Beverage containers: recycling and litter reduction: funds.

Existing law, the California Beverage Container Recycling and Litter Reduction Act, requires a distributor to pay a redemption payment for every beverage container sold or offered for sale in the state to the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery for deposit in the California Beverage Container Recycling Fund. After setting aside funds for the payment of refund values and administrative fees, and for a reserve for contingencies, the remaining moneys in the fund are continuously appropriated to the department for expenditure for designated programs, grants, and fee payments, including annually expending up to $10,000,000 to make market development payments for empty plastic beverage containers, until January 1, 2012. The department is authorized to expend up to $20,000,000 annually, until January 1, 2012, for recycling market development grants and up to $20,000,000 annually, until January 1, 2012, for certain grants and programs, but is prohibited from expending those funds for the 2010 and 2011 calendar years. The department is also required to publish an evaluation of those grants by January 1, 2014. Existing law requires the department to determine the amount of the market development payment, but not more than a specified amount per ton. The department is required to establish a processing fee account for each material type and to deposit in the account, besides the processing fees paid for that material type, a specified amount of the remaining moneys in the fund. The bill would require the department, in setting the amount of the market development payments for both certified entities and product manufacturers, to consider certain factors and would extend the authorization to annually expend up to $10,000,000 to make these payments until January 1, 2017, thereby making an appropriation. The bill would authorize the department to expend from the remaining moneys in the fund, until January 1, 2017, an amount for market development payments for empty plastic beverage containers, in addition to the existing authorization. The bill would require the department to calculate this additional amount, in a specified manner, based upon the amount of the remaining moneys in the fund estimated to be necessary for deposit in the processing fee account for plastic beverage containers. The bill would delete the authorization to expend funds for recycling market development grants and for those other grants and programs and would repeal the requirement for the publication of the grant evaluation.