California Assembly Bill AB1103 Amended / Bill

 BILL NUMBER: AB 1103AMENDED BILL TEXT AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 11, 2016 AMENDED IN SENATE JULY 16, 2015 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 19, 2015 INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Dodd FEBRUARY 27, 2015 An act to amend  Section 42649.8 of, and to add Sections 42649.88, 42649.89, 42649.9, 42649.91, and 42649.92 to,   Sections 41821.5 and 41953 of, to amend and renumber Section 41952 of, and to add Section 41952 to,  the Public Resources Code, relating to solid waste. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 1103, as amended, Dodd. Solid waste:  organic waste.   disposal.   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. Existing law requires exporters, brokers, and transporters of recyclables or compost to submit periodic information to the department on the types, quantities, and destinations of materials that are disposed of, sold, or transferred.   This bill would additionally require a self-hauler, as defined, to submit that information to the department.   Existing law prohibits a person, other than the authorized recycling agent of the city or county, from removing specified materials that have been segregated from solid waste materials and placed at a designated recycling collection location for residential curbside collection programs authorized by a city, county, or local agency for the purposes of collection and recycling. Existing law authorizes a court, in a civil action by a recycling agent against a person alleged to have violated that or another specified law, to either allow treble damages or award a civil penalty, as specified, against the unauthorized person removing the recyclable material, and to allow treble damages or award a civil penalty, as specified, against a person for a second violation and subsequent violations.   This bill would prohibit a person, other than the solid waste enterprise duly authorized by a city, county, or other local governmental agency, subject to these same penalties and damages, from collecting, removing, or transporting solid waste generated on residential, commercial, or industrial premises located within the city, county, or local governmental jurisdiction. The bill would require a court, if a plaintiff prevails in a civil action brought pursuant to these and related provisions, to award to the plaintiff reasonable attorneys' fees, expert witness fees, and costs incurred in the course of the litigation.   Existing law, on and after April 1, 2016, requires a business that generates a certain amount of organic waste to arrange for recycling services specifically for organic waste, and requires each city, county, or regional agency approved by the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery to implement an organic waste recycling program designed to divert organic waste generated by those businesses, except as specified. Existing law defines the term "organic waste" for purposes of those provisions to include food waste.   This bill would require a person who transports a certain amount of food waste to be registered by the department, except as specified. The bill would require a registered transporter to maintain a record of food waste transported that contains specified documents and information, and to certify, under penalty of perjury, to the accuracy of the record. By expanding the application of the crime of perjury, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would authorize the department to impose fees on registered transporters for vehicles used to transport food waste for the department's reasonable regulatory costs in administering these provisions regulating the diversion of food waste, as specified. The bill would require food waste transporters and facilities to report specified information to the department at least quarterly, including, among other things, the quantity of food waste transported or received, as applicable. The bill would subject a registered transporter of food waste to a civil penalty, payable to the department, for a violation of these provisions. The bill would require a jurisdiction or other local governmental agency to inspect vehicles that are used by transporters to transport food waste. By imposing additional duties on local governmental agencies, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.   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 with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.   With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.  Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program:  yes   no  . THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:  SECTION 1.   Section 41821.5 of the   Public Resources Code   is amended to read:  41821.5. (a) Disposal facility operators shall submit information on the disposal tonnages by jurisdiction or region of origin that are disposed of at each disposal facility to the department, and to counties that request the information, in a form prescribed by the department. To enable disposal facility operators to provide that information, solid waste handlers and transfer station operators shall provide information to disposal facility operators on the origin of the solid waste that they deliver to the disposal facility. (b) (1) Recycling and composting operations and facilities shall submit periodic information to the department on the types and quantities of materials that are disposed of, sold, or transferred to other recycling or composting facilities, end users inside of the state or outside of the state, or exporters, brokers, or transporters for sale inside of the state or outside of the state. (2) Exporters,  brokers,   brokers, self-haulers,  and transporters of recyclables or compost shall submit periodic information to the department on the types, quantities, and destinations of materials that are disposed of, sold, or transferred.  For purposes of this section, "self-hauler" means a person or entity that generates and transports, utilizing its own employees and equipment, more than one cubic yard per week of its own recyclables, organics, or compostable material to a location or facility that is   not owned and operated by that person or entity.  (3) The information in the reports submitted pursuant to this subdivision may be provided to the department on an aggregated facility-wide basis and may exclude financial data, such as contract terms and conditions (including information on pricing, credit terms, volume discounts and other proprietary business terms), the jurisdiction of the origin of the materials, or information on the entities from which the materials are received. The department may provide this information to jurisdictions, aggregated by company, upon request. The aggregated information, other than that aggregated by company, is public information. (c) The department shall adopt regulations pursuant to this section requiring practices and procedures that are reasonable and necessary to implement this section, and that provide a representative accounting of solid wastes and recyclable materials that are handled, processed, or disposed. Those regulations approved by the department shall not impose an unreasonable burden on waste and recycling handling, processing, or disposal operations or otherwise interfere with the safe handling, processing, and disposal of solid waste and recyclables. The department shall include in those regulations both of the following: (1) Procedures to ensure that an opportunity to comply is provided prior to initiation of enforcement authorized by Section 41821.7. (2) Factors to be considered in determining penalty amounts that are similar to those provided in Section 45016. (d) Any person who refuses or fails to submit information required by regulations adopted pursuant to this section is liable for a civil penalty of not less than five hundred dollars ($500) and not more than five thousand dollars ($5,000) for each violation of a separate provision or, for continuing violations, for each day that the violation continues. (e) Any person who knowingly or willfully files a false report, or any person who refuses to permit the department or any of its representatives to make inspection or examination of records, or who fails to keep any records for the inspection of the department, or who alters, cancels, or obliterates entries in the records for the purpose of falsifying the records as required by regulations adopted pursuant to this section, is liable for a civil penalty of not less than five hundred dollars ($500) and not more than ten thousand dollars ($10,000) for each violation of a separate provision or, for continuing violations, for each day that the violation continues. (f) Liability under this section may be imposed in a civil action, or liability may be imposed administratively pursuant to this article. (g) (1) Notwithstanding Title 5 (commencing with Section 3426) of Part 1 of Division 4 of the Civil Code and Article 11 (commencing with Section 1060) of Chapter 4 of Division 8 of the Evidence Code, all records that the facility or operator is reasonably required to keep to allow the department to verify information in, or verification of, the reports required pursuant to subdivisions (a) and (b) and implementing regulations shall be subject to inspection and copying by the department, but shall be confidential and shall not be subject to disclosure under the California Public Records Act (Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 6250) of Division 7 of Title 1 of the Government Code). (2) Notwithstanding Title 5 (commencing with Section 3426) of Part 1 of Division 4 of the Civil Code and Article 11 (commencing with Section 1060) of Chapter 4 of Division 8 of the Evidence Code, an employee of a government entity may, at the disposal facility, inspect and copy records related to tonnage received at the facility on or after July 1, 2015, and originating within the government entity's geographic jurisdiction. Those records shall be limited to weight tags that identify the hauler, vehicle, quantity, date, type, and origin of waste received at a disposal facility. Those records shall be available to those government entities for the purposes of subdivision (a) and as necessary to enforce the collection of local fees, but those records shall be confidential and shall not be subject to disclosure under the California Public Records Act (Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 6250) of Division 7 of Title 1 of the Government Code). Names of haulers using specific landfills shall not be disclosed by a government entity unless necessary as part of an administrative or judicial enforcement proceeding to fund local programs or enforce local franchises. (3) A government entity may petition the superior court for injunctive or declaratory relief to enforce its authority under paragraph (2). The times for responsive pleadings and hearings in these proceedings shall be set by the judge of the court with the object of securing a decision as to these matters at the earliest possible time. (4) For purposes of this section, a government entity is an entity identified in Section 40145 or an entity formed pursuant to Section 40976. (5) For purposes of this subdivision, "disposal" and "disposal facility" have the same meanings as prescribed by Sections 40120.1 and 40121, respectively. (6) Nothing in this subdivision shall be construed to limit or expand the authority of a government entity that may have been provided by this section and implementing regulations as they read on December 31, 2015. (7) The records subject to inspection and copying by the department pursuant to paragraph (1) or by an employee of a government entity pursuant to paragraph (2) may be redacted by the operator before inspection to exclude confidential pricing information contained in the records, such as contract terms and conditions (including information on pricing, credit terms, volume discounts, and other proprietary business terms), if the redacted information is not information that is otherwise required to be reported to the department. (h) Notwithstanding the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (Title 2.5 (commencing with Section 1633.1) of Part 2 of Division 3 of the Civil Code), reports required by this section shall be submitted electronically, using an electronic reporting format system established by the department. (i) All records provided in accordance with this section shall be subject to Section 40062.  SEC. 2.   Section 41952 of the   Public Resources Code   is amended and renumbered to read:   41952.   41957.  Nothing in this chapter limits the right of any person to donate, sell, or otherwise dispose of his or her recyclable materials.  SEC. 3.   Section 41952 is added to the   Public Resources Code   , to read:   41952. No person, other than the solid waste enterprise duly authorized by a city, county, or other local governmental agency, shall collect, remove, or transport solid waste generated on residential, commercial, or industrial premises located within the city, county, or local governmental jurisdiction.   SEC. 4.   Section 41953 of the   Public Resources Code   is amended to read:  41953. (a) In any civil action by a recycling agent against a person alleged to have violated Section 41950 or 41951,  or by an authorized solid waste enterprise against a person alleged to have violated Section 41952,  the court may either allow treble damages, as measured by the market value of the recyclable material removed, or award a civil penalty of not more than two thousand dollars ($2,000), whichever is greater, for each unauthorized removal, against the unauthorized person removing the recyclable material. (b) In any civil action by a recycling agent against a person alleged to have violated Section 41950 or  41951   41951,   or by an authorized solid waste enterprise against a person alleged to have violated Section 41952,  for a second, or  subsequent time,   subsequent, time  in any 12-month period, the court may either allow treble damages, as measured by the market value of the recyclable material removed, or award a civil penalty of not more than five thousand dollars ($5,000), whichever is greater, for each unauthorized removal against the unauthorized person removing the recyclable material.  (c) If a plaintiff prevails in a civil action brought pursuant to this chapter, the court shall award to the plaintiff reasonable attorneys' fees, expert witness fees, and costs incurred in the course of the litigation.   SECTION 1.   (a) The Legislature finds and declares that a statewide system of accounting for the diversion of food waste through the implementation and enforcement of statewide standards for hauling, processing, and transferring of food waste is critical to protect public health and safety, to reduce the disposal of food waste in landfills, and to improve the environment through the reduction of greenhouse gases. According to the State Air Resources Board's May 2015 Short-Lived Climate Pollutant Reduction Strategy concept paper, "The strategy will consider measures to meet a goal of diverting 90 percent of organics from landfills through source reduction and organics recycling by 2025." (b) It is the intent of the Legislature that food waste material be managed in a manner that is consistent statewide and that tracks the movement of food waste through a regulated system to significantly improve the state's ability to do both of the following: (1) Quantify progress toward greenhouse gas reduction goals statewide. (2) Report diversion levels for determining progress toward the state's current 75 percent recycling goal.   SEC. 2.   Section 42649.8 of the Public Resources Code is amended to read: 42649.8. For purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall apply: (a) "Business" means a commercial or public entity, including, but not limited to, a firm, partnership, proprietorship, joint stock company, corporation, or association that is organized as a for-profit or nonprofit entity, or a multifamily residential dwelling, and including federal, state, county, and municipal entities, special districts, schools, and colleges. (b) "Commercial waste generator" means a business subject to subdivision (a) of Section 42649.2. (c) "Food waste" means discarded putrescible solid, semisolid, and liquid food, including, but not limited to, fruit, vegetables, cheese, meat, bones, poultry, seafood, bread, rice, pasta, oils, and herbs, and any other putrescible matter produced from human food production and preparation activities. (d) "Individual self-hauler" means a self-hauler with only one transporter vehicle that transports not more than one cubic yard of food waste per week from not more than one location. (e) "Organic waste" means food waste, green waste, landscape and pruning waste, nonhazardous wood waste, and food-soiled paper waste that is mixed in with food waste. (f) "Organic waste generator" means a business subject to subdivision (a) of Section 42649.81. (g) "Rural jurisdiction" means a jurisdiction that is located entirely within one or more rural counties, or a regional agency comprised of jurisdictions that are located within one or more rural counties. (h) "Rural county" means a county that has a total population of less than 70,000 persons. (i) "Self-hauler" means a business that hauls more than one cubic yard of its own food waste or hauls food waste from more than one location, rather than contracting for that service, and "self-haul" means to act as a self-hauler. (j) "Transporter vehicle" means a vehicle that transports and delivers food waste to an approved processing facility, and that is operated by a business required to be registered pursuant to Section 42649.89.   SEC. 3.   Section 42649.88 is added to the Public Resources Code, to read: 42649.88. Any facility that is permitted or authorized by law to receive food waste may participate in the diversion of food waste pursuant to this chapter.   SEC. 4.   Section 42649.89 is added to the Public Resources Code, to read: 42649.89. (a) Except as expressly provided herein, it is unlawful for any business to transport more than one cubic yard of food waste per week or to transport food waste from more than one location without being registered by the department as a transporter of food waste. The following are exempt from the registration and related requirements of this section: (1) Licensed renderers lawfully operating pursuant to Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 19200) of Part 3 of Division 9 of the Food and Agricultural Code. (2) Transporters of agricultural byproducts destined for final disposition on land in a manner that is specifically authorized by the State Water Resources Control Board, or a Regional Water Quality Control Board, provided such final disposition does not adversely affect public health and safety or the environment. (b) The department may impose fees on registered transporters of food waste and individual self-haulers for transporter vehicles for the reasonable regulatory costs to the department to administer the provisions of this chapter regulating the diversion of food waste, not to exceed the following: (1) Except as specified in paragraph (2), three hundred dollars ($300) for each transporter vehicle. (2) One hundred dollars ($100) for the transporter vehicle of an individual self-hauler. (c) A registered transporter shall procure and maintain insurance coverage against claims for injuries to persons or damages to property that may arise from, or in connection with, the performance of the work of the transporter. A registered transporter shall maintain commercial liability, commercial automobile liability, workers' compensation, and pollution liability insurance policies, in an amount and type as determined by the department, which amount shall be no less than one million dollars ($1,000,000). A registered transporter lawfully operating pursuant to a franchise, contract, license, or permit issued by a local agency shall be deemed to have satisfied the requirements of this subdivision. (d) A transporter vehicle shall be inspected on a regular basis, at a frequency and in accordance with standards developed by the department, by the jurisdiction or other local governmental entity permitting the transporter's operation. The inspection shall include, but is not limited to, the vehicle's cleanliness, whether the vehicle is watertight, whether the food waste is properly contained, and whether the vehicle has been inspected pursuant to Section 34501.12 of the Vehicle Code. A transporter lawfully operating pursuant to a franchise, contract, license, or permit issued by a local agency shall be deemed to have satisfied the requirements of this subdivision. (e) A registered transporter shall comply with state or local laws or requirements, including a local ordinance or agreement, applicable to the collection, handling, or recycling of solid waste.   SEC. 5.   Section 42649.9 is added to the Public Resources Code, to read: 42649.9. (a) A registered transporter shall maintain a record of transported food waste to document that food waste did not remain on the premises of the generator for more than seven days, consistent with, and subject to the exceptions provided in, Section 17331 of Title 14 of the California Code of Regulations, and was handled in accordance with the provisions of this chapter, as specified in regulations to be adopted pursuant to subdivision (e). (b) The record shall include a receipt indicating the acceptance of the material at a permitted or approved facility, the quantity of the material, and the jurisdiction of origin of the food waste. The transporter shall certify, under penalty of perjury, that the record is accurate. (c) A registered transporter shall submit an electronic report to the department, at least quarterly, containing all information required to be reported pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 42649.91. (d) A registered transporter shall maintain all records required pursuant to this section for a minimum of three years. (e) The department may adopt regulations requiring practices and procedures that are reasonable and necessary to provide an accounting of food waste transported, handled, processed, or disposed. The regulations shall not impose an unreasonable burden on the transporting, safe handling, processing, and disposal of food waste.   SEC. 6.   Section 42649.91 is added to the Public Resources Code, to read: 42649.91. (a) The department shall compile a list of permitted and approved facilities authorized to accept food waste and shall also notify facilities and registered transporters of the requirements relating to transportation of food waste by posting the information on the department's Internet Web site. (b) The department shall require a registered transporter or facility that transports or receives food waste, as applicable, to report information to the department at least quarterly concerning the transportation and receipt of food waste, including all of the following: (1) The name of the transporter or facility. (2) The jurisdiction of origin of the food waste. (3) The quantity of the food waste transported or received in weight or volume. (4) The date and time the food waste was transported or received. (5) The license plate number of the vehicle used for transportation. (6) Any other information required by the department.   SEC. 7.   Section 42649.92 is added to the Public Resources Code, to read: 42649.92. Any person who refuses or fails to submit information required by regulations adopted pursuant to Sections 42649.88 to 42649.91, inclusive, is liable to the department for a civil penalty of not less than five hundred dollars ($500) and not more than five thousand dollars ($5,000) for each violation of a separate provision or, for continuing violations, for each day that the violation continues.   SEC. 8.   No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution for certain costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school district because, in that regard, 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. However, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that this act contains other costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to local agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Government Code.