BILL NUMBER: AB 488INTRODUCED BILL TEXT INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Williams FEBRUARY 19, 2013 An act to add Article 3 (commencing with Section 42450.1) to Chapter 8 of Part 3 of Division 30 of the Public Resources Code, relating to recycling. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 488, as introduced, Williams. Recycling: household batteries. The California Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989, administered by the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, requires retailers of rechargeable batteries to have in place a system for the acceptance and collection of rechargeable batteries. The bill would require a producer of single-use primary household batteries or a single-use primary household battery stewardship organization created by one or more producers to submit a single-use primary household battery stewardship plan to the department. 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. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following: (a) In early 2006, all household batteries were classified by the state as universal waste and prohibited from being disposed of in solid waste landfills. (b) Effective July 1, 2006, state law prohibits most retailers from selling rechargeable batteries in the state unless they have a system in place for collecting used rechargeable batteries from consumers. (c) Rechargeable battery producers are subject to a mandatory take-back system pursuant to Section 42453 of the Public Resources Code, and the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery is required to annually report on the estimated amount of rechargeable batteries recycled in the state the previous calendar year. (d) Approximately 80 percent of batteries sold in this state are alkaline batteries and are not covered under the retail take-back requirements specified in subdivision (c). (e) Local governments throughout the state are responsible for the collection and management of household batteries, and to manage this hazardous waste, these local governments and taxpayers pay a range of between eight hundred dollars ($800) per ton to two thousand seven hundred dollars ($2,700) per ton, or tens of millions of dollars each year. (f) Because other types of recycling programs have proven to have limited success, state and regional governments in Europe and Canada have adopted producer responsibility programs to redirect the responsibility for the end-of-life management of discarded hazardous and hard-to-manage products from local governments and retailers primarily to producers. (g) After many public hearings and discussions, the former California Integrated Waste Management Board adopted an overall Framework for an Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) guidance document as a policy priority in January 2008. (h) The program established by Article 3 (commencing with Section 42450.1) of Chapter 8 of Part 3 of Division 30 of the Public Resources Code, by Section 2 of this act, is intended to reduce costs to local government, to harmonize the state's producer responsibility obligations with other national and international programs, and to enhance the protection of public health and environment through safer product design, use, reuse, and end-of-life management. SEC. 2. Article 3 (commencing with Section 42450.1) is added to Chapter 8 of Part 3 of Division 30 of the Public Resources Code, to read: Article 3. Product Stewardship for Single-Use Household Batteries 42450.1. For purposes of this article, and unless the context otherwise requires, the definitions in this section govern the construction of this article. (a) "Single-use primary household battery" means a household battery, as defined in subdivision (c) of Section 42450, that is a primary battery. (b) "Primary battery" means an electric cell that generates an electromotive force by the direct and usually irreversible conversion of chemical energy into electrical energy and that cannot be recharged efficiently by an electric current. (c) "Single-use primary household battery stewardship organization" means a nonprofit organization created by the one or more producers to implement the single-use primary household battery stewardship program. 42450.2. On or before January 1, 2015, a producer of single-use primary household batteries or a single-use primary household battery stewardship organization shall submit a household battery stewardship plan to the department.