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AB-3038 Public resources: community conservation corps.(2005-2006)

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AB3038:v92#DOCUMENT

Assembly Bill No. 3038
CHAPTER 904

An act to amend Sections 14507.5 and 14581 of the Public Resources Code, relating to public resources.

[ Approved by Governor  September 30, 2006. Filed with Secretary of State  September 30, 2006. ]

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 3038, Ruskin. Public resources: community conservation corps.
(1) Existing law defines a “community conservation corps” as a nonprofit public benefit corporation or an agency operated by a city or a city and county that satisfies specified requirements including having not less than 50 corpsmembers.
This bill would, instead, require the nonprofit public benefit corporation or agency to have an average annual enrollment of not less than 50 corpsmembers between 18 and 25 years of age. The bill would require a nonprofit public benefit corporation or agency to comply with the specified requirements in order to be considered as a community conservation corps. The bill would make related changes, and would provide that participation of a corpsmember shall be for a period of one year, which may be extended. The bill would require the California Conservation Corps to evaluate a community conservation corps to determine its eligibility for certification, after it has completed 12 months of continuous operation, and annually thereafter.
(2) Existing law requires the Department of Conservation, subject to the availability of funds, to annually expend specified amounts from funds in the California Beverage Container Recycling Fund, a continuously appropriated fund, in the form of grants to community conservation corps that meet specified criteria.
The bill would revise those criteria.
Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: NO  

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


SECTION 1.

 Section 14507.5 of the Public Resources Code is amended to read:

14507.5.
 (a) “Community Conservation Corps” means a nonprofit public benefit corporation formed or operating pursuant to Part 2 (commencing with Section 5110) of Division 2 of Title 1 of the Corporations Code, or an agency operated by a city, county, or city and county, that is certified by the California Conservation Corps as meeting all of the following criteria:
(1) The corps is organized in the form of supervised work crews and selects young men and women for participation on the basis of motivation for hard work, personal development, and public service, without regard to their prior employment or educational background, and consistent with Section 14402. Participation shall be for a period of one year, and may be extended.
(2) The corps’ program is based upon a highly disciplined work experience, includes an educational component, and is designed to develop corpsmembers’ character and civic consciousness through rigorous work on public projects. The educational component of the corps’ program includes enrollment in a vocational education program, public or charter high school, or postsecondary community college.
(3) The corps compensates corpsmembers at not less than the federal minimum wage, and provides corpsmembers assistance in obtaining permanent employment following their participation in the corps program.
(4) The corps engages in recycling and litter abatement projects as well as projects that accomplish the conservationist and other purposes described in subdivisions (a) to (h), inclusive, of Section 14300, and that assist agencies of local government and other nonprofit community organizations in developing, rehabilitating, and restoring parklands, recreational facilities, and other community resources.
(5) The corps consists of an average annual enrollment of not less than 50 corpsmembers between 18 and 25 years of age. In determining the average annual enrollment of a community conservation corps for the purposes of subdivision (a) of Section 14581, the California Conservation Corps shall not include special corpsmembers, as described in Section 14303, who are employed by a community conservation corps.
(b) The California Conservation Corps shall evaluate a community conservation corps for the purpose of determining its eligibility for certification, pursuant to this section, after it has completed 12 months of continuous operation, and annually thereafter.

SEC. 2.

 Section 14581 of the Public Resources Code is amended to read:

14581.
 (a) Subject to the availability of funds, and pursuant to subdivision (c), the department shall expend the moneys set aside in the fund, pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 14580, for the purposes of this section:
(1) (A) On and after July 1, 2004, to June 30, 2005, inclusive, up to thirty million dollars ($30,000,000) may be expended for that fiscal year for the payment of handling fees pursuant to Section 14585.
(B) For each fiscal year commencing July 1, 2005, twenty-six million five hundred thousand dollars ($26,500,000) shall be expended each fiscal year for the payment of handling fees required pursuant to Section 14585.
(2) Fifteen million dollars ($15,000,000) shall be expended annually for payments for curbside programs and neighborhood dropoff programs pursuant to Section 14549.6.
(3) (A) Fifteen million dollars ($15,000,000), plus the proportional share of the cost-of-living adjustment, as provided in subdivision (b), shall be expended annually in the form of grants for beverage container litter reduction programs and recycling programs issued to community conservation corps that are certified by the California Conservation Corps pursuant to Section 14507.5, and are designated by a city, county, or city and county to perform litter abatement, recycling, and related activities.
(B) Any grants provided pursuant to this paragraph shall not comprise more than 75 percent of the annual budget of a community conservation corps.
(C) Eligible activities for the use of these funds may include any of the following:
(i) Developing new projects to increase beverage container recycling volumes and consumer convenience.
(ii) Enhancing or assisting existing projects that increase beverage container recycling.
(iii) Increasing the awareness of beverage container recycling, litter prevention, and cleanup.
(iv) Performing beverage container litter abatement projects.
(4) (A) Ten million five hundred thousand dollars ($10,500,000) may be expended annually for payments of five thousand dollars ($5,000) to cities and ten thousand dollars ($10,000) for payments to counties for beverage container recycling and litter cleanup activities, or the department may calculate the payments to counties and cities on a per capita basis, and may pay whichever amount is greater, for those activities.
(B) Eligible activities for the use of these funds may include, but are not necessarily limited to, support for new or existing curbside recycling programs, neighborhood dropoff recycling programs, public education promoting beverage container recycling, litter prevention, and cleanup, cooperative regional efforts among two or more cities or counties, or both, or other beverage container recycling programs.
(C) These funds may not be used for activities unrelated to beverage container recycling or litter reduction.
(D) To receive these funds, a city, county, or city and county shall fill out and return a funding request form to the Department of Conservation. The form shall specify the beverage container recycling or litter reduction activities for which the funds will be used.
(E) The Department of Conservation shall annually prepare and distribute a funding request form to each city, county, or city and county. The form shall specify the amount of beverage container recycling and litter cleanup funds for which the jurisdiction is eligible. The form shall not exceed one double-sided page in length, and may be submitted electronically. If a city, county, or city and county does not return the funding request form within 90 days of receipt of the form from the department, the city, county, or city and county is not eligible to receive the funds for that funding cycle.
(F) For the purposes of this paragraph, per capita population shall be based on the population of the incorporated area of a city or city and county and the unincorporated area of a county. The department may withhold payment to a city, county, or city and county that has prohibited the siting of a supermarket site, caused a supermarket site to close its business, or adopted a land use policy that restricts or prohibits the siting of a supermarket site within its jurisdiction.
(5) One million five hundred thousand dollars ($1,500,000) may be expended annually in the form of grants for beverage container recycling and litter reduction programs.
(6) (A) The department shall expend the amount necessary to pay the processing payment and supplemental processing payment established pursuant to Sections 14575 and 14575.5 and pay processing fee rebates pursuant to Section 14575.2. The department shall establish separate processing fee accounts in the fund for each beverage container material type for which a processing payment and processing fee is calculated pursuant to Section 14575, or for which a processing payment is calculated pursuant to Section 14575 and a voluntary artificial scrap value is calculated pursuant to Section 14575.1, into which account shall be deposited all of the following:
(i) All amounts paid as processing fees for each beverage container material type pursuant to Section 14575.
(ii) Funds equal to the difference between the amount in clause (i) and the amount of the processing payments established in subdivision (b) of Section 14575, and adjusted pursuant to paragraphs (2) and (3) of subdivision (c) of, and subdivision (f) of, Section 14575, to reduce the processing fee to the level provided in subdivision (f) of Section 14575, or to reflect the agreement by a willing purchaser to pay a voluntary artificial scrap value pursuant to Section 14575.1.
(iii) Funds equal to an amount sufficient to pay the total amount of the supplemental processing payments established pursuant to Section 14575.5.
(B) Notwithstanding Section 13340 of the Government Code, the money in each processing fee account is hereby continuously appropriated to the department for expenditure without regard to fiscal years, for purposes of making processing payments and supplemental processing payments, and reducing processing fees, pursuant to Sections 14575 and 14575.5 and paying processing fee rebates pursuant to Section 14575.2.
(7) Up to five million dollars ($5,000,000) may be annually expended by the department for the purposes of undertaking a statewide public education and information campaign aimed at promoting increased recycling of beverage containers.
(8) Up to three million dollars ($3,000,000) shall be expended annually for the payment of quality glass incentive payments pursuant to Section 14549.1.
(9) Up to ten million dollars ($10,000,000) may be expended annually by the department, until January 1, 2007, to issue grants for recycling market development and expansion-related activities aimed at increasing the recycling of beverage containers, including, but not limited to, the following:
(A) Research and development of collecting, sorting, processing, cleaning, or otherwise upgrading the market value of recycled beverage containers.
(B) Identification, development, and expansion of markets for recycled beverage containers.
(C) Research and development for products manufactured using recycled beverage containers.
(D) Payments to California manufacturers who recycle beverage containers that are marked by resin type identification code “3,” “4,” “5,” “6,” or “7,” pursuant to Section 18015.
(10) Up to ten million dollars ($10,000,000) may be transferred on a one-time basis by the department to the Recycling Infrastructure Loan Guarantee Account, for expenditure pursuant to Section 14582.
(b) The fifteen million dollars ($15,000,000) that is set aside pursuant to paragraph (3) of subdivision (a) is a base amount that the department shall adjust annually to reflect increases or decreases in the cost of living, as measured by the Department of Labor, or a successor agency, of the federal government.
(c) (1) The department shall review all funds on a quarterly basis to ensure that there are adequate funds to make the payments specified in this section and the processing fee reductions required pursuant to Section 14575.
(2) If the department determines, pursuant to a review made pursuant to paragraph (1), that there may be inadequate funds to pay the payments required by this section and the processing fee reductions required pursuant to Section 14575, the department shall immediately notify the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature regarding the inadequacy.
(3) On or before 180 days after the notice is sent pursuant to paragraph (2), the department may reduce or eliminate expenditures, or both, from the funds as necessary, according to the procedure set forth in subdivision (d).
(d) If the department determines that there are insufficient funds to make the payments specified pursuant to this section and Section 14575, the department shall reduce all payments proportionally.
(e) Prior to making an expenditure pursuant to paragraph (7) of subdivision (a), the department shall convene an advisory committee consisting of representatives of the beverage industry, beverage container manufacturers, environmental organizations, the recycling industry, nonprofit organizations, and retailers, to advise the department on the most cost-effective and efficient method of the expenditure of the funds for that education and information campaign.