Compare Versions


Bill PDF |Add To My Favorites | print page

AB-2779 Beverage containers: wine and distilled spirits.(2021-2022)



Current Version: 02/18/22 - Introduced

Compare Versions information image


AB2779:v99#DOCUMENT


CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2021–2022 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill
No. 2779

Introduced by Assembly Member Irwin

February 18, 2022

An act to amend Sections 14504 and 14560.5 of the Public Resources Code, relating to recycling, and making an appropriation therefor.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 2779, as introduced, Irwin. Beverage containers: wine and distilled spirits.
(1) Existing law, the California Beverage Container Recycling and Litter Reduction Act, requires that every beverage container sold or offered for sale in this state have a minimum refund value. A beverage distributor is required to pay a redemption payment to the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery for every beverage container sold or offered for sale in the state to a dealer, and the department is required to deposit those amounts in the California Beverage Container Recycling Fund. The money in the fund is continuously appropriated to the department to pay refund values and administrative fees to processors, to fund a reserve for contingencies and, after setting specified funds aside, for various purposes relating to beverage container recycling, litter cleanup and prevention, and education. A violation of the act is a crime.
Existing law defines the term “beverage” to include certain types of products in liquid, ready-to-drink form and excludes, among other things, wine or wine from which alcohol has been removed.
This bill would revise this definition of beverage to include wine, or wine from which alcohol has been removed, sold in an aluminum beverage container and distilled spirits sold in an aluminum beverage container. Since the additional payments for the beverage containers that this bill would make subject to the act would be deposited in a continuously appropriated fund, the bill would make an appropriation. The bill would also impose a state-mandated local program by creating new crimes relating to the regulation of beverage containers.
(2) Existing law requires the invoice or other form of accounting of a transaction submitted by a beverage distributor to a dealer to separately identify the amount of any redemption payment imposed on beverage containers and prohibits that identification from combining or including the gross wholesale price with the redemption payment, except as specified for distributors of beer and malt beverages and wine or distilled spirit coolers.
This bill would additionally exempt distributors of wine sold in aluminum beverage containers and distributors of distilled spirits sold in aluminum beverage containers from those requirements.
(3) Existing law provides, with regard to the sale of beer and other malt beverages or wine and distilled spirits cooler beverages, that any amount of redemption payment imposed is subject to a specified provision of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Act, a violation of which is a crime.
This bill would additionally subject any amount of redemption payment imposed on wine sold in an aluminum beverage container or distilled spirits sold in an aluminum beverage container to that provision of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Act. The bill would thereby impose a state-mandated local program by creating new crimes under the Alcoholic Beverage Control Act.
(4) 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: 2/3   Appropriation: YES   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: YES  

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


SECTION 1.

 Section 14504 of the Public Resources Code is amended to read:

14504.
 (a) Except as provided in subdivision (b), “beverage” means any of the following products if those products are in liquid, ready-to-drink form, and are intended for human consumption:
(1) Beer and other malt beverages.
(2) Wine and distilled spirit coolers.
(3) Wine, or wine from which alcohol has been removed, in whole or in part, whether or not sparkling or carbonated, sold in an aluminum beverage container.
(4) Distilled spirits sold in an aluminum beverage container.

(3)

(5) Carbonated water, including soda and carbonated mineral water.

(4)

(6) Noncarbonated water, including noncarbonated mineral water.

(5)

(7) Carbonated soft drinks.

(6)

(8) Noncarbonated soft drinks and “sport” drinks.

(7)

(9) Except as provided in paragraph (4) (5) of subdivision (b), noncarbonated fruit drinks that contain any percentage of fruit juice.

(8)

(10) Coffee and tea drinks.

(9)

(11) Carbonated fruit drinks.

(10)

(12) Vegetable juice in beverage containers of 16 ounces or less.
(b) “Beverage” does not include any of the following:
(1) Any product sold in a container that is not an aluminum beverage container, a glass container, a plastic beverage container, or a bimetal container.
(2) Wine, or wine from which alcohol has been removed, in whole or in part, whether or not sparkling or carbonated. carbonated, that is sold in a container that is not an aluminum beverage container.
(3) Distilled spirits sold in a container that is not an aluminum beverage container.

(3)

(4) Milk, medical food, or infant formula.

