Bill Text: CA AB2493 | 2017-2018 | Regular Session | Amended

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Beverage container recycling: recycling centers and payments.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Passed) 2018-09-23 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 715, Statutes of 2018. [AB2493 Detail]

Download: California-2017-AB2493-Amended.html

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Amended  IN  Assembly  March 22, 2018

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2017–2018 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill

No. 2493

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Introduced by Assembly Member Bloom

February 14, 2018

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An act to amend Section 9001 of the Public Resources Code, relating to resource conservation. An act to amend Section 14585 of, to amend, repeal, and add Section 14509.4 of, and to add Section 14536.2 to, the Public Resources Code, relating to recycling.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

AB 2493, as amended, Bloom. Resource conservation districts. Beverage containers: convenience zones and handling fees.

The California Beverage Container Recycling and Litter Reduction Act requires the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery to annually designate convenience zones and requires that at least one certified recycling center that meets certain requirements be located within every convenience zone, with exemptions. The act continuously appropriates to the department the amount necessary to pay handling fees to certain types of recyclers to provide an incentive for the redemption of empty beverage containers in convenience zones and prohibits the department from making handling fee payments to more than one certified recycling center within a convenience zone. Existing law defines convenience zone as either the area within a ¹/₂-mile radius of a supermarket or the area designated by the department, as specified.

This bill, on or before December 1, 2020, would require the department to adopt regulations to redefine “convenience zone.” The bill would provide that recycling centers that received a handling fee immediately before the adoption of those regulations would remain eligible to receive handling fee payments if they meet all requirements that were applicable to eligible recycling centers in convenience zones immediately before the adoption of those regulations.

Existing law authorizes the formation of resource conservation districts for the control of runoff, the prevention or control of soil erosion, the development and distribution of water, and the improvement of land capabilities. Existing law authorizes a resource conservation district to, among other things, facilitate coordinated resource management efforts for watershed restoration and enhancement, but prohibits a district from conserving water for power purposes and from producing or distributing power for its own use or for the use of others.

This bill would make nonsubstantive changes to that provision.

Digest Key

Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: NOYES   Local Program: NO  

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Bill Text

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

SECTION 1.

 Section 14509.4 of the Public Resources Code is amended to read:

14509.4.

 (a) “Convenience zone” means either of the following:

(a)

(1) The area within a one-half mile radius of a supermarket.

(b)

(2) The area designated by the department pursuant to Section 14571.5.

(b) This section shall become inoperative on the operative date of the regulations adopted pursuant to Section 14536.2 and as of that date is repealed.

SEC. 2.

 Section 14509.4 is added to the Public Resources Code, to read:

14509.4.

 (a) “Convenience zone” means an area designated by the department pursuant to regulations adopted pursuant to Section 14536.2.

(b) This section shall become operative on the operative date of the regulations adopted pursuant to Section 14536.2.

SEC. 3.

 Section 14536.2 is added to the Public Resources Code, to read:

14536.2.

 On or before December 1, 2020, the department shall adopt regulations to define “convenience zone.”

SEC. 4.

 Section 14585 of the Public Resources Code is amended to read:

14585.

 (a) The department shall adopt guidelines and methods for paying handling fees to supermarket sites, nonprofit convenience zone recyclers, or rural region recyclers to provide an incentive for the redemption of empty beverage containers in convenience zones. The guidelines shall include, but not be limited to, all of the following:

(1) Handling fees shall be paid on a monthly basis, in the form and manner adopted by the department. The department shall require that claims for the handling fee be filed with the department not later than the first day of the second month following the month for which the handling fee is claimed as a condition of receiving any handling fee.

(2) The department shall determine the number of eligible containers per site for which a handling fee will be paid in the following manner:

(A) Each eligible site’s combined monthly volume of glass and plastic beverage containers shall be divided by the site’s total monthly volume of all empty beverage container types.

(B) If the quotient determined pursuant to subparagraph (A) is equal to, or more than, 10 percent, the total monthly volume of the site shall be the maximum volume which is eligible for a handling fee for that month.

(C) If the quotient determined pursuant to subparagraph (A) is less than 10 percent, the department shall divide the volume of glass and plastic beverage containers by 10 percent. That quotient shall be the maximum volume that is eligible for a handling fee for that month.

(3)(A)On and after the effective date of the act amending this section during the 2011–12 Regular Session, and until March 1, 2013, the department shall pay a handling fee per eligible container in the amount determined pursuant to subdivisions (f) and (g).

(B)On and after July 1, 2014, the

(3) The department shall pay a handling fee per eligible container in the amount determined pursuant to subdivision (f).

(4) If the eligible volume in any given month would result in handling fee payments that exceed the allocation of funds for that month, as provided in subdivision (b), sites with higher eligible monthly volumes shall receive handling fees for their entire eligible monthly volume before sites with lower eligible monthly volumes receive any handling fees.

(5) (A) If a dealer where a supermarket site, nonprofit convenience zone recycler, or rural region recycler is located ceases operation for remodeling or for a change of ownership, the operator of that supermarket site site, nonprofit convenience zone recycler, or rural region recycler shall be eligible to apply for handling fees for that site for a period of three months following the date of the closure of the dealer.

(B) Every supermarket site operator, nonprofit convenience zone recycler, or rural region recycler shall promptly notify the department of the closure of the dealer where the supermarket site, nonprofit convenience zone recycler, or rural region recycler is located.

(C) Notwithstanding subparagraph (A), any operator who fails to provide notification to the department pursuant to subparagraph (B) shall not be eligible to apply for handling fees.

