BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    �



                                                                  SB 1547
                                                                  Page 1


          SENATE THIRD READING
          SB 1547 (Simitian)
          As Introduced  February 24, 2012
          Majority vote 

           SENATE VOTE  :38-0  
           
           NATURAL RESOURCES   8-0         APPROPRIATIONS      17-0        
           
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          |Ayes:|Chesbro, Knight,          |Ayes:|Fuentes, Harkey,          |
          |     |Brownley, Dickinson,      |     |Blumenfield, Bradford,    |
          |     |Halderman, Huffman,       |     |Charles Calderon, Campos, |
          |     |Monning, Skinner          |     |Davis, Donnelly, Gatto,   |
          |     |                          |     |Hall, Hill, Lara,         |
          |     |                          |     |Mitchell, Nielsen, Norby, |
          |     |                          |     |Solorio, Wagner           |
          |     |                          |     |                          |
           ----------------------------------------------------------------- 
           SUMMARY  :  Requires the California Department of Resources 
          Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) to exclude "other ineligible 
          material" when conducting surveys to determine a commingled rate 
          for beverage containers included in the California Beverage 
          Container Recycling and Litter Reduction Act (Bottle Bill).  

           EXISTING LAW  , under the Bottle Bill: 

          1)Requires CalRecycle to annually determine a commingled rate 
            for beverage containers and postfilled containers paid to 
            curbside recycling programs, collection programs, and 
            recycling centers.  

          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.  

          3)Prohibits a person with intent to defraud from redeeming, 
            attempting to redeem, aiding the redemption of, receiving, 
            storing, or transporting an out-of-state container, rejected 
            container, line breakage, previously redeemed container, or 
            other ineligible material. 








                                                                  SB 1547
                                                                  Page 2



          4)Requires CalRecycle 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. 

           FISCAL EFFECT  :  According to the Assembly Appropriations 
          Committee, this bill has negligible state costs, if any.  

           COMMENTS  :  Under the Bottle Bill, when more than 50 beverage 
          containers are redeemed by a consumer at a recycling center, the 
          center may pay the redemption for them by weight rather than 
          counting each container.  Because beverage container weights 
          vary, the "comingled rate" is established by CalRecycle based on 
          survey information.  Comingled rates are also established for 
          curbside and community service programs.  

          The author states that this bill "seeks to ensure that when 
          conducting these surveys, CalRecycle excludes all materials not 
          eligible for redemption value.  According to CalRecycle, these 
          rates are typically adjusted twice a year, but may be updated 
          more frequently if data reflects a change of greater than 10%.  
          Given that the majority of containers are redeemed at these 
          rates, it is important that they are as accurate as possible to 
          reduce fraud."  


           Analysis Prepared by  :    Elizabeth MacMillan / NAT. RES. / (916) 
          319-2092 


                                                                FN: 0005506