BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
SB 1118 (Hancock) - Solid waste: used mattresses.
Amended: April 25, 2012 Policy Vote: EQ 5-1
Urgency: No Mandate: No
Hearing Date: May 24, 2012 Consultant: Marie Liu
SUSPENSE FILE. AS PROPOSED TO BE AMENDED.
Bill Summary: SB 1118 would require mattress manufactures, by
July 1, 2013, to either: (1) establish and implement a program
to offer free pick-ups of used mattresses from a customer or
public agency, or (2) pay a $25 fee to the Department of
Resources Recycling and Recovery (DRRR) that must be used to
implement a state-run mattress recovery and recycling program.
Fiscal Impact: Potential initial costs to establish voluntary
fee. Ongoing costs to be recovered from a fee (special fund).
Background: DRR established the Illegal Dumping Technical
Advisory Committee (IDTAC) to assess the extent of illegal
dumping and to make recommendations to DRRR in order to enhance
the effectiveness of local and regional response to the problem.
A representative of the City of Oakland spoke at the IDTAC
December 14, 2011 meeting attesting that the city deals with an
average of 35 illegally dumped mattresses per day. The city
incurs considerable expense in hauling away these mattresses,
which are ultimately sent to a mattress recycler. In response,
DRRR staff is currently contacting IDTAC members to identify the
following data: (1) cost estimates for public and private
collection and disposal of waste mattresses, (2) number of
illegally dumped waste mattresses collected in a given time
period, (3) estimated number of waste mattresses collected at
transfer stations or landfills, (4) number of mattresses
recycled versus incorporated into a landfill, and (5)
availability of mattress recycling companies in the geographical
areas and the per unit charge for transporting and recycling
mattresses. Results are to be presented at the May 23, 2012
IDTAC meeting.
Proposed Law: This bill would require a mattress manufacturer to
establish a program by July 1, 2013 to provide and arrange for
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the pickup of used mattresses upon request from customers and
public agencies, at no cost to the requester. Mattress
retailers, in coordination with a manufacturer, would be
required to pick up used mattresses from a consumer purchasing a
new mattress. The manufacturer and retailer would be able to
recover its costs by incorporating a charge into the purchase
price of new mattresses.
Mattress manufactures, in lieu of establishing their own
program, may instead voluntarily remit a mattress recovery and
recycling payment of $25 to DRRR for each mattress sold by that
manufacturer in the state. The revenues from this payment would
be deposited into a special account (the Mattress Recovery and
Recycling Account) within the Integrated Waste Management Fund,
and may only be expended to implement a mattress recovery and
recycling program implemented by DRRR.
Staff Comments: This bill would require DRRR to develop a used
mattress recovery and recycling program if at least one
manufacturer chooses to pay the $25 fee instead of developing
and implementing their own program. The minimum costs for
developing and implementing such a program will likely be
approximately $700,000 in ongoing costs to the Integrated Waste
Management Fund. If participation is high, the total program
costs would increase, although the cost per mattress may
decline.
The voluntary fee will at least partly offset these program
costs, depending on the level of participation. Based on
national sales, there may be four to five million mattresses
sold in California each year. If most of the manufactures opt to
pay the fee, there is the potential for millions in dollars of
fee revenue to support the program. However if participation in
the state-run program is very low, the state's program costs may
not be covered by the fee.
It is unclear why it is necessary or beneficial to set the
voluntary fee in statute, which reduces DRRR's flexibility in
collecting a fee that will cover their costs. Allowing DRRR to
establish the fee would require the development of a regulation,
but it may be desirable to incur some one-time start-up costs to
ensure the program is fully fee supported in the future.
Staff notes that the IDTAC is meeting on May 23, 2012 to discuss
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the need for a used mattress collection and recycling program.
The author is likely to amend the bill to reflect these
discussions.
Proposed Author Amendments: Delete the in-lieu fee of $25 and
the associated requirement for the revenues to be used to
implement a mattress recovery and recycling program implemented
by DRRR.
Committee Amendments: Allow DRRR to set the level of the in lieu
voluntary fee in an amount sufficient to pay for state program
costs.