Recycling: household mercury-containing lamps.

Existing law, the California Lighting Efficiency and Toxics Reduction Act, prohibits a person from manufacturing for sale or selling in the state specified general purpose lights that contain levels of hazardous substances prohibited by the European Union pursuant to the RoHS Directive. This bill would require a manufacturer of household mercury-containing lamps, on or before April 1, 2013, individually or through a stewardship organization, to prepare and submit to the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery for approval a household mercury-containing lamp stewardship plan to establish a recovery program for the management of end-of-life household mercury-containing lamps. The bill would define terms, including defining the term stewardship fee as an amount added to the retail purchase price of a mercury-containing household lamp. The bill would require the plan to include the payment of a stewardship fee at the point of sale and would specify a procedure for the department's approval of the amount of the stewardship fee. This bill would constitute a change in state statute that would result in a taxpayer paying a higher tax within the meaning of Section 3 of Article XIII A of the California Constitution, and thus would require for passage the approval of 23 of the membership of each house of the Legislature. The department would be required to review the plan and approve the plan within 90 days of receipt. The department would be authorized to recover the reasonable cost of the plan review by requiring the payment of a plan review fee and to expend the funds, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for the costs of implementing this plan review. The bill would require the manufacturer or designated stewardship organization to implement a program consistent with a plan approved by the department. The department would be required to post on its Internet Web site a list of manufacturers for which the department has reviewed and approved a plan and to update the site, as specified. The bill would require a retailer that distributes or sells household mercury-containing lamps to consumers in the state to monitor the department's Internet Web site to determine if the sale of a manufacturer's mercury-containing lamp is listed as being in compliance. The bill would prohibit a manufacturer or retailer, on and after November 1, 2013, from selling or offering for sale a household mercury-containing lamp in the state unless the manufacturer is included on the above-described list, except as provided in a specified procedure. The bill would also require a retailer to add the stewardship fee to the retail purchase price of a household mercury-containing lamp, and remit the fee to the manufacturer or stewardship organization manufacturer. A retailer would also be required to document the stewardship fee as a separate line item on the customer's receipt, and to include specified information on that receipt. This bill would require, on or before July 1, 2014, and annually thereafter, a manufacturer or its designated stewardship organization to demonstrate to the department that it has achieved continuous meaningful improvement to the extent practicable in implementing the program, and the department would be required to direct a manufacturer or its designated stewardship organization to terminate the program implementing its plan if it finds that the program is not proportionately contributing to the packaging, transportation, and recycling of end-of-life household mercury-containing lamps in the state. The bill would also require a manufacturer or its designated stewardship organization, by July 1, 2014, and annually thereafter to submit a report to the department describing the program implementing the plan. The department would be required to review the annual report and issue a finding of whether the program is in compliance within 90 days of receipt. The bill would authorize the department to enforce the bill's provisions, including the imposition of administrative civil penalties and would make a statement of legislative intent regarding the application of state and federal antitrust laws.