(4)

(5) One hundred percent fruit juice in containers that are 46 ounces or more in volume.
(c) For purposes of this section, the following definitions shall apply:
(1) “Infant formula” means any liquid food described or sold as an alternative for human milk for the feeding of infants.
(2) (A) “Medical food” means a food or beverage that is formulated to be consumed, or administered enterally under the supervision of a physician, and that is intended for specific dietary management of diseases or health conditions for which distinctive nutritional requirements, based on recognized scientific principles, are established by medical evaluation.
(B) A “medical food” is a specially formulated and processed product, for the partial or exclusive feeding of a patient by means of oral intake or enteral feeding by tube, and is not a naturally occurring foodstuff used in its natural state.
(C) “Medical food” includes any product that meets the definition of “medical food” in the federal Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. Sec. 360ee (b)(3). 360ee(b)(3)).
(3) “Noncarbonated soft drink” means a nonalcoholic, noncarbonated naturally or artificially flavored water containing sugar or sweetener or trace amounts of various elements from both natural and synthetic sources.

SEC. 2.

 Section 14560.5 of the Public Resources Code is amended to read:

14560.5.
 (a) (1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), the invoice or other form of accounting of the transaction submitted by a beverage distributor of beverages to a dealer shall separately identify the amount of any redemption payment imposed on beverage containers pursuant to Section 14560 and the separate identification of the invoice or other form of accounting of the transaction shall not combine or include the gross wholesale price with the redemption payment but shall separately state the gross amount of the redemption payment for each type of container included in each delivery.
(2) The invoice or other form of accounting of the transaction submitted by any distributor of beer and malt beverages or beverages, wine or distilled spirit coolers coolers, wine sold in an aluminum beverage container, or distilled spirits sold in an aluminum beverage container to a dealer may separately identify the portion of the gross wholesale price attributable to any redemption payment imposed on beverage containers pursuant to Section 14560 and the separate identification of the invoice or other form of accounting of the transaction may separately state the gross amount of the redemption payment for each type of container included in each delivery. The invoice or other form of accounting of this transaction may separately identify the portion of the gross wholesale price attributable to the redemption payment.
(3) Notwithstanding Section 14541, the department shall randomly inspect beverage distributor invoices or other forms of accounting to ensure compliance with this subdivision. However, an unintentional error in addition or subtraction on an invoice or other form of accounting by a route driver of a distributor shall not be deemed a violation of this subdivision.
(4) For the purposes of this subdivision, the term “type of container” includes the amount of the redemption payment on containers under 24 ounces and on containers 24 ounces or more.
(b) To the extent technically and economically feasible, a dealer may separately identify the amount of any redemption payment on the customer cash register receipt provided to the consumer, by the dealer, that is applied to the purchase of a beverage container.
(c) (1) A dealer shall separately identify the amount of any redemption payment imposed on a beverage container in all advertising of beverage products and on the shelf labels of the dealer’s establishment. The separate identification shall be accomplished by stating one of the following:
(A) The price of the beverage product plus a descriptive term, as described in paragraph (2).
(B) The price of the beverage product plus the amount of the applicable redemption payment and a descriptive term, as described in paragraph (2).
(C) The price of the beverage product plus the amount of the applicable redemption payment, a descriptive term, as described in paragraph (2), and the total of these two amounts.
(2) For purposes of paragraph (1), the redemption payment shall be identified by one of the following descriptive terms: “California Redemption Value,” “CA Redemption Value,” “CRV,” “California Cash Refund,” “CA Cash Refund,” or any other message specified in Section 14561.
(3) A dealer shall not include the redemption payment in the total price of a beverage container in any advertising or on the shelf of the dealer’s establishment.
(4) This subdivision applies only to a dealer at a dealer location with a sales and storage area totaling more than 4,000 square feet.
(5) The penalties specified in Sections 14591 and 14591.1 shall not be applied to a person who violates this subdivision.
(d) With regard to the sale of beer and other malt beverages or beverages, wine and distilled spirits cooler beverages, wine sold in an aluminum beverage container, or distilled spirits sold in an aluminum beverage container, any amount of redemption payment imposed by this division is subject to Section 25509 of the Business and Professions Code.

SEC. 3.

 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.