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SB-560 Solid waste: gas cylinders: stewardship program.(2023-2024)



Current Version: 03/22/23 - Amended Senate

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SB560:v98#DOCUMENT

Amended  IN  Senate  March 22, 2023

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION

Senate Bill
No. 560

Introduced by Senator Laird

February 15, 2023

An act relating to solid waste. An act to add Chapter 3.3 (commencing with Section 42100) to Part 3 of Division 30 of the Public Resources Code, relating to solid waste.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


SB 560, as amended, Laird. Solid waste: extended producer responsibility. Solid waste: gas cylinders: stewardship program.
The California Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989, administered by the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, generally regulates the disposal, management, and recycling of solid waste. The act establishes stewardship programs for various products, including, among others, carpet, mattresses, and pharmaceutical and sharps waste.
This bill would establish a stewardship program for gas cylinder products, as defined, and would authorize producers of those products to establish one more producer stewardship organizations for that purpose. The bill would require each producer or producer stewardship organization to submit a gas cylinder stewardship plan to the department that details, among other things, convenient and accessible opportunities for the recovery of gas cylinders used by consumers. The bill would prohibit gas cylinder producers that are not participating in a department-approved stewardship plan from supplying, selling, or offering for sale gas cylinders in the state. The bill would impose recordkeeping and reporting requirements on producers and producer stewardship organizations with department-approved stewardship plans and would require those producers to pay all administrative and operational costs associated with establishing and implementing the stewardship plan in which it participates, including the cost of collection, transportation, recycling, and the safe and proper management of recovered gas cylinders. The bill would require the department to set, review, and revise necessary convenience and performance standards and ensure appropriate data metrics for the gas cylinder stewardship program.

The California Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989, administered by the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, generally regulates the disposal, management, and recycling of solid waste.

This bill would express the intent of the Legislature to enact subsequent legislation to authorize the department to establish a framework for the application of extended producer responsibility to the end-of-life management of covered gas cylinders, which include propane gas cylinders under 20 pounds, helium cylinders, isobutane cylinders, and butane cylinders.

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

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


SECTION 1.

 Chapter 3.3 (commencing with Section 42100) is added to Part 3 of Division 30 of the Public Resources Code, to read:
CHAPTER  3.3. Stewardship Program for Gas Cylinders
Article  1. Definitions

42100.
 (a) (1) “Gas cylinder” means a gas cylinder designed to receive, store, and deliver compressed gas. A gas cylinder includes a gas cylinder that is any of the following:
(A) A propane gas cylinder designed with a capacity under 20 pounds, including both of the following:
(i) “Camping-style” one-pound propane gas cylinders.
(ii) “Torch-style” 14-ounce propane gas cylinder, including those containing methylacetylene-propadiene propane gas and oxygen.
(B) A helium gas cylinder designed for a compressed gas quantity of under 20 cubic feet, including both of the following:
(i) 14.9-cubic-foot helium gas cylinders.
(ii) 20-cubic-foot helium gas cylinders.
(C) An isobutane gas cylinder designed for under two pounds, including both of the following:
(i) 1,500-milliliter isobutane gas cylinders.
(ii) 1,500-gram isobutane gas cylinders.
(D) A butane gas canister or cylinder designed for under two pounds, including eight-ounce butane gas canisters or cylinders.
(2) “Gas cylinder” does not include any of the following:
(A) A compressed gas cylinder with a capacity equal to, or greater than, 20 pounds.
(B) Oxygen cylinders for health care applications.
(C) Fire extinguishers.
(D) Industrial welding cylinders.
(E) Home, commercial, or automotive refrigerant cylinders or canisters.
(b) “Gas cylinder stewardship plan” means a stewardship plan prepared by a producer or producer stewardship organization to implement a gas cylinder stewardship program pursuant to this chapter.
(c) “Producer” means a producer of gas cylinders.
(d) “Producer stewardship organization” means an organization that is established by and represents producers of gas cylinders and that designs, submits, and implements a gas cylinder stewardship plan on behalf of the producers it represents.

