April 8, 2106

Waste Management

SB 1229 (Jackson) – Support
As Amended March 28, 2016

SB 1229, by Senator Hannah-beth Jackson, would encourage pharmacies to host secure drug take-back bins by establishing a duty of care for the proper oversight of secure drug take-back bins, and providing limited civil and criminal liability immunity for pharmacies hosting drug take-back bins if they meet that duty of care. As home-generated pharmaceutical waste is an issue of growing concern for the health and safety of humans and the greater environment, CSAC supports this step toward encouraging pharmacies’ good-faith participation in take-back programs that have the potential to reduce the presence of a wide variety of drugs in the waste stream. This bill will be heard on April 12th in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

AB 2039 (Ting) – Support
As Amended April 4, 2016

AB 2039, by Assembly Member Philip Ting, would require sharps manufacturers to design, fund, and administer a take-back program to safety collect and dispose of home-generated sharps to keep them out of the trash.  The bill also requires manufacturers to submit plans for sharps take-back and education to CalRecycle.  Plans must include procedures to take-back 20% of their home-generated sharps by 2020, 40% by 2021, and 60% by 2022. CSAC strongly supports Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) programs as we believe it is an excellent component of the state’s overall hazardous waste reduction strategy. AB 2039 would augment the substantial investment that has already been made by employers attempting to protect their workforce and local governments that currently provide limited take-back opportunities for residents. This bill will be heard in the Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials Committee on April 12th.

AB 2396 (McCarty) – Oppose
As Introduced February 18, 2016

AB 2396, by Assembly Member McCarty, would delete the reimbursable mandate for additional solid waste planning requirements from a bill that was signed by the Governor in 2015. Last year, the Governor signed your Assembly Bill 876 (Chaptered 593, 2015) which requires, commencing August 1, 2017, local jurisdictions to report an estimate of the total solid waste organics processing capacity that will be needed over a fifteen-year period and identify specific locations for new and expanded organic waste recycling facilities. CSAC opposed this measure as we believe this reporting requirement is duplicative and unnecessary. Not only is this report now duplicative, but with AB 2396, it becomes a financial requirement that would no longer be a reimbursable cost borne by the State. Counties have no real revenue source to pay for the cost of providing an additional report, therefore, these costs must be covered directly by a county. We believe that if the State believes that information that is secondary value is warranted, it should bear the cost. This bill will be heard in the Assembly Natural Resources Committee on April 11th.

Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE)

AB 2693 (Dababneh) – Oppose
As Amended March 17, 2016

AB 2693, by Assembly Member Dababneh, would eliminate the senior lien status of property assessed clean energy (PACE) assessment and create additional notice requirements. CSAC is very supportive of the PACE program, which allows property owners to finance energy and water efficiency and renewable energy improvements through locally-backed financing which is repaid through an assessment on the property tax bill. Local governments believe in transparency and are open to increased notice opportunities to those choosing to take advantage of PACE financing.

However, eliminating the senior lien status of PACE assessments would essentially prohibit the use of property tax assessments to secure the financing, the major attractant of the program. AB 2693 creates a financing structure that would make PACE unaffordable, unsustainable and unavailable.  Not only does that structure attack the very foundation of PACE, it is does so without regard to options already available in the marketplace enabling homeowners to subordinate their PACE assessment contractually to an incoming first deed of trust.  As California continues to work with the Federal Housing Financing Agency (FHFA) to develop resolution on the priority lien status issue, we strongly believe that this bill would impair this process. This bill will be heard in the Assembly Banking and Finance Committee on April 18, 2016.

Source Watersheds:  Financing

AB 2480 (Bloom) – Request Comments
As Amended April 5, 2016

AB 2480, by Assembly Member Richard Bloom, would declare state policy that source watersheds are recognized and defined as integral components of California’s water system. The bill would also declare that source watershed maintenance and repair activities are eligible for financing on an equivalent basis with other water collection and treatment infrastructure, and identifies which activities would quality for financing.  The bill also specifies that on or before December 31, 2017, the State Water Resources Control Board, in consultation with the Department of Water Resources, shall develop investment plans that prioritize actions for restoration and conservation to improve watershed function in the watersheds that flow into the Shasta Reservoir and the Oroville Reservoir.  AB 2480 is schedule to be heard before the Assembly Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee on Tuesday, April 12.

Fairs:  Funding

AB 2678 (Gray) – Support
As Introduced February 19, 2016

AB 2678, by Assembly Member Adam Gray, would require taxable sales and purchases within a state designated fair area to be segregated on the sales and use tax return.  It would also mandate that 30% of the state’s General Fund sales and use tax revenues derived from those segregated sales and purchases be deposited into the Fair and Exposition Fund.  CSAC believes that this approach will alleviate some of the existing cost pressures on fairs across the state by providing them with a stable and reliable source of funding.  AB 2678 is scheduled to be heard before the Assembly Revenue and Taxation Committee on Monday, April 11.

Inner Coast Range Conservancy

SB 1396 (Wolk) – Request Comments
As Introduced on February 19, 2016

SB 1396, by Senator Lois Wolk, proposes to establish the Inner Coast Range Conservancy comprised of portions of Colusa, Del Norte, Glenn, Humboldt, Lake, Mendocino, Napa, Shasta, Siskiyou, Solano, Tehama, Trinity, and Yolo Counties. The Conservancy’s board would consist of 11 voting members and two nonvoting liaison advisers.  The 11 voting members would consist of the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency, the Director of Finance, three