California Senate Bill SB1401 Amended / Bill

 BILL NUMBER: SB 1401AMENDED BILL TEXT AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 21, 2010 AMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 24, 2010 INTRODUCED BY Senator Simitian FEBRUARY 19, 2010 An act to amend Sections 14560  , 14574, and 14581   and 14574  of the Public Resources Code, relating to beverage containers. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST SB 1401, as amended, Simitian. Beverage containers: redemption payments. Existing law, the California Beverage Container Recycling and Litter Reduction Act (act), requires a distributor to pay a redemption payment of $0.04 for every beverage container sold or offered for sale in the state to the Division of Recycling in the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery.  Existing law prohibits the department from expending, for the 2010 and 2011 calendar years, funds in the California Beverage Container Recycling Fund that are annually authorized for grants for beverage container recycling and litter reduction programs, the statewide public education and information campaign, grants for recycling market development, and grants for certain programs.  Existing law requires the department to review the fund and  authorizes the   department to  eliminate expenditures, upon making a certain determination  , on or before 180 days, but not less than 90 days after a specified notice is sent to the Legislature  . This bill  would exclude from those prohibitions encumbrances made on or before March 8, 2010. This bill  would  also   change the amount of time when the department is authorized to eliminate those expenditures to on or before 180 days, but not less than 80 days after the date when that notice   is sent and would  make  technical changes   a conforming change  regarding the review of the fund  and elimination of expenditures . Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. Section 14560 of the Public Resources Code, as amended by Section 1 of Chapter 5 of the Eighth Extraordinary Session of the Statutes of 2010, is amended to read: 14560. (a) (1) Except as provided in paragraph (3), a beverage distributor shall pay the department, for deposit into the fund, a redemption payment of four cents ($0.04) for a beverage container sold or offered for sale in this state by the distributor. (2) A beverage container with a capacity of 24 fluid ounces or more shall be considered as two beverage containers for purposes of redemption payments paid pursuant to paragraph (1). (3) On and after July 1, 2007, the amount of the redemption payment and refund value for a beverage container with a capacity of less than 24 fluid ounces sold or offered for sale in this state by a dealer shall equal five cents ($0.05) and the amount of redemption payment and refund value for a beverage container with a capacity of 24 fluid ounces or more shall be ten cents ($0.10), if the aggregate recycling rate reported pursuant to Section 14551 for all beverage containers subject to this division is less than 75 percent for the 12-month reporting period from January 1, 2006, to December 31, 2006, or for any calendar year thereafter. (b) A beverage container sold or offered for sale in this state has a refund value of four cents ($0.04) if the beverage container has a capacity of less than 24 fluid ounces and eight cents ($0.08) if the beverage container has a capacity of 24 fluid ounces or more. (c) (1) The department shall review the fund at least once every three months and provide a status report on its Internet Web site to ensure that there are adequate funds in the fund to pay refund values and other disbursements required by this division. (2) If the department determines, pursuant to a review made pursuant to paragraph (1), that there may be inadequate funds to pay the refund values and necessary disbursements required by this division, the department shall immediately notify the Legislature of the need for urgent legislative action. (3) On or before 180 days, but not less than 80 days, after the notice is sent pursuant to paragraph (2), the department may reduce or eliminate expenditures, or both, from the fund as necessary, according to the procedure set forth in Section 14581, to ensure that there are adequate funds in the fund to pay the refund values and other disbursements required by this division. (d) This section does not apply to a refillable beverage container. SEC. 2. Section 14574 of the Public Resources Code, as added by Section 3 of Chapter 5 of the Eighth Extraordinary Session of the Statutes of 2010, is amended to read: 14574. (a) (1) A distributor of beverage containers shall pay to the department the redemption payment for every beverage container, other than a refillable beverage container, sold or transferred to a dealer, less 1.5 percent for the distributor's administrative costs. (2) The payment made by a distributor shall be made not later than the last day of the third month following the sale. The distributor shall make the payment in the form and manner that the department prescribes. (b) (1) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), if a distributor displays a pattern of operation in compliance with this division and the regulations adopted pursuant to this division, to the satisfaction of the department, the distributor may make a single annual payment of redemption payments, if the distributor's projected redemption payment for a calendar year totals less than seventy-five thousand dollars ($75,000). (2) An annual redemption payment made pursuant to this subdivision is due and payable on or before February 1 for every beverage container sold or transferred by the distributor to a dealer in the previous calendar year. (3) A distributor shall notify the department of its intent to make an annual redemption payment pursuant to this subdivision on or before January 31 of the calendar year for which the payment will be due. (c) This section shall become operative on July 1, 2012.  SEC. 3.   