Medical waste.

(1) Existing law, the Medical Waste Management Act, regulates the disposal of medical waste, including requiring specified biohazard materials to be disposed of in biohazard bags and requiring specified treatment for medical waste. Transportation, storage, treatment, or disposal of medical waste in a manner not authorized by the act is a crime. Existing law defines specified terms for purposes of the Medical Waste Management Act, including "biohazard bag," "medical waste management plan," "sharps container," "tracking document," and "treatment." Under existing law, health care professionals who generate medical waste are generally required to have medical waste transported by a registered hazardous waste transporter. This bill would require the State Department of Public Health to submit a report to the Legislature by no later than January 1, 2016, describing the interaction of federal and state law for the transport of regulated medical waste and would require the department to convene a stakeholder group for that purpose. The bill would authorize the department to update standards related to the transportation of medical waste during transport through a guidance document, as specified. The bill would authorize the department to temporarily waive the transportation requirements of this bill while a federal preemption determination is pending, as specified. The bill would provide that during this period of temporary waiver, or if federal preemption is found, the federal requirements would be deemed to be the law of this state and enforceable by the department. The bill would also redefine specified terms for purposes of the act, including those above, and add definitions of new terms, including shipping document and chemotherapeutic agent. The bill would include all subsets of waste in the definition of treatment. The bill would also authorize the color coding of biohazard bags, as specified. (2) Existing law authorizes a local agency to adopt a medical waste management program to, among other things, issue medical waste registrations and permits and inspect medical waste generators and treatment facilities, and requires the local agency, if it elects to do so, to notify the department. Under existing law, if the local agency chooses not to adopt a medical waste management program or if the department withdraws its designation, then the department is the enforcement agency. Existing law requires the department to impose and cause to be collected an annual medical waste generator fee, as specified. Existing law authorizes the department to contract with a medical waste transporter or provider of medical waste mail-back systems for the collection of these fees and authorizes the collecting body to recover not more than 5% of the fees as administrative costs. This bill would remove the ability of the department to use medical waste mail-back systems for the collection of these fees and would authorize medical waste transporters that collect these fees to recover up to 7.5% as administrative costs. (3) Under the act, medical waste generators, including large quantity generators and small quantity generators, are subject to various requirements relating to registration, record retention, and transportation of medical waste. This bill would revise the registration procedures and the record requirements for large quantity and small quantity generators. The bill would require large and small quantity generators that operate treatment equipment to receive annual training to operate the equipment. The bill would exempt from regulation as a hazardous waste hauler a small quantity generator or large quantity generator that meets specified requirements, including retaining specified documentation and complying with certain federal requirements relating to a materials of trade exception. The bill would make technical, conforming, and clarifying changes relating to these provisions. Existing law prohibits a large quantity generator from generating medical waste unless the large quantity generator is registered with the enforcement agency and requires small quantity generators to register with the local enforcement agency. This bill would authorize a registered large quantity or small quantity medical waste generator to generate medical waste at a temporary event, including vaccination clinics, and would require the large quantity or small quantity generator to notify the enforcement agency of its participation at such an event at least 72 hours before the event, except as provided. (4) Existing law requires that all medical waste be hauled by either a registered hazardous waste hauler or by a person with an approved limited-quantity exemption granted pursuant to specified provisions of law. Existing law also specifies treatment methods and processes that medical waste treatment facilities are required to use, including requiring heat sensitive tape to show that materials went through a heat process, and requires a medical waste treatment facility to be permitted by the department. This bill would make various changes to the provisions relating to medical waste haulers, including removing provisions that conflict with the United States Department of Transportation regulation of those entities, authorizing a registered trauma scene waste practitioner, as specified, to haul medical waste, and making changes to the information medical waste haulers are required to provide to the department annually. This bill would also make various changes to the provisions relating to medical waste treatment facilities, including specifying the decontamination methods for a closure plan, lowering the time period for which records are maintained from 3 to 2 years, and authorizing the use of electronic information for operating records and shipping and tracking documents. (5) Existing law exempts from specified provisions of the act, a person who is authorized to collect solid waste and who unknowingly transports medical waste to a solid waste facility, incidental to the collection of solid waste. This bill would exempt those persons from the entire act, with regard to that waste, and would require the solid waste transporter to contact the originating generator of the medical waste to respond to the facility to provide ultimate proper disposal of the medical waste. (6) Existing law requires that animals that die of infectious diseases be treated as medical waste, as specified, if, in the opinion of the attending veterinarian or local health officer, the carcass presents a danger of infection to humans. This bill would require the carcasses of animals that have died of infectious diseases or that have been euthanized because of suspected exposure to infectious disease to be treated with a treatment technology approved by the department if, in the opinion of the attending veterinarian or local health officer, the carcass presents a danger of infection to humans. By expanding the definition of a crime, this bill would create a state-mandated local program. 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.