(b) The department may allocate the amount authorized for expenditure for the payment of handling fees pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) of Section 14581 on a monthly basis and may carry over any unexpended monthly allocation to a subsequent month or months. However, unexpended monthly allocations shall not be carried over to a subsequent fiscal year for the purpose of paying handling fees but may be carried over for any other purpose pursuant to Section 14581.

(c) (1) The department shall not make handling fee payments to more than one certified recycling center in a convenience zone. If a dealer is located in more than one convenience zone, the department shall offer a single handling fee payment to a supermarket site located at that dealer. This handling fee payment shall not be split between the affected zones. The department shall stop making handling fee payments if another recycling center certifies to operate within the convenience zone without receiving payments pursuant to this section, if the department monitors the performance of the other recycling center for 60 days and determines that the recycling center is in compliance with this division. Any recycling center that locates in a convenience zone, thereby causing a preexisting recycling center to become ineligible to receive handling fee payments, is ineligible to receive any handling fee payments in that convenience zone.

(2) The department shall offer a single handling fee payment to a rural region recycler located anywhere inside a convenience zone, if that convenience zone is not served by another certified recycling center and the rural region recycler does either of the following:

(A) Operates a minimum of 30 hours per week in one convenience zone.

(B) Serves two or more convenience zones, and meets all of the following criteria:

(i) Is the only certified recycler within each convenience zone.

(ii) Is open and operating at least eight hours per week in each convenience zone and is certified at each location.

(iii) Operates at least 30 hours per week in total for all convenience zones served.

(d) The department may require the operator of a supermarket site site, or the operator of a rural region recycler recycler, receiving handling fees to maintain records for each location where beverage containers are redeemed, and may require the supermarket site or rural region recycler to take any other action necessary for the department to determine that the supermarket site or rural region recycler does not receive an excessive handling fee.

(e) The department may determine and utilize a standard container per pound rate, for each material type, for the purpose of calculating volumes and making handling fee payments.

(f) (1) On or before January 1, 2008, and every two years thereafter, the department shall conduct a survey pursuant to this subdivision of a statistically significant sample of certified recycling centers that receive handling fee payments to determine the actual cost incurred for the redemption of empty beverage containers by those certified recycling centers. The department shall conduct these cost surveys in conjunction with the cost surveys performed by the department pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 14575 to determine processing payments and processing fees. The department shall include, in determining the actual costs, only those allowable costs contained in the regulations adopted pursuant to this division that are used by the department to conduct cost surveys pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 14575.

(2) Using the information obtained pursuant to paragraph (1), the department shall then determine the statewide weighted average cost incurred for the redemption of empty beverage containers, per empty beverage container, at recycling centers that receive handling fees.

(3) Except as provided in subdivision (g), the The department shall determine the amount of the handling fee to be paid for each empty beverage container by subtracting the amount of the statewide weighted average cost per container to redeem empty beverage containers by recycling centers that do not receive handling fees from the amount of the statewide weighted average cost per container determined pursuant to paragraph (2).

(4) The department shall adjust the statewide average cost determined pursuant to paragraph (2) for each beverage container annually to reflect changes in the cost of living, as measured by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the United States Department of Labor or a successor agency of the United States government.

(5) The cost information collected pursuant to this section at recycling centers that receive handling fees shall not be used in the calculation of the processing payments determined pursuant to Section 14575.

(g)(1)On and after the effective date of the act amending this section during the 2011–12 Regular Session, and until March 1, 2013, the per-container handling fee shall not be less than the amount of the per-container handling fee that was in effect on July 1, 2011.

(2)

(g) The department may update the methodology and scrap values used for calculating the handling fee from the most recent cost survey if it finds that the handling fee resulting from the most recent cost survey does not accurately represent the actual cost incurred for the redemption of empty beverage containers by those certified recycling centers.

(h) Notwithstanding the regulations adopted pursuant to Section 14536.2 defining convenience zone, a recycling center that received a handling fee for the reporting period immediately before the adoption of those regulations shall remain eligible to receive handling fee payments pursuant to this section if it meets all of the requirements that were applicable to eligible recycling centers in convenience zones immediately before the adoption of those regulations.

SECTION 1.Section 9001 of the Public Resources Code is amended to read:

9001.

(a)The Legislature hereby declares that resource conservation is of fundamental importance to the prosperity and welfare of the people of this state. The Legislature believes that the state must assume leadership in formulating and putting into effect a statewide program of soil and water conservation and related natural resource conservation and hereby declares that this division is enacted to accomplish the following purposes:

(1)To provide the means by which the state may cooperate with the United States and with resource conservation districts organized pursuant to this division in securing the adoption in this state of conservation practices, including, but not limited to, farm, range, open space, urban development, wildlife, recreation, watershed, water quality, and woodland, best adapted to save the basic resources, soil, water, and air of the state from unreasonable and economically preventable waste and destruction.

(2)To provide for the organization and operation of resource conservation districts for the purposes of soil and water conservation, the control of runoff, the prevention and control of soil erosion, and erosion stabilization, including, but not limited to, these purposes in open areas, agricultural areas, urban development, wildlife areas, recreational developments, watershed management, the protection of water quality and water reclamation, the development of storage and distribution of water, and the treatment of each acre of land according to its needs.

(b)A district, in addition to any other authority provided by law, may do all of the following:

(1)Ensure consistency with the authorities and policies of the United States, this state, counties, cities, public districts, other resource conservation districts, persons, associations, and corporations.

(2)With the consent of the owner, construct on privately or publicly owned lands any necessary works for the prevention and control of soil erosion and erosion stabilization.

(3)Facilitate coordinated resource management efforts for watershed restoration and enhancement.

(c)A district shall not conserve water for power purposes or produce or distribute power for its own use or for the use of others.