Product stewardship: carpet.

(1) The California Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989, administered by the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, is required to reduce, recycle, and reuse solid waste generated in the state to the maximum extent feasible in an efficient cost-effective manner to conserve water, energy, and other natural resources. The bill would require, by September 30, 2011, a manufacturer of carpets sold in this state, individually or through a carpet stewardship organization, to submit a carpet stewardship plan to the department, which would be required to include specified elements, including a funding mechanism that provides sufficient funding to carry out the plan, including administrative, operational, and capital costs of the plan, the payment of fees, and incentive payments. The bill would require the funding mechanism to establish and provide for, on and after January 1, 2013, a carpet stewardship assessment to be added to the purchase price of carpet sold in the state by a manufacturer to a California retailer or wholesaler or otherwise sold for use in the state and would require each retailer and wholesaler to add the assessment to the purchase price of all carpet sold in the state. The bill would require, until April 1, 2015, the Carpet America Recovery Effort (CARE) , a 3rd-party nonprofit carpet stewardship organization, to serve as the carpet stewardship organization and would allow, on and after April 1, 2015, a carpet stewardship organization appointed by one or more manufacturers, to submit a plan. The bill would require, as of July 1, 2011, until January 1, 2013, a manufacturer of carpet to add an assessment of $0.05 per square yard upon the purchase price of all carpet sold in the state by that manufacturer. The bill would require the assessment to be remitted on a quarterly basis, as appropriate, to CARE or would allow the manufacturer to retain that assessment. The bill would require these revenues to be spent by CARE or by an individual manufacturer, prior to approval of its carpet stewardship plan, only to implement early action measures that are consistent to achieve measurable improvements in the landfill diversion and recycling of postconsumer carpet. The department would be required to, among other things, within 60 days after the department receives a plan, review and determine whether the plan complies with the bill's requirements and notify the submitter of its decision. The bill would specify that any plan not approved by March 31, 2012, is out of compliance until determined to be complete by the department. The bill would provide that a manufacturer, wholesaler, or retailer, on and after April 1, 2012, that offers carpet for sale or promotional purposes without an approved plan for that carpet is not in compliance with the act's requirements. The bill would require the department, by July 1, 2012, and not later than January 1 and July 1 annually thereafter, to post a notice on its Internet Web site listing manufacturers that are in compliance with the bill's requirements. The bill would require a wholesaler or retailer that distributes or sells carpets to monitor the department's Internet Web site to determine if the sale of a manufacturer's carpet is in compliance. The act would also require the carpet stewardship organization to demonstrate to the department that it has achieved continuous meaningful improvement in the rates of recycling and diversion and other specified goals in order to be in compliance. Each manufacturer of carpet sold in the state, individually or through a carpet stewardship organization, would be required to prepare and submit to the department an annual report describing the activities carried out pursuant to the carpet stewardship plan. A manufacturer or carpet stewardship organization submitting a carpet stewardship plan would be required to pay the department an annual administrative fee, as determined by the department. The bill would also require the department to identify the direct development or regulatory costs incurred by the department prior to the submittal of carpet stewardship plans and to establish a fee in an amount adequate to cover those costs, that would be required to be paid by a carpet stewardship organization that submits a carpet stewardship plan. The bill would provide for the imposition of administrative civil penalties upon a person who violates the bill and would provide that a plan submitter whose plan is not approved by the department by March 31, 2012, is subject to those penalties until the plan is approved. The bill would establish the Carpet Stewardship Account in the Integrated Waste Management Fund and would require the fees collected by the department to be deposited in that account, for expenditure by the department, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to cover the department's cost to implement the bill's provisions. The bill would also establish the Carpet Stewardship Penalty Subaccount in the Integrated Waste Management Fund and would require that the civil penalties collected by the department pursuant to the bill's provisions be deposited in that subaccount, for expenditure by the department, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to cover the department's costs to implement the bill's provisions. The bill would require the department and the Department of General Services to complete a study, by January 1, 2014, that examines the specifications for carpet purchases by the state, as provided in the NSF/ANSI 140-2007 Standard, Platinum Level, and to submit the study to the Governor and the Legislature, including recommendations for any appropriate changes to that standard. The bill would provide that certain actions of a carpet stewardship organization or its members are not violations of the Cartwright Act or certain provisions regulating unfair business practices or unfair competition. The bill would require the Department of General Services to revise relevant procurement rules to ensure that postconsumer carpet that is removed from state buildings is managed in a manner consistent with the purposes of the bill. (2) Existing law requires the Department of Toxic Substances Control to adopt regulations to establish a process to identify and prioritize chemicals or chemical ingredients in consumer products that may be considered as being a chemical of concern, as prescribed, and to establish a process for evaluating chemicals of concern in consumer products, and their potential alternatives, to determine how best to limit exposure or to reduce the level of hazard posed by a chemical of concern. This bill would require the Department of Toxic Substances Control to fully consider the measures taken by the carpet industry pursuant to the program established by the bill, and the results of those measures, when considering whether to include carpet in the product registry adopted under those provisions or to otherwise regulate carpet pursuant to those provisions.