Amended in Senate May 27, 2014

Amended in Senate April 22, 2014

Senate Bill No. 1249

Introduced by Senator Hill

February 20, 2014

An act to add Sections 25150.9, 25150.9.1, and 25150.9.2 to the Health and Safety Code, relating to hazardous waste.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SB 1249, as amended, Hill. Hazardous waste: shredder waste.

(1) The California Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989 requires materials that require special handling, as defined, to be removed from major appliances and vehicles in which they are contained before crushing for transport or transferring to a baler or shredder for recycling.

The hazardous waste control laws prohibit a person who is not a certified appliance recycler from removing materials that require special handling from major appliances and imposes specified requirements regarding transporting, delivering, or selling discarded major appliances to a scrap recycling facility. A violation of the hazardous waste control laws is a crime.

This bill would authorize, until January 1, 2017, the Department of Toxic Substances Control, in consultation with begin delete other state entities end delete begin insert the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery and the State Water Resources Control Board end insert , to adopt regulations establishing alternative management standards for a metal shredding facility, including activities conducted within the boundaries of a metal shredding facility, and for the generation, storage, transportation, and disposal of metal shredder residue and treated metal shredder residue, as defined, that would apply in lieu of the hazardous waste management standards if the department performs specified actions. The bill would include among those department actions preparing a preliminary analysis and a final analysis evaluating the hazardous waste management activities to which the management standards would apply. The bill would require the department to provide notice that it proposes to adopt alternative management standards. The bill would prohibit the department from adopting management standards that are less stringent than applicable standards under federal law and would require metal shredder residue and treated metal shredder residue to be disposed of in a specified manner. The bill begin delete would, on end delete begin insert would require the department to complete the analysis of the hazardous waste management activities and the subsequent regulatory action before end insert January 1, 2017, begin insert and would end insert make all hazardous waste determinations and policies, procedures, or guidance issued by the department before January 1, 2014, relating to metal shredder residue or treated metal shredder residue inoperative begin insert once the department has taken regulatory action end insert . Because a violation of these requirements would be a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

The bill would authorize the department to collect an annual fee from metal shredding facilities at a rate sufficient to cover the costs of the department begin delete relating to metal shredding facilities, metal shredder residue, or treated metal shredder residue, as specified end delete begin insert to implement these provisions end insert .

(2) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: yes.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.  

Section 25150.9 is added to the Health and Safety
Code, to read:

25150.9.  

(a) The Legislature finds and declares that this section
is intended to address the unique circumstances associated with
the operation of metal shredding facilities, and the generation and
management of wastes generated by metal shredding facilities.
The Legislature further declares that this section does not set a
precedent applicable to the management, including disposal, of
other hazardous wastes.

(b) For purposes of this section, the following definitions shall
apply:

(1) “Metal shredder aggregate” means the combination of ferrous
metal, nonferrous metal, other recyclable materials, and
nonrecyclable materials that exits from a metal shredding facility.

(2) “Metal shredder residue” means the predominantly
nonmetallic material that remains after conducting physical
separation methods to separate any ferrous or nonferrous metals,
or any other recyclable materials, from the materials created by a
metal shredding facility. Metal shredder residue does not include
the ferrous and nonferrous metals and other recyclable materials
that have been removed from the metal shredder aggregate.

(3) “Metal shredding facility” means an operation that uses a
shredding technique to process end-of-life vehicles, waste
appliances, and other forms of scrap metal to facilitate the
separation and sorting of ferrous metals, nonferrous metals, and
other recyclable materials from nonrecyclable materials that are
components of the end-of-life vehicles, waste appliances, and other
forms of scrap metal. “Metal shredding facility” does not include
a feeder yard, a metal crusher, or a metal baler.

(4) “Scrap metal” includes ferrous metals, nonferrous metals,
aluminum scrap, other metals, and auto bodies, but does not include
aluminum cans, steel cans, or bimetal cans.

(5) “Treated metal shredder residue” means metal shredder
residue that has been chemically treated to alter its chemical
characteristics for purposes of rendering the metal shredder residue
less hazardous or nonhazardous for purposes of classifying the
waste in accordance with the criteria and guidelines adopted by
the department pursuant to Section 25141.

