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SB-451 Beverage container recycling: pilot program.(2021-2022)

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Date Published: 04/12/2021 09:00 PM
SB451:v98#DOCUMENT

Amended  IN  Senate  April 12, 2021

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2021–2022 REGULAR SESSION

Senate Bill
No. 451

Introduced by Senator Dodd

February 16, 2021

An act to amend Sections 14515.8, 14549.5, 14562, 14571.8, and 14571.9 of the Public Resources Code, relating to beverage container recycling, making an appropriation therefor, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately.An act to add Section 14571.10 to the Public Resources Code, relating to beverage container recycling, making an appropriation therefor, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


SB 451, as amended, Dodd. Beverage container recycling: pilot projects. program.
The California Beverage Container Recycling and Litter Reduction Act, which is administered by the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, is established to promote beverage container recycling and provides for the payment, collection, and distribution of certain payments and fees based on minimum refund values established for beverage containers. The act defines the terms “beverage” and “beverage container” for purposes of the act. The act requires the department to annually designate convenience zones and, until January 1, 2022, authorizes the department to approve up to 5 limited-term recycling pilot projects that are designed to improve redemption opportunities in unserved convenience zones. The act authorizes the department to issue probationary operation certificates to pilot project recyclers for not more than 3 years and makes those recyclers eligible to apply for handling fees from the department. The act makes these pilot project provisions inoperative on July 1, 2022, and repeals them on January 1, 2023. The act establishes the California Beverage Container Recycling Fund and continuously appropriates moneys in the fund to the department for specified purposes, including the amount necessary to pay handling fees to certain types of recyclers to provide an incentive for the redemption of empty beverage containers inconvenience zones.
This bill would authorize the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery to establish a recycling pilot program for the collection and recycling of beverage containers. The bill would define the terms “beverage” and “beverage containers” for purposes of the pilot program to include certain beverage containers that are otherwise excluded for other purposes. The bill would make an appropriation by changing the terms and conditions under which the department is authorized to make payments from a continuously appropriated fund. The bill would require the recycling pilot program to include a requirement for a pilot project operator to submit to the department a pilot project plan with specified goals and elements, including that the pilot project operator provide the department with annual updates and a final report on or before April 1, 2026. The bill would require the department to review and approve, disapprove, or conditionally approve a pilot project operator plan within a reasonable timeframe. The bill would require the department to annually include an update on the recycling pilot program in a specified report to the Legislature. The bill would make these provisions inoperative on July 1, 2026, and would repeal them on January 1, 2027.
This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Existing law, the California Beverage Container Recycling and Litter Reduction Act, requires the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery to annually designate convenience zones and, until January 1, 2022, authorizes the department to approve up to 5 limited-term recycling pilot projects that are designed to improve redemption opportunities in unserved convenience zones. The act authorizes the department to issue probationary operation certificates to pilot project recyclers for not more than 3 years and makes those recyclers eligible to apply for handling fees from the department. The act makes these provisions inoperative on July 1, 2022, and repeals them on January 1, 2023. The act establishes the California Beverage Container Recycling Fund and continuously appropriates moneys in the fund to the department for specified purposes, including the amount necessary to pay handling fees.

This bill would postpone to January 1, 2023, the date by which the department may approve recycling pilot projects. The bill would increase the maximum number of pilot projects from 5 to 10. By increasing expenditures from a continuously appropriated fund for these extensions, the bill would make an appropriation.

This bill would make the provisions related to the pilot projects inoperative on July 1, 2023, and would repeal them as of January 1, 2024.

This bill would make other conforming and nonsubstantive changes.

This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Vote: 2/3   Appropriation: YES   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: NO  

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


SECTION 1.

 Section 14571.10 is added to the Public Resources Code, to read:

14571.10.
 (a) The department may authorize the establishment of a pilot program for the collection and recycling of beverage containers with all of the following parameters:
(1) The pilot program may incorporate any beverage and any beverage container as follows:
(A) For purposes of this section, “beverage” has the same meaning as defined in Section 14504 but also includes each of the beverages excluded in subdivision (b) of Section 14504.
(B) For purposes of this section, “beverage container” has the same meaning as defined in Section 14505, including that it excludes cups or other similar open or loosely sealed receptacles.
(2) The pilot program may operate in multiple jurisdictions.
(3) The pilot program may include collection by means of bottle bins.
(4) A pilot project operator shall provide the department with a three-year plan for the collection of empty beverage containers in the pilot project area in an environmentally beneficial, economically efficient, and practical manner. The plan shall include each of the following goals or elements:
(A) Establishing recycling collection that includes all of the following:
(i) Achieving the 80-percent recycling goal described in subdivision (c) of Section 14501.
(ii) A determination of the recycling method.
(iii) Establishing consumer convenience.
(iv) A list of beverages and beverage containers included in the pilot project.
(v) A description of the pilot project area.
(vi) A plan for the department to audit the pilot project.
(B) Providing the department with an annual update on or before April 1 and a final report on the pilot project on or before April 1, 2026.
(b) The department shall review and approve, disapprove, or conditionally approve a pilot project operator plan submitted pursuant to paragraph (4) of subdivision (a) within a reasonable timeframe.
(c) The department shall include an annual update on the recycling pilot program described in this section as part of its biannual report to the Legislature, as required by Section 14556.
(d) This section shall become inoperative on July 1, 2026, and, as of January 1, 2027, is repealed.

SEC. 2.

 This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the meaning of Article IV of the California Constitution and shall go into immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:
In order to modernize the Beverage Container Recycling and Litter Reduction Act to increase recycling in the state, it is necessary for this act to take effect immediately.