BILL NUMBER: AB 2176INTRODUCED BILL TEXT INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Blumenfield FEBRUARY 18, 2010 An act to add Article 10.03 (commencing with Section 25210.13) to Chapter 6.5 of Division 20 of the Health and Safety Code, relating to hazardous waste. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 2176, as introduced, Blumenfield. Hazardous waste: lighting products. Existing law, the California Lighting Efficiency and Toxics Reduction Act, administered by the Department of Toxic Substances Control, prohibits a person from manufacturing for sale or selling in the state specified general purpose lights that contain levels of hazardous substances prohibited by the European Union pursuant to the RoHS Directive. This bill would declare the intent of the Legislature to enact subsequent legislation to provide for the California Lighting Toxics Reduction and Recycling Act. Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following: (a) The state's policy, including the California Lighting Efficiency and Toxics Reduction Act, which added Article 10.02 (commencing with Section 25210.9) to Chapter 6.5 of Division 20 of the Health and Safety Code, has put the state on a path of transitioning toward more energy-efficient lighting, including substantially increased utilization of fluorescent lighting. (b) Lighting products introduce hazardous waste into the environment as it may contain such hazardous substances as mercury, in the lighting product itself, and by the release of hazardous substances from the production of energy, which the lighting product utilizes. (c) High-efficiency bulbs, such as compact fluorescent lamps, contain mercury within the product, but because these bulbs use less energy, they are responsible for smaller hazardous emissions from energy production. (d) Low-efficiency bulbs, such as incandescent bulbs, contain no mercury in the product but are responsible for greater hazardous substance emissions from energy production. (e) The state prohibits the disposal of lighting products containing hazardous levels of metal in the solid waste stream. (f) The hazardous waste generated by waste lighting products can be reduced and managed through recycling, but recycling opportunities are currently inconvenient or nonexistent for most consumers. (g) Even though some types of fluorescent lighting products deliver the same level of light at the same level of efficiency as other types of these products, they may have varying levels of mercury. The Department of General Services has adopted a procurement preference favoring low-mercury fluorescent lamps. (h) In 2007, the Legislature enacted the California Lighting Efficiency and Toxics Reduction Act, which directed the Department of Toxic Substances Control to convene a lighting task force to consider and make policy recommendations to the Legislature for designing a statewide collection program for end-of-life fluorescent lights. (i) On September 1, 2008, the task force submitted recommendations to the Legislature on the need and options for a convenient statewide system for the collection and recycling of fluorescent lamps for residential generators. (j) Electricity generation, particularly from coal, releases mercury into the atmosphere, which then contaminates waterways and fish, causing a public health risk. (k) The more electricity required by a bulb, the greater the level of hazardous waste, including mercury, from electricity generation associated with its use. (l) The purpose of this act is to establish a system for the recycling of fluorescent lamps generated by households and small businesses that is free and convenient for end users and to promote the rapid development and uptake of more efficient and low-toxicity lighting products to minimize the public health impacts from lighting. (m) The responsibility for the end-of-life management of products and materials rests primarily with the producers who designed and profited from the product, so incorporating life-cycle costs into the total product costs will reduce the impact of these products on the taxpayers and ratepayers of the state and reduce the impact of these products on human health and the environment. SEC. 2. Article 10.03 (commencing with Section 25210.13) is added to Chapter 6.5 of Division 20 of the Health and Safety Code, to read: Article 10.03. California Lighting Toxics Reduction and Recycling Act 25210.13. The Legislature declares its intent to enact subsequent legislation to provide for the California Lighting Toxics Reduction and Recycling Act.