Section 14581 of the Public Resources Code, as amended by Section 5 of Chapter 5 of the Eighth Extraordinary Session of the Statutes of 2010, is amended to read: 14581. (a) Subject to the availability of funds and pursuant to subdivision (c), the department shall expend the moneys set aside in the fund, pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 14580, for the purposes of this section: (1) For each fiscal year commencing July 1, 2008, the department may expend the amount necessary to make the required handling fee payment pursuant to Section 14585. (2) Fifteen million dollars ($15,000,000) shall be expended annually for payments for curbside programs and neighborhood dropoff programs pursuant to Section 14549.6. (3) (A) Fifteen million dollars ($15,000,000), plus the proportional share of the cost-of-living adjustment, as provided in subdivision (b), shall be expended annually in the form of grants for beverage container litter reduction programs and recycling programs issued to either of the following: (i) Certified community conservation corps that were in existence on September 30, 1999, or that are formed subsequent to that date, that are designated by a city or a city and county to perform litter abatement, recycling, and related activities, if the city or the city and county has a population, as determined by the most recent census, of more than 250,000 persons. (ii) Community conservation corps that are designated by a county to perform litter abatement, recycling, and related activities, and are certified by the California Conservation Corps as having operated for a minimum of two years and as meeting all other criteria of Section 14507.5. (B) Any grants provided pursuant to this paragraph shall not comprise more than 75 percent of the annual budget of a community conservation corps. (C) For the 2009-10 fiscal year only, the eight million two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($8,250,000) appropriated to the California Conservation Corps for certified local conservation corps by Item 3340-101-0133 of Section 2.00 of the 2009-10 Budget Act, as added by Section 166 of Chapter 1 of the Fourth Extraordinary Session of the Statutes of 2009, shall be in addition to the amounts expended pursuant to paragraph (3). (4) (A) Ten million five hundred thousand dollars ($10,500,000) may be expended annually for payments of five thousand dollars ($5,000) to cities and ten thousand dollars ($10,000) for payments to counties for beverage container recycling and litter cleanup activities, or the department may calculate the payments to counties and cities on a per capita basis, and may pay whichever amount is greater, for those activities. (B) Eligible activities for the use of these funds may include, but are not necessarily limited to, support for new or existing curbside recycling programs, neighborhood dropoff recycling programs, public education-promoting beverage container recycling, litter prevention, and cleanup, cooperative regional efforts among two or more cities or counties, or both, or other beverage container recycling programs. (C) These funds shall not be used for activities unrelated to beverage container recycling or litter reduction. (D) To receive these funds, a city, county, or city and county shall fill out and return a funding request form to the department. The form shall specify the beverage container recycling or litter reduction activities for which the funds will be used. (E) The department shall annually prepare and distribute a funding request form to each city, county, or city and county. The form shall specify the amount of beverage container recycling and litter cleanup funds for which the jurisdiction is eligible. The form shall not exceed one double-sided page in length, and may be submitted electronically. If a city, county, or city and county does not return the funding request form within 90 days of receipt of the form from the department, the city, county, or city and county is not eligible to receive the funds for that funding cycle. (F) For purposes of this paragraph, per capita population shall be based on the population of the incorporated area of a city or city and county and the unincorporated area of a county. The department may withhold payment to any city, county, or city and county that has prohibited the siting of a supermarket site, caused a supermarket site to close its business, or adopted a land use policy that restricts or prohibits the siting of a supermarket site within its jurisdiction. (5) (A) One million five hundred thousand dollars ($1,500,000) may be expended annually in the form of grants for beverage container recycling and litter reduction programs. (B) Notwithstanding subdivision (f), the department shall not expend funds pursuant to this paragraph for the 2010 and 2011 calendar years, except for encumbrances made on or before March 8, 2010. (6) (A) The department shall expend the amount necessary to pay the processing payment established pursuant to Section 14575. The department shall establish separate processing fee accounts in the fund for each beverage container material type for which a processing payment and processing fee are calculated pursuant to Section 14575, or for which a processing payment is calculated pursuant to Section 14575 and a voluntary artificial scrap value is calculated pursuant to Section 14575.1, into which account shall be deposited both of the following: (i) All amounts paid as processing fees for each beverage container material type pursuant to Section 14575. (ii) Funds equal to the difference between the amount in clause (i) and the amount of the processing payments established in subdivision (b) of Section 14575, and adjusted pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (c) of, and subdivision (f) of, Section 14575, to reduce the processing fee to the level provided in subdivision (e) of Section 14575, or to reflect the agreement by a willing purchaser to pay a voluntary artificial scrap value pursuant to Section 14575.1. (B) Notwithstanding Section 13340 