(1) The California Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989, administered by the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, generally regulates the disposal, management, and recycling of solid waste. The act requires disposal facility operators to submit information to the department on the disposal tonnages that are disposed of at the disposal facility, and requires solid waste handlers and transfer station operators to provide information to disposal facility operators for purposes of that requirement. The act requires recycling and composting operations and facilities to submit periodic information to the department on the types and quantities of materials that are disposed of, sold, or transferred to other recycling or composting facilities or specified entities. This bill would provide that these reporting requirements do not apply to materials that are used by facilities defined as end users pursuant to the regulations adopted by the department or that are otherwise exempt pursuant to those regulations. The bill would also clarify that recycling is not limited to the processing of materials that would otherwise become solid waste, but also includes processes applied to nonhazardous materials that have value principally as a feedstock for that processing, regardless of whether the materials have been discarded or constitute solid waste. The bill would further clarify that, regardless of whether a recycling operation or facility is required to register and report pursuant to specified regulations adopted by the department, that recycling operation or facility is not a solid waste handler unless the operation or facility is, in fact, handling solid waste. (2) The California Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989 regulates the disposal, management, and recycling of, among other solid waste, plastic packaging containers and single-use foodware accessories. The Sustainable Packaging for the State of California Act of 2018 prohibits a food service facility located in a state-owned facility, operating on or acting as a concessionaire on state property or under contract to provide food service to a state agency, from dispensing prepared food using a type of food service packaging unless the type of food service packaging is on a list that the department publishes and maintains on its internet website that contains types of approved food service packaging that are reusable, recyclable, or compostable. Existing law makes a legislative declaration that it is the policy goal of the state that, annually, not less than 75% of solid waste generated be source reduced, recycled, or composted. This bill would establish the Plastic Pollution Prevention and Packaging Producer Responsibility Act, which would cover certain single-use packaging and plastic single-use food service ware, as provided. As part of its comprehensive statutory scheme, the bill would require the producers, as defined, of these covered materials to source reduce plastic covered material, to ensure that covered material offered for sale, distributed, or imported in or into the state on or after January 1, 2032, is recyclable or compostable, and to ensure that plastic covered material offered for sale, distributed, or imported in or into the state meets specified recycling rates. In particular, the bill would require not less than 65% of plastic covered material to be recycled on and after January 1, 2032, and would authorize the department to increase or decrease the specified recycling rates in certain circumstances. The bill would require certain material types and forms to be considered recyclable in the state, and would authorize those material types and forms to be labeled as recyclable, under certain circumstances. The bill would prohibit a producer from selling, offering for sale, importing, or distributing covered materials in the state unless the producer is approved to participate in the producer responsibility plan of a producer responsibility organization (PRO) , as prescribed, for the source reduction, collection, processing, and recycling of covered material. Alternatively, the bill would require a producer to comply with the act individually without participating in a PRO's plan. The bill would impose various requirements on PROs and producers in relation to the act, including registration, reporting, recordkeeping, and auditing requirements, and preparing a budget and annual report. The bill would require a PRO or producer to provide certain certifications under penalty of perjury. By expanding the scope of the crime of perjury, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would require a PRO to establish a charge for its participant producers sufficient to ensure the requirements of the act are met by the PRO, and would therefore impose a tax. The bill would specify the purposes for which the revenue from the charge may be spent, including the costs of the PRO, the costs of a producer responsibility advisory board that the bill would create, and other costs specified in the PRO's budget. The bill would require a PRO, commencing in the 2027 calendar year, and until January 1, 2037, to remit a $500,000,000 surcharge each year, as provided, to the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration (CDTFA) to be deposited into the California Plastic Pollution Mitigation Fund, which the bill would create, and would outline requirements applicable to the collection and administration of the surcharge. The bill would require the PRO to establish and impose on its participant producers an environmental mitigation surcharge in an amount sufficient to raise that sum and to remit those moneys, and would authorize a PRO to collect up to $150,000,000 from plastic resin manufacturers who