Each container
has a barcode label, which identifies the customer. As
each container is weighed, the barcode is scanned. Both
the customer information and weight are recorded
electronically for reporting and billing purposes. Reports
are submitted to DPH on a quarterly basis and customers are
billed monthly. Both waste haulers and waste treatment
facilities are responsible for transmitting information to
DPH, creating an extra level of accountability for both
parties.
Besides DPH, DFA has jurisdiction over medical waste
through the weighmaster program. The weighmaster program
exists to certify that, in a commercial transaction where
the price depends on the weight, the weight is accurate. A
weighmaster may be a person or a business that performs the
actual weighing. Individuals who weigh the materials must
be listed on the weighmaster application as "deputy
weighmasters." No training is needed to become a
weighmaster; one can become a weighmaster by completing the
application and paying the application fee.
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In certifying the weight of a parcel involved in a
commercial transaction, the weighmaster must issue a
certificate. These certificates are to be retained by the
weighmaster for 4 years and must be produced should a
weight and measures official wish to inspect them. Unlike
at DPH, however, there is no requirement that weighmaster
certificates be transmitted to the DFA.
Though many businesses are licensed as weighmasters,
existing law allows for exemptions from the certificate
requirement across a broad range of industries, such as
newspaper publishing, textiles, garbage and refuse
disposal, and recycling redemption.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 6/13/12)
Stericycle
Waste Management
OPPOSITION : (Verified 6/13/12)
California Agricultural Commissioners and Sealers
Association
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office,
this bill eliminates the duplicative requirement that
medical waste handler's record parcel weight information on
weighmaster certificates, as this information is already
collected and transmitted electronically to the DPH. To
minimize public exposure to potential biological hazards,
California meticulously tracks medical waste from the
source of generation to the treatment facility. The
information that DPH collects includes quantity and type of
waste and the dates the material leaves the generating
facility, arrives at the treatment facility, and passes
through any transfer facilities on the way.
The weighmaster certificate records only a subset of the
information DPH requires. DPH's requirements are more
stringent than DFA's, its electronic transmittal makes the
system more convenient and easier to use, and the
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information collected is better tailored to the goal of
protecting public health. The development of DPH's medical
waste tracking system has effectively made DFA's
requirements for medical waste obsolete.
In addition, DPH's medical waste tracking system protects
public health and is tailored for the needs of the medical
waste disposal industry. Neither is true of the
weighmaster program. Producing, signing, and retaining
weighmaster certificates takes up employee time and has no
demonstrable benefit. This bill leaves waste handler's to
focus on their primary responsibility-the safe handling of
medical waste.
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : The California Agricultural
Commissioners and Sealers Association (CACASA) oppose the
bill stating that agricultural commissioners and sealers
perform routine inspections of weighmasters to ensure the
correctness of the certificates issued. Removing the
requirement to obtain a weighmaster certificate would
eliminate any recourse for the public, if a consumer had a
complaint or disagreement related to cost related to
weight. CACASA contends that it is imperative that
accurate records of weights and measures transactions are
created and maintained through the weighmaster certificate.
CACASA is confident that it is possible to address the
issues raised by the bill internally and administratively
without granting an entire industry an exemption from the
program. CACASA understands the desire to combine similar
regulatory paperwork responsibilities, in this case the DPH
and weighmaster certificate programs. However, a statewide
exemption for an entire industry will exempt businesses
with a wide spectrum of capabilities and technology,
according to CACASA.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 69-0, 3/29/12
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Beall,
Bill Berryhill, Block, Blumenfield, Bonilla, Bradford,
Brownley, Buchanan, Butler, Charles Calderon, Campos,
Carter, Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Davis, Dickinson,
Donnelly, Eng, Feuer, Fong, Fuentes, Furutani, Beth
Gaines, Galgiani, Gatto, Gordon, Grove, Hagman,
Halderman, Harkey, Hayashi, Roger Hern�ndez, Hill, Huber,
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Hueso, Huffman, Jeffries, Jones, Lara, Logue, Ma,
Mansoor, Mendoza, Miller, Monning, Morrell, Nestande,
Nielsen, Olsen, Pan, Perea, V. Manuel P�rez, Silva,
Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Swanson, Torres, Valadao,
Wagner, Wieckowski, Williams, John A. P�rez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Cedillo, Fletcher, Garrick, Gorell, Hall,
Knight, Bonnie Lowenthal, Mitchell, Norby, Portantino,
Yamada
JJA:do 8/20/12 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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