BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    �



                                                               SB 1547
                                                                       

                      SENATE COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
                        Senator S. Joseph Simitian, Chairman
                              2011-2012 Regular Session
                                           
           BILL NO:    SB 1547
           AUTHOR:     Simitian
           AMENDED:    As Introduced
           FISCAL:     Yes               HEARING DATE:     April 16, 2012
           URGENCY:    No                CONSULTANT:       Peter Cowan
            
           SUBJECT  :    BEVERAGE CONTAINER RECYCLING 

            SUMMARY  :    
           
            Existing law  :  Under the California Beverage Container 
           Recycling and Litter Reduction Act: 

           1) Requires the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery 
              (DRRR) to annually determine a commingled rate for beverage 
              containers and postfilled containers paid to curbside 
              recycling programs, collection programs, and recycling 
              centers.  (Public Resources Code �14549.5).

           2) Prohibits a person from paying or receiving any refund 
              value,  processing payment, handling fee, or administrative 
              fee for beverage container material that the person knew, 
              or should have known, was imported from out of state, was 
              previously redeemed, was rejected, line breakage, or other 
              ineligible material.  (�14595.5 (a)(1)).

           3) Prohibits a person, with intent to defraud, to redeem, 
              attempt to redeem, aid the redemption of, receive, store, 
              or transport an out-of-state container, rejected container, 
              line breakage, previously redeemed container, or other 
              ineligible material.  (�14595.5 (a)(2)).

           4) Requires DRRR to take all reasonable steps to exclude 
              beverage container material imported from out of state, 
              previously redeemed containers, rejected containers, and 
              line breakage, when conducting surveys to determine a 
              commingled rate.  (�14595.5 (b)).

            This bill  :  Requires DRRR to additionally exclude "other 









                                                               SB 1547
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           ineligible material" when conducting surveys to determine a 
           commingled rate.  (�14595.5 (b)).

            COMMENTS  :

            1) Purpose of Bill  .  According to the author this bill 
              clarifies what materials should be excluded from DRRR 
              surveys to determine the comingled rate and makes the 
              requirement consistent with other provisions of the Act.

            2) Comingled rates  . The "comingled rate" is the rate paid by 
              weight to consumers when redeeming a load of material 
              comprised of both California Redemption Value (CRV) and 
              non-CRV containers and numbering more than 50 containers.  
              When redeeming fewer than 50 containers, consumers may opt 
              to be paid by count or at the comingled rate.  According to 
              DRRR these rates are typically adjusted twice a year, but 
              may be updated more frequently if data reflects a change or 
              greater than 10%.  

           SOURCE  :        Senator Simitian  

           SUPPORT  :       None on file  

           OPPOSITION  :    None on file