sell plastic covered material to producers who are participants of the PRO, as prescribed. The bill would therefore impose a tax. The bill would require moneys in the California Plastic Pollution Mitigation Fund to be expended, upon appropriation by the Legislature, by specified state agencies on purposes relating to mitigating the environmental impacts of plastic. The bill would prohibit those appropriations from replacing or reducing funding for those purposes from any other source, including certain appropriations in the Budget Act of 2019. The bill would require the department to adopt regulations to implement the act, as prescribed, and would require the department to publish certain information and lists on its internet website. The bill would require that local jurisdictions and recycling service providers include in their collection and recycling programs covered material contained on the lists published by the department, except as specified. By imposing additional requirements on local jurisdictions, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would require the department to prepare, or to select an independent third-party contractor to complete, one or more initial statewide needs assessments designed to determine the necessary steps and investment needed for covered material to achieve the requirements of the act. The bill would require the PRO to reimburse the department for the cost of developing the needs assessments, thereby imposing a tax. The bill would require a PRO to pay a charge named the "California circular economy administrative fee" to the department and would require the department to set the charge at an amount adequate to cover the department's and any other state agency's costs of implementing and enforcing the comprehensive statutory scheme. The bill would require the administrative fees to be deposited into the California Circular Economy Fund, which the bill would create. The bill would make moneys in the fund available upon appropriation by the Legislature to the department for the department's activities pursuant to the act and to reimburse any outstanding loans made from other funds used to finance the initial costs of the department's activities. The bill would require the department and agencies receiving funding under the act to report specified information to the Legislature concerning the act's implementation. The bill would require, if the department determines that a PRO or producer has not achieved specified targets established pursuant to the act, the department to adopt regulations that contain certain provisions of the act, as prescribed. The bill would provide for its enforcement, including authorizing the department to impose an administrative civil penalty in an amount not to exceed $50,000 per day per violation, except as specified, on any entity that is not in compliance with the act's requirements. The bill would require the department to deposit collected penalties into the Circular Economy Penalty Account, which the bill would create. The bill would make moneys in the account available upon appropriation by the Legislature for purposes that further the act. (3) 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. (4) 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 with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above. (5) This bill would include a change in state statute that would result in a taxpayer paying a higher tax within the meaning of Section 3 of Article XIIIA of the California Constitution, and thus would require for passage the approval of 23 of the membership of each house of the Legislature.
Sponsored bills
Existing law, the Alcoholic Beverage Control Act, which is administered by the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, regulates the application, issuance, and suspension of alcoholic beverage licenses. Existing law authorizes a licensed craft distiller to manufacture and produce distilled spirits, subject to specified conditions, including that the licensee manufacture no more than 150,000 gallons of distilled spirits per fiscal year and sell no more than 2.25 liters of prepackaged containers of the licensee's spirits per day per consumer at its premises. This bill would authorize a licensed craft distiller to sell and deliver to a consumer at its premises up to 4.5 liters of prepackaged containers of the licensee's spirits per day per consumer. This bill would authorize a craft distiller licensed in this state and a distilled spirits producer or craft distiller licensed in any other state that complies with the conditions necessary for the issuance of a craft distiller's license, upon issuance of a distilled spirits direct shipper permit, to sell and ship a specified amount of distilled spirits directly to a resident of California, who is 21 years of age or older, for the resident's personal use and not for resale, as provided. The bill would impose various obligations on distilled spirits direct shipper permitholders before they could begin shipping, including obtaining a seller's permit or registering with the State Board of Equalization. The bill would require a distilled spirits producer or craft distiller to certify under penalty of perjury that it meets specified requirements when filing initial and renewal applications. The bill would prohibit sales and shipments of distilled spirits directly to consumers in California from distilled spirits producers who do not possess a distilled spirits direct shipper permit. The bill would provide that a person who knowingly makes, participates in, transports, imports, or receives such a shipment would be guilty of a misdemeanor. By expanding the definitions of crimes, this bill would impose 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.
