Responsible Battery Recycling Act of 2022.

The Rechargeable Battery Recycling Act of 2006 requires every retailer, as defined, to have in place a system for the acceptance and collection of used rechargeable batteries for reuse, recycling, or proper disposal. The Cell Phone Recycling Act of 2004 prohibits the sale of a cell phone in this state to a consumer unless the retailer of that cell phone has in place a take-back system for the acceptance and collection of used cell phones for reuse, recycling, or proper disposal. This bill would make the Rechargeable Battery Recycling Act of 2006 inoperative as of September 30, 2026, and would repeal that act as of January 1, 2027, and would make the Cell Phone Recycling Act of 2004 inoperative as of September 30, 2027, and would repeal that act as of January 1, 2028. This bill would enact the Responsible Battery Recycling Act of 2022, which would require producers, as defined, either individually or through the creation of one or more stewardship organizations, to establish a stewardship program for the collection and recycling of covered batteries, as defined. The bill would require a program operator, as defined, to develop, and to submit to the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (department) and the Department of Toxic Substances Control for review and for approval by the department, as specified, a stewardship plan and would prescribe the standards and elements required to be contained in a stewardship plan for covered batteries. The bill would require the department, in consultation with the Department of Toxic Substances Control, to adopt regulations to implement the act with an effective date of no earlier than April 1, 2025. The bill would require a program operator to have a complete stewardship plan approved by the department no later than 24 months after the effective date of the regulations adopted by the department in order for the program operator to be in compliance with the act. This bill would require a program operator to be audited annually, and submit a report and budget to the department, as prescribed, and would require a program operator, stewardship organization, producer, manufacturer, distributor, retailer, importer, recycler, or collection site to, among other things, provide the department and the Department of Toxic Substances Control with relevant records necessary to determine compliance with the act. The bill would require reports and records provided to the department to be provided under penalty of perjury, thereby creating a state-mandated local program by expanding the crime of perjury. The bill would restrict public access to certain information collected for the purpose of administering a stewardship program. The bill would preempt all rules, regulations, codes, ordinances, or other laws adopted by a city, county, city and county, municipality, or a local agency on or after January 1, 2023, regarding stewardship programs for covered batteries. This bill would require the department, within 24 months of the effective date of the regulations to implement these provisions, and each year thereafter, to post on its internet website a list of producers that are in compliance with the act, including the reported brands of covered batteries of each producer. The bill would require the department to remove from the list any producer, including its brands and covered batteries, that is not in compliance with the act. The bill would prohibit, on and after the date that a stewardship plan is approved by the department, a retailer or distributor from selling, distributing, offering for sale, or importing a covered battery in or into the state unless the producer of the covered battery is listed on that list as in compliance on the act, except as specified. The bill would require the department to relist on its internet website a producer, along with its brands and covered batteries, if the department subsequently determines that the producer is in compliance with the act. This bill would require a program operator to reimburse the department and the Department of Toxic Substances Control for their respective actual and reasonable regulatory costs that are directly related to implementing and enforcing the act in relation to the program operator's activities. The bill would require the department and the Department of Toxic Substances Control to deposit those moneys into the Covered Battery Recycling Fund, which the bill would establish, and would authorize the department and the Department of Toxic Substances Control to expend those moneys, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to implement and enforce the act. This bill would provide for enforcement of the act, including authorizing the department to impose an administrative civil penalty on a program operator, stewardship organization, producer, manufacturer, distributor, retailer, importer, recycler, or collection site in violation of the act not to exceed $10,000 per day, unless the violation is intentional, knowing, or reckless, then in that case not to exceed $50,000 per day. The bill would require the department to deposit those moneys into the Covered Battery Recycling Penalty Account, which the bill would establish in the fund, and would make those moneys available for expenditure upon appropriation by the Legislature. The bill would include findings that changes proposed by this bill address a matter of statewide concern rather than a municipal affair and, therefore, apply to all cities, including charter cities. Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect. 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.