Beverage containers: handling fees: enforcement.

(1) The existing California Beverage Container Recycling and Litter Reduction Act requires a distributor of specified beverage containers to pay a redemption payment to the Department of Resource Recycling and Recovery, for each beverage container, as defined, sold or transferred, for deposit in the California Beverage Container Recycling Fund. From the fund, the department is continuously appropriated the amount necessary to pay handling fees to provide an incentive for the redemption of empty beverage containers in convenience zones. The department is required to pay a handling fee in an amount determined by subtracting the amount of the statewide average per-container cost to redeem beverage containers incurred by a certified recycler that does not receive a handling fee from the statewide average per-container cost incurred by recycling centers that receive handling fees, based on a survey the department is required to conduct at least once every 2 years to determine the actual cost for the redemption of beverage containers. This bill would require the per-container handling fee to be set, as of the effective date of this act, until March 1, 2013, at an amount that is not less than the amount of the per-container handling fee that was in effect on July 1, 2011. The bill would authorize the department to update the methodology and scrap values used for calculating the handling fee, as specified. The bill would make an appropriation by increasing the amount that the department is authorized to pay from a continuously appropriated fund. (2) Existing law requires any person importing more than a 100 pounds of aluminum, bimetal, or plastic beverage container material, or more than 1,000 pounds of glass beverage container material, into the state to report the material and to provide an opportunity for inspection and prohibits any person from falsifying documents required pursuant to the act or the regulations adopted by the department. A violation of the act is a crime. This bill would decrease the amount of materials for which a person is required to report to the department to 25 pounds of empty aluminum, bimetal, or plastic beverage container material, or more than 250 pounds of empty glass beverage container material, and would additionally require the person to provide the department with certain documentation regarding those materials. The bill would require a vehicle entering the state that contains more than 25 pounds of empty beverage container material to pass through the nearest plant quarantine inspection station and obtain proof of inspection from the department. The bill would authorize the department to enter into a interagency agreement with the Department of Food and Agriculture to implement this requirement. The bill would provide that an operator of a vehicle that contains more than 25 pounds of empty beverage container material is in violation of the act if the operator fails to stop at, or willfully avoids, a plant quarantine inspection station, as specified. The bill would provide that a 2nd or subsequent violation of this requirement within 3 years of a prior conviction is punishable as a misdemeanor. The bill would impose a state-mandated local program by creating new crimes. (3) 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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. (4) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.