BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 2748
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 29, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY AND TOXIC MATERIALS
Luis Alejo, Chair
AB 2748 (Environmental Safety Committee) - As Amended: April
21, 2014
SUBJECT : Hazardous waste: business plans.
SUMMARY : Provides that a business that handles paint that will
be recycled or otherwise managed under an architectural paint
recovery program approved by the Department of Resources
Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) is only required to
establish and implement a hazardous materials business plan
(HMBP) if it handles postconsumer (leftover) paint above
specified quantities. Specifically, this bill :
1)Deletes the statutory requirement that the owner or operator
of a location that is authorized to accept recyclable latex
paint have a HMBP, as specified.
2)Provides that a business that handles paint that will be
recycled or otherwise managed under an architectural paint
recovery program approved by CalRecycle is only required to
establish and implement a HMBP if it handles at any one time
during the reporting year a total weight of 10,000 pounds of
solid or a total volume of 1,000 gallons of liquid paint.
3)Prohibits a unified program agency from imposing a fee on a
business that is implementing an architectural paint recovery
program approved by CalRecycle and that is exempt from HMBP
requirements for the cost of processing that exemption.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Prohibits a person from disposing of, or attempting to dispose
of, liquid latex paint or oil-based paint on the land or into
the waters of the state unless authorized by applicable
provisions of law. (Health and Safety Code (HSC) � 25217.1)
2)Authorizes recyclable latex paint to be accepted at any
location including, but not limited to, a permanent household
hazardous waste collection facility, if specified conditions
are met, including that the owner or operator of the location
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has a HMBP that meets statutory requirements. (HSC � 25217.2)
3)Authorizes a location that is authorized to accept recyclable
latex paint to also accept oil-based paint if additional
following conditions are met, including that the collection
location is established and operates under an architectural
paint stewardship plan approved by CalRecycle. (HSC �
25217.2.1.)
4)Provides that, in order to protect the public health and
safety and the environment, it is necessary to establish
business and area plans relating to the handling and release
or threatened release of hazardous materials. (HSC � 25500)
5)Requires a business to establish and implement a business plan
for emergency response to a release or threatened release of a
hazardous material if the business meets specified conditions
regarding the hazardous materials the business may handle.
(HSC 25507)
6)Requires the certified unified program agency (CUPA), or other
authorized agency, to implement HMBP and area plans. (HSC �
25502)
7)Provides that the purpose of the architectural paint recovery
program established in statute is to require paint
manufacturers to develop and implement a program to collect,
transport, and process postconsumer paint to reduce the costs
and environmental impacts of the disposal of postconsumer
paint in this state. (Public Resources Code (PRC) � 48700)
8)Requires a manufacturer of architectural paint sold in this
state to, individually or through a stewardship organization,
submit an architectural paint stewardship plan to the
CalRecycle to develop and implement a recovery program to
reduce the generation of postconsumer architectural paint,
promote the reuse of postconsumer architectural paint, and
manage the end-of-life of postconsumer architectural paint, in
an environmentally sound fashion, including collection,
transportation, processing, and disposal. (PRC � 48702)
9)Prohibits a manufacturer or retailer from selling or offering
for sale in this state architectural paint to any person in
this state unless the manufacturer participates in a
CalRecyle-approved architectural paint stewardship program.
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(PRC � 48702)
10)Requires, on or before April 1, 2012, a manufacturer or
designated stewardship organization to submit an architectural
paint stewardship plan to CalRecycle. Requires the plan to
address the coordination of the architectural paint
stewardship program with existing local household hazardous
waste (HHW) collection programs, as specified, and to include
goals to reduce the generation of postconsumer paint, to
promote the reuse of postconsumer paint, and for the proper
end-of-life management of postconsumer paint. (PRC � 48703)
11)Authorizes any retailer to participate, on a voluntary basis,
as a paint collection point pursuant to the paint stewardship
program if the retailer's paint collection location meets
specified conditions. (PRC � 48703)
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown.
COMMENTS :
Need for the bill : This bill encourages the take-back of used
paint by eliminating duplicative reporting requirements on
businesses that are part of the CalRecycle-approved paint
stewardship program. Current law requires businesses that
handle hazardous waste, including used paint collected under
California's paint stewardship program, to submit HMBP to the
local unified program agency. Both the HMBP requirements and
the CalRecycle paint stewardship program include safe management
requirements for collected paint. This bill removes the HMBP
requirement on businesses whose collection of a specified amount
of used paint, as part of the paint stewardship program,
triggers the requirement to submit a HMBP.
California's paint stewardship program : According to
CalRecycle, Californians generate millions of gallons of
leftover paint each year. Prior to the passage of the
California Paint Stewardship Law (AB 1343 (Huffman) Chapter 420,
Statutes of 2010), the only way for consumers to properly manage
their leftover paint was through local, taxpayer-funded
household HHW programs. However, due to the immense cost to
manage household hazardous waste, local programs typically can
only afford to serve between five to ten percent of the
residents in their jurisdictions. Historically, paint has
represented almost one-third of the material collected through
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local HHW programs and costs local government millions of
dollars to manage.
AB 1343 created a postconsumer paint management program for the
reuse, recycling, and proper disposal of paint. The structure
of the program was developed thorough a seven-year,
multi-stakeholder, national Paint Product Stewardship
Initiative. California became one of the first states in the
nation to implement such a program.
PaintCare Inc., a non-profit organization established by the
American Coatings Association to implement AB 1343 and other
states' paint stewardship programs, has set up nearly 600
drop-off sites for postconsumer paint at paint retailers,
hardware stores, and other facilities throughout California.
According to PaintCare, as it continues its efforts to increase
the number of drop-off sites, it has encountered many smaller
paint stores and facilities that have declined participation in
the program because participation would trigger HMBP
requirements to which they are not otherwise subject. Many of
these sites are in rural or otherwise underserved areas, making
their participation even more important to the success of the
paint stewardship program.
Streamlining the HMBP process : The purpose of AB 2748 is to
eliminate duplicative reporting requirements on paint drop-off
sites by raising the current HMBP exemption limits (to 1,000
gallons from 550 and 10,000 pounds from 5,000) for paint that
will be managed under the paint stewardship program. This
change will exempt more smaller product take-back sites from the
requirement to file a HMBP, if their participation in the paint
stewardship program is what triggers their HMBP reporting
requirement. Safe handling and storage of paint is required and
monitored through the CalRecycle-approved stewardship plans.
Supporters assert that the HMBP exemption will encourage smaller
facilities (generally retail sites where paint is purchased) to
participate as public drop-off sites for leftover product as
part of the paint stewardship program.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support:
AmericanCoatings Association
AB 2748
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Behr
California Association of Environmental Health Administrators
California Paint Council
Californians Against Waste
Paintcare
Paint Council Network
Rudd Company, Inc.
Rust-Oleum Corporation
Sherwin Williams Company
Valspar
Opposition:
None received.
Analysis Prepared by : Shannon McKinney / E.S. & T.M. / (916)
319-3965