(c) The department, in consultation with the Department of
Resources Recycling and begin delete Recovery, end delete begin insert Recovery and end insert the State Water
Resources Control begin delete Board, and the State Air Resources end delete Board, may
adopt regulations establishing management standards for metal
shredding facilities and for the generation, storage, transportation,
and disposal of metal shredder residue or treated metal shredder
residue as an alternative to the requirements specified in this
chapter and the regulations adopted pursuant to this chapter, if the
department does all of the following:

(1) Prepares an analysis of the activities to which the
management standards will apply pursuant to subdivision (d). The
department shall first prepare the analysis as a preliminary analysis
and make it available to the public at the same time that the
department gives notice, pursuant to Section 11346.4 of the
Government Code, that it proposes to adopt the alternative
management standards. The department shall include in the notice
a statement that the department has prepared a preliminary analysis
and a statement concerning where a copy of the preliminary
analysis can be obtained. The information in the preliminary
analysis shall be updated and the department shall make the
analysis available to the public as a final analysis not less than 10
working days before the date that the regulation is adopted.

(2) Demonstrates at least one of the conclusions set forth in
paragraphs (1) to (4), inclusive, of subdivision (e).

(3) Imposes, as may be necessary, conditions and limitations
as part of the management standards that ensure that the hazardous
waste management activity to which the management standards
will apply will not pose a significant potential hazard to human
health or safety or to the environment.

(d) Before the department gives notice of a proposal to adopt
the management standards pursuant to subdivision (c), and before
the department adopts the regulation, the department shall evaluate
the hazardous waste management activities and prepare, as required
by paragraph (1) of subdivision (c), an analysis that addresses all
of the following aspects of the activity, to the extent that the
management standards can affect these aspects of the activity:

(1) The types of hazardous waste and the estimated amounts of
each hazardous waste that are managed as part of the activity and
the hazards to human health or safety or to the environment posed
by reasonably foreseeable mismanagement of those hazardous
wastes and their hazardous constituents. The estimate of the
amounts of each hazardous waste that are managed as part of the
activity shall be based upon information reasonably available to
the department.

(2) The complexity of the activity, and the amount and
complexity of operator training, equipment installation and
maintenance, and monitoring that are required to ensure that the
activity is conducted in a manner that safely and effectively
manages each hazardous waste.

(3) The chemical or physical hazards that are associated with
the activity and the degree to which those hazards are similar to,
or different from, the chemical or physical hazards that are
associated with the production processes that are carried out in the
facilities that produce the hazardous waste that is managed as part
of the activity.

(4) The types of accidents that might reasonably be foreseen to
occur during the management of particular types of hazardous
waste streams as part of the activity, the likely consequences of
those accidents, and the begin insert reasonably available end insert actual begin delete reasonably
available end delete accident history associated with the activity.

(5) The types of locations begin delete at which end delete begin insert where end insert the activity may be
carried out, an estimate of the number of these locations, and the
types of hazards that may be posed by proximity to the land uses
described in Section 25227. The estimate of the number of
locations begin delete at which end delete begin insert where end insert the activity may be carried out shall be
based upon information reasonably available to the department.

(e) The department shall not give notice proposing the adoption
of, and the department shall not adopt, a regulation pursuant to
subdivision (c) unless it first demonstrates at least one of the
following, using the information developed in the analysis prepared
pursuant to subdivision (d):

(1) The requirements that the management standards replace
are not significant or important in either of the following situations:

(A) Preventing or mitigating potential hazards to human health
or safety or to the environment posed by the activity.

(B) Ensuring that the activity is conducted in compliance with
other applicable requirements of this chapter and the regulations
adopted pursuant to this chapter.

(2) A requirement is imposed and enforced by another public
agency that provides protection of human health and safety and
the environment that is as effective as, and equivalent to, the
protection provided by the requirement, or requirements, that the
management standards replace.

(3) Conditions or limitations imposed as part of the management
standards will provide protection of human health and safety and
the environment equivalent to the requirement, or requirements,
that the management standards replace.

(4) Conditions or limitations imposed as part of the management
standards accomplish the same regulatory purpose as the
requirement, or requirements, that the management standards
replace, but at less cost or with greater administrative convenience,
and without increasing potential risks to human health or safety
or to the environment.

(f) The department shall not adopt management standards
pursuant to this section if those standards are less stringent than
the standards that would otherwise apply under the federal act.