of the Government Code, the moneys in each processing fee account are hereby continuously appropriated to the department for expenditure without regard to fiscal years, for purposes of making processing payments pursuant to Section 14575. (C) Notwithstanding the other provisions of this section and Section 14575, for the 2010 and 2011 calendar years, the total amount that the department may expend to reduce the amount of processing fees for each container type shall not exceed the total amount expended to reduce processing fees in the 2008 calendar year. (7) (A) Up to five million dollars ($5,000,000) may be annually expended by the department for the purposes of undertaking a statewide public education and information campaign aimed at promoting increased recycling of beverage containers. (B) Notwithstanding subdivision (f), the department shall not expend funds pursuant to this paragraph for the 2010 and 2011 calendar years, except for encumbrances made on or before March 8, 2010. (8) Up to ten million dollars ($10,000,000) may be expended annually by the department for quality incentive payments for empty glass beverage containers pursuant to Section 14549.1. (9) Up to twenty million dollars ($20,000,000) may be expended annually by the department, until January 1, 2012, to issue grants for recycling market development and expansion-related activities aimed at increasing the recycling of beverage containers. Notwithstanding subdivision (f), the department shall not expend any funds pursuant to this paragraph for the 2010 and 2011 calendar years, except for encumbrances made on or before March 8, 2010. The activities that may be funded include, but are not limited to, the following: (A) Research and development of collecting, sorting, processing, cleaning, or otherwise upgrading the market value of recycled beverage containers. (B) Identification, development, and expansion of markets for recycled beverage containers. (C) Research and development for products manufactured using recycled beverage containers. (D) Research and development to provide high-quality materials that are substantially free of contamination. (E) Payments to California manufacturers who recycle beverage containers that are marked by resin type identification code "3," "4," "5," "6," or "7," pursuant to Section 18015. (10) Up to ten million dollars ($10,000,000) may be expended annually by the department for market development payments for empty plastic beverage containers pursuant to Section 14549.2, until January 1, 2012. (11) (A) Up to twenty million dollars ($20,000,000) may be expended from July 1, 2009, to January 1, 2012, inclusive, for either of the following: (i) Grants for beverage container recycling and litter reduction programs that emphasize the greatest and most effective collection of beverage containers per dollar spent to ensure the program's performance and accountability. (ii) Focused, regional community beverage container recycling and litter reduction programs that enable the department to more effectively organize the amount and type of resources needed for regional and statewide efforts to increase recycling. (B) The department shall require, as a condition of receiving grant funds pursuant to subparagraph (A), each grant recipient to submit a final report including, but not limited to, the grant recipient's reported volumes of beverage containers recycled, where applicable. (C) On or before July 1, 2014, the department shall publish an evaluation of all grants made pursuant to subparagraph (A). At a minimum, the evaluation shall summarize each final report submitted by each grantee pursuant to subparagraph (B) and assess whether the grantee adequately met the scope and objectives outlined in the grant agreement. (D) Notwithstanding subdivision (f), the department shall not expend funds pursuant to this paragraph for the 2010 and 2011 calendar years, except for encumbrances made on or before March 8, 2010. (b) The fifteen million dollars ($15,000,000) that is set aside pursuant to paragraph (3) of subdivision (a) is a base amount that the department shall adjust annually to reflect any increases or decreases in the cost of living, as measured by the Department of Labor, or a successor agency, of the federal government. (c) (1) The department shall review all funds on a quarterly basis and provide a status report on its Internet Web site to ensure that there are adequate funds to make the payments specified in this section and the processing fee reductions required pursuant to Section 14575. (2) If the department determines, pursuant to a review made pursuant to paragraph (1), that there may be inadequate funds to pay the payments required by this section and the processing fee reductions required pursuant to Section 14575, the department shall immediately notify the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature regarding the inadequacy. (3) On or before 180 days, but not less than 80 days, after the notice is sent pursuant to paragraph (2), the department may reduce or eliminate expenditures, or both, from the funds as necessary, according to the procedure set forth in subdivision (d). (d) If the department determines that there are insufficient funds to make the payments specified pursuant to this section and Section 14575, the department shall reduce all payments proportionally. (e) Prior to making an expenditure pursuant to paragraph (7) of subdivision (a), the department shall convene an advisory committee consisting of representatives of the beverage industry, beverage container manufacturers, environmental organizations, the recycling industry, nonprofit organizations, and retailers to advise the department on the most cost-effective and efficient method of the expenditure of the funds for that education and information campaign. (f) Subject to the availability of funds, the department shall retroactively pay in full any payments provided in this section that have been proportionally reduced during the period of January 1, 2010, through June 30, 2010.