Article  2. Performance Standards and Metrics

42101.
 (a) (1) The Stewardship Program for Gas Cylinders is hereby created.
(2) The program shall be administered by the department.
(b) The program shall do all of the following:
(1) Set meaningful and quantitative product stewardship convenience standards.
(2) Consider whether product stewardship performance standards are appropriate for gas cylinder product categories, including those related to their reuse, recycling, and collection, and set necessary performance standards.
(3) Establish a process for the department to review and revise convenience and performance standards as necessary.
(4) Establish dates that producers and producer stewardship organizations are required to meet the convenience and performance standards established by the department pursuant to this section.
(5) Ensure that program goals are supported with accurate data sources that allow effective monitoring of goal achievement.
(6) Ensure that any recycling rate performance standard established under the program accurately reflects increases and decreases in the recycling of gas cylinders and is supported by data sources that quantify the gas cylinder products discarded and recycled over a set period of time and that do not rely upon factors that arbitrarily impact the calculation.

Article  3. Stewardship Organizations

42102.
 Producers may establish one or more producer stewardship organizations composed of producers to design, submit, and implement a gas cylinder stewardship plan on behalf of the producers it represents.

Article  4. Stewardship Plans

42103.
 (a) Each producer or producer stewardship organization shall notify the department, in writing, that the producer will act individually or jointly with other producers to submit a gas cylinder stewardship plan to the department.
(b) A gas cylinder stewardship plan shall detail how the producer or producer stewardship organization shall do all of the following:
(1) Minimize public sector involvement in the management of discarded gas cylinders.
(2) Provide for convenient and accessible opportunities for the recovery of gas cylinders used by consumers for personal, family, or household use at collection sites.
(3) Provide for refilling or recycling cylinders and capturing residual gases for reuse.
(4) Provide a public education component to promote consumer knowledge of the plan.
(5) Identify producers participating in the plan.

Article  5. Producer Records and Reports

42104.
 Each producer or producer stewardship organization with a gas cylinder stewardship plan approved by the department shall do both of the following:
(a) Maintain all records relating to the applicable gas cylinder stewardship plan for a period of not less than five years.
(b) Submit an annual report to the director, in a format prescribed by the director.

Article  6. Program Administration
Article  7. Industry Responsibilities
Article  8. Financial Provisions

42107.
 Each producer shall, either individually or through a producer stewardship organization, pay all administrative and operational costs associated with establishing and implementing the gas cylinder stewardship plan in which it participates, including the cost of collection, transportation, recycling, and the safe and proper management of recovered gas cylinders.

Article  9. Enforcement and Civil Penalties

42108.
 A producer that fails to participate in a gas cylinder stewardship plan approved by the department shall not supply, sell, or offer for sale gas cylinders in the state.

Article  10. Antitrust Immunity and Miscellaneous

42109.
 (a) Except as provided in subdivision (b), an action that is taken by a producer or producer’s designee, including, but not limited to, a producer stewardship organization, is not a violation of the Cartwright Act (Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 16700) of Part 2 of Division 7 of the Business and Professions Code), the Unfair Practices Act (Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 17000) of Part 2 of Division 7 of the Business and Professions Code), or the Unfair Competition Law (Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 17200) of Part 2 of Division 7 of the Business and Professions Code) to the extent the producer or producer’s designee, including, but not limited to, a producer stewardship organization, is exercising authority pursuant to this chapter.
(b) Subdivision (a) does not apply to an agreement that does any of the following:
(1) Fixes a price of or for gas cylinders.
(2) Fixes the output or production of gas cylinders.
(3) Restricts the geographic area in which, or customers to whom, gas cylinders will be sold.

SECTION 1.

It is the intent of the Legislature to enact subsequent legislation to authorize the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery to establish a framework for the application of extended producer responsibility to the end-of-life management of covered gas cylinders, which include propane gas cylinders under 20 pounds, helium cylinders, isobutane cylinders, and butane cylinders.