The California Constitution declares that defending life and liberty, acquiring, possessing, and protecting property, and pursuing and obtaining safety, happiness, and privacy are inalienable rights, and that a person may not be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law or equal protection of the laws. Existing law, the Reproductive Privacy Act, declares that every individual possesses a fundamental right of privacy with respect to personal reproductive decisions and prohibits the state from denying or interfering with a person's right to choose or obtain an abortion before viability of the fetus, or when the abortion is necessary to protect the life or health of the person. This measure would amend the California Constitution to prohibit the state from denying or interfering with an individual's reproductive freedom in their most intimate decisions, which includes their fundamental right to choose to have an abortion and their fundamental right to choose or refuse contraceptives.
This bill would make appropriations for the support of state government for the 2022–23 fiscal year. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a Budget Bill.
This measure would designate the month of May 2022 as Missing and Murdered Indigenous People Awareness Month in California.
Existing law establishes a workers' compensation system, administered by the Administrative Director of the Division of Workers' Compensation, to compensate an employee for injuries sustained in the course of employment. Existing law creates a rebuttable presumption that specified injuries sustained in the course of employment of a specified member of law enforcement or a specified first responder arose out of and in the course of employment. Existing law, until January 1, 2023, creates a rebuttable presumption of injury for various employees, including an employee who works at a health facility, as defined, to include an illness or death resulting from COVID-19, if specified circumstances apply. This bill would define "injury," for a hospital employee who provides direct patient care in an acute care hospital, to include infectious diseases, cancer, musculoskeletal injuries, post-traumatic stress disorder, and respiratory diseases. The bill would include the novel coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) , among other conditions, in the definitions of infectious and respiratory diseases. The bill would create rebuttable presumptions that these injuries that develop or manifest in a hospital employee who provides direct patient care in an acute care hospital arose out of and in the course of the employment. The bill would extend these presumptions for specified time periods after the hospital employee's termination of employment.
Existing law establishes the Capital Access Loan Program to assist qualified small businesses in financing the costs of complying with environmental mandates and the remediation of contamination on their properties, which is administered by the California Pollution Control Financing Authority. Under the program, the authority may enter into contracts with participating financial institutions and is required to establish a loss reserve account with each participating financial institution. Under the program, a participating financial institution that experiences a default on a qualified loan enrolled in the Capital Access Loan Program may obtain reimbursement from the authority by submitting a claim for reimbursement for a specified amount of the loss covered by that loan, subject to certain procedures. Existing law provides for the creation by local ordinance, or by ministerial approval if a local agency has not adopted an ordinance, of accessory dwelling units in areas zoned to allow single-family or multifamily dwelling residential use in accordance with specified standards and conditions. This bill, upon appropriation by the Legislature, would require the office of the Treasurer to establish and administer the Help Homeowners Add New Housing Program for the purpose of protecting participating financial institutions, as defined, from default on loans provided to a qualified homeowner to construct an accessory dwelling unit. The bill would require the office to establish various program requirements, including, among others, a minimum criteria for qualified loans that may be enrolled, a criteria for a financial institution to participate in the program, and the maximum percentage of the actual loss guaranteed under the program. The bill would authorize the office to contract with any financial institution for the purpose of allowing the financial institution to participate in the program, as specified. The bill would require the office to establish a loss reserve account for each participating financial institution that must consist of specified moneys. The bill would authorize a participating financial institution to enroll qualified loans in the program, subject to specified procedures, in order to obtain protection against default through the program. The bill would require the office to establish a procedure for a participating financial institution to submit a claim for reimbursement of losses incurred as a result of a default of an enrolled loan. This bill would establish the Accessory Dwelling Unit Access Fund in the State Treasury for the purpose of funding loss reserve accounts under the program and would make the moneys in the fund available upon appropriation by the Legislature. The bill would require the office to annually prepare a report to the Governor and the Legislature that describes the financial condition and programmatic results of the program, as specified. The bill would authorize the office to adopt necessary rules for carrying out its duties, functions, and powers relating to the program.
This measure would recognize the weeks of October 10, 2021, through October 16, 2021, and October 16, 2022, through October 22, 2022, as Art Therapy Weeks of Civic Engagement to commemorate the contributions of professional art therapists to California's communities.
This measure would declare April 28, 2022, as Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day, and would recognize the goals of introducing our daughters and sons to the workplace and commend all participants of Take Our Daughters And Sons To Work Day.