(g) The management standards adopted by the department
pursuant to this section shall establish requirements that apply not
only to the generation, management, and disposal of metal shredder
residue or treated metal shredder residue, but shall apply to all
activities being conducted within the boundaries of any metal
shredding facility. begin insert Nothing in this subdivision is intended to
duplicate or conflict with other laws, rules, or regulations adopted
by other state agencies. The department shall, as much as possible,
align the management standards with the laws, rules, and
regulations of other state agencies. end insert

(h) The management standards adopted by the department
pursuant to this section may, to the extent it is consistent with the
standards that would otherwise apply under the federal act, allow
for metal shredder residue or treated metal shredder residue to be
classified and managed as nonhazardous waste, provided that the
analysis prepared pursuant to subdivision (d) demonstrates that
classification and management as hazardous waste is not necessary
to prevent or mitigate potential hazards to human health or safety
or to the environment posed by the metal shredder residue or
treated metal shredder residue.

(i)  begin insert (1) end insert begin insert   end insert Notwithstanding Sections 25189.5 and 25201, metal
shredder residue or treated metal shredder residue shall be disposed
of in either a class I hazardous waste landfill or, if the management
standards adopted by the department pursuant to this section result
in it being classified as a nonhazardous waste, in a composite-lined
portion of a solid waste landfill unit that meets all requirements
applicable to the disposal of municipal solid waste in California
after October 9, 1993, and that is regulated by waste discharge
requirements issued pursuant to Division 7 (commencing with
Section 13000) of the Water Code for discharges of designated
waste, as defined in Section 13173 of the Water Code, or metal
shredder residue or treated metal shredder residue.

begin insert

(2) If the management standards adopted by the department
pursuant to this section result in metal shredder residue or treated
metal shredder residue being classified as nonhazardous waste,
the material may be used as alternative daily cover or for beneficial
reuse pursuant to Section 41781.3 of the Public Resources Code
and its implementing regulations.

end insert

(j)  begin delete On end delete begin insert The department shall complete the analysis described in
paragraph (1) of subdivision (c) and subsequent regulatory action
before end insert January 1, begin delete 2017, all end delete begin insert 2017. All end insert hazardous waste
determinations and policies, procedures, or guidance issued by the
department before January 1, 2014, governing or related to the
generation, treatment, and management of metal shredder residue
or treated metal shredder residue begin delete are end delete begin insert shall be end insert inoperative and have
no further effect begin insert once the department has taken regulatory action end insert .

(k) The authority of the department to adopt original regulations
pursuant to this section shall remain in effect only until January
1, 2017, unless a later enacted statute, which is enacted before
January 1, 2017, deletes or extends that date. This subdivision does
not invalidate any regulation adopted pursuant to this section before
the expiration of the department’s authority.

(l) A regulation adopted pursuant to this section on or before
January 1, 2017, shall continue in force and effect after that date,
until repealed or revised by the department.

SEC. 2.  

Section 25150.9.1 is added to the Health and Safety
Code, to read:

25150.9.1.  

The department is authorized to collect an annual
fee from all metal shredding facilities that are subject to the
requirements of this chapter or to the management standards
adopted pursuant to Section 25150.9. The department shall
establish and adopt by regulation a fee schedule that is set at a rate
sufficient to reimburse the department’s costs to begin delete adopt, and amend
as necessary, the management standards for metal shredding
facilities, to analyze samples of metal shredder residue or treated
metal shredder residue from all metal shredding facilities, and to
inspect all metal shredding facilities, as well as transporters and
facilities where metal shredder residue or treated metal shredder
residue are disposed, to ensure compliance with the management
standards adopted pursuant to Section 25150.9, pursuant to end delete
begin insert implement end insert this chapter. The fee schedule established by the
department may be updated periodically as necessary begin insert and shall
provide for the assessment of no more than the reasonable costs
of the department to implement this chapter end insert .

SEC. 3.  

Section 25150.9.2 is added to the Health and Safety
Code, to read:

25150.9.2.  

If metal shredder residue or treated metal shredder
residue is accepted by a solid waste landfill that manages and
disposes of the metal shredder residue or treated metal shredder
residue in accordance with the management standards adopted by
the department pursuant to Section 25150.9, the metal shredder
residue or treated metal shredder residue, upon acceptance by the
solid waste landfill, shall thereafter be deemed to be a solid waste,
and not a hazardous waste, for purposes of this chapter and Section
40191 of the Public Resources Code.

SEC. 4.  

No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because
the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school
district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or
infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty
for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of
the Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within
the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
Constitution.