O F F I C E O F L E G I S L A T I V E R E S E A R C H
P U B L I C A C T S U M M A R Y
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PA 24-133—HB 5353
Environment Committee
Judiciary Committee
AN ACT CONCERNING TH E GAS CYLINDER STEWA RDSHIP
PROGRAM
SUMMARY: PA 22-27 established a framework for a statewide stewardship
program to collect discarded gas cylinders, to which this act makes several changes.
First, prior law required, by October 1, 2025, all gas cylinder producers to be
part of an approved and implemented stewardship program. The act instead requires
producers to be part of an approved plan by October 1, 2024, and that a program be
implemented by that October 1, 2025, date.
Prior law limited civil enforcement of the gas cylinder stewardship law in court
to actions by the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) and
the state attorney general. In these cases, the act allows the court to assess a civil
penalty on producers of up to $25,000 per offense, with each violation being a
separate offense. The act also gives a gas cylinder stewardship organization that
implements an approved stewardship plan a private right of action for damages
against a noncompliant producer under certain circumstances.
Lastly, existing law requires DEEP to annually report to the Environment
Committee on its efforts to address producer noncompliance. Prior law required the
report to include a list of noncompliant producers. The act instead requires it to
have a list of compliant ones that is based on information from the stewardship
organizations.
EFFECTIVE DATE: Upon passage
PRIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION
Under the act, a private right of action can be brought when a (1) stewardship
organization incurs more than $500 in actual costs to manage gas cylinders the
defendant producer supplied, sold, or offered for sale in the state and (2) defendant
producer, or the stewardship organization to which it belongs, is noncompliant with
the gas cylinder stewardship law.
The damages available to the organization are (1) the actual costs to manage
(i.e., collection, education, handling, recycling, approved disposal, and
administrative overhead) cylinders reasonably identified as coming from another
gas cylinder producer or gas cylinder stewardship organization and (2) reasonable
attorney’s fees and costs from bringing the action.
The act allows a gas cylinder stewardship organization to bring the action
regardless of whether it informed DEEP of the defendant’s noncompliance.