AB2381:v98#DOCUMENTBill Start
Amended
IN
Assembly
March 11, 2020
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CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE—
2019–2020 REGULAR SESSION
Assembly Bill
No. 2381
Introduced by Assembly Member Choi
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February 18, 2020 |
An act to add Section 14575.5 to and repeal Sections 14575.2 and 14585.2 of the Public Resources Code, relating to beverage containers, and making an appropriation therefor.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2381, as amended, Choi.
The California Beverage Container Recycling and Litter Reduction Act. Act: processing payments and handling fees.
Existing law, the California Beverage Container Recycling and Litter Reduction Act, requires every beverage container sold or offered for sale in this state to have a minimum refund value. Under the act, the department Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery is required to calculate a processing fee for each beverage container with a specified scrap value, which is required to be paid by beverage manufacturers for each beverage container sold or transferred to a distributor or dealer. The department is required to calculate the processing fee in a specified manner, so that the actual processing fee generally equals 65% of the processing payment that the department is required to pay to
processors if the scrap value of the container having a refund value pursuant to the act is less than the cost of recycling. Under the act, the processing payment is required to be at least equal to the difference between the scrap value
offered to a statistically significant sample of recyclers by willing purchasers and the sum of the actual cost of recycling containers by certified recycling centers and a reasonable financial return. Department regulations for calendar year 2019 specify a reasonable financial return of 11.5% times that cost, except for rural recycling centers, for which the regulations specify a reasonable financial return of 16.6% times that cost, as specified. The department is required to establish a processing fee account in the continuously appropriated California Beverage Container Recycling Fund for each material type and to pay processing payments from the fund. The act establishes the California Beverage Container Recycling Fund and, except for administrative costs, continuously appropriates moneys in the fund to the department for specified purposes, including the amount necessary to pay processing payments to processors and
to pay handling fees to certain types of recyclers to provide an incentive for the redemption of empty beverage containers in convenience zones.
This bill would make the reasonable financial return for recycling centers, until January 1, 2022, an unspecified percentage of the cost of recycling by certified recycling centers, except for rural recycling centers, for which the reasonable rate of return would also be an unspecified percentage of that cost, as
provided. 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.
This bill would require, notwithstanding the provisions establishing the calculation of processing payments and handling fees, until January 1, 2024, processing payments and handling fees to be set at the rate in effect on July 1, 2020. 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 department to expend from the fund the amount necessary to pay supplemental handling fees on a per-container basis to recycling centers in prescribed amounts,
thereby making an appropriation. The bill would require the department to suspend usage of surveys and calculations of recycling costs for purposes of calculating processing payments and handling fees until January 1, 2024.
Digest Key
Vote:
2/3
Appropriation:
YES
Fiscal Committee:
YES
Local Program:
NO
Bill Text
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
(a) This act shall be known, and may be cited, as the California Recycling Stabilization Act of 2020.(b) It is the intent of the Legislature in enacting this measure to stabilize the situation of beverage container recycling centers leaving the state at the current rate and to provide the Legislature with the
time needed to reform and adjust the beverage container recycling laws to be more vibrant to companies and individuals alike.
SEC. 2.
Section 14575.2 is added to the Public Resources Code, to read:14575.2.
(a) Notwithstanding Section 14575, processing payments shall be set at the rate in effect on July 1, 2020.(b) Notwithstanding Section 14575, the department shall suspend usage of surveys and calculations of recycling costs for purposes of calculating processing payments.
(c) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2024, and as of that date is repealed.
SEC. 3.
Section 14585.2 is added to the Public Resources Code, to read:14585.2.
(a) Notwithstanding Section 14585, handling fees shall be set at the rate in effect on July 1, 2020.(b) Notwithstanding Section 14585, the department shall suspend usage of surveys and calculations of recycling costs for purposes of calculating handling fees.
(c) The department shall expend from the fund the amount necessary to pay supplemental handling fees to recycling centers on a per-container basis as follows:
(1) Two mills ($0.002) per container for low-volume recycling centers.
(2) One and one-half mills ($0.0015) per container for
high-volume recycling centers.
(d) For purposes of this section, the following definitions apply:
(1) “High-volume recycling center” means a recycling center that is not a low-volume recycling center.
(2) “Low-volume recycling center” means a recycling center that is one of the 400 recycling centers in the state with the lowest volumes of redeemed beverage containers.
(e) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2024, and as of that date is repealed.
SECTION 1.Section 14575.5 is added to the Public Resources Code, to read:14575.5.(a)Notwithstanding Section 2975 of Title 14 of the California Code of Regulations, for the period of January 1, 2021, to December 31, 2021, inclusive, the reasonable financial return for recycling centers shall be calculated as follows:
(1)The reasonable financial return shall be equal to ____ percent of the statewide average allowable costs calculated pursuant to Section 2960 of Title 14 of the California Code of Regulations, except as specified in paragraph (2).
(2)The reasonable financial return for recycling centers located in rural regions, as defined by subparagraph (A) of paragraph (2) of subdivision
(b) of Section 14571, shall be equal to ____ percent of the statewide average allowable costs calculated pursuant to Section 2960 of Title 14 of the California Code of Regulations.