Solid waste: landfills: closure plans.

Existing law requires an operator of a solid waste disposal facility to pay a quarterly fee to the State Board of Equalization (state board) based on the amount of solid waste disposed of at each disposal site. Commencing with the 1995–96 fiscal year, the act requires the California Integrated Waste Management Board (board) to establish the amount of the fee, as specified, and limits the fee to a maximum of $1.40 per ton. The fees are required to be deposited in the Integrated Waste Management Account in the Integrated Waste Management Fund, and the board is authorized to expend the money in the account, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to administer and implement the act. This bill, on and after January 1, 2012, would authorize an operator of a solid waste disposal facility that is required to meet financial assurance requirements and is in operation on July 1, 2011, to elect to participate in the State Solid Waste Postclosure and Corrective Action Trust Fund created by this bill. The bill would require that a participating operator pay a fee of $0.12 per ton per disposal site. The bill would require the fee to be collected in the same manner as the solid waste disposal fee described above, and require the board to fulfill certain administrative reporting requirements to the state board. The bill would also require that the fee be deposited in the fund and made available to the board for expenditure, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for postclosure activities and corrective actions not performed by any owner or operator of a solid waste landfill when the owner or operator fails to comply with the board's final order, the financial assurance mechanisms are inadequate to fund necessary compliance activities, the solid waste landfill was operating pursuant to a valid solid waste facilities permit on or after January 1, 1988, and the board has first used and exhausted all immediately available financial assurance mechanisms provided by the operator. The bill would require that the fee not be operative on and after January 1, 2012, unless the board received, on or before July 1, 2011, letters of participation in the State Solid Waste Postclosure and Corrective Action Trust Fund from landfill operators representing at least 50% of the total annual waste disposal tonnage in 2010, as determined by the board. The bill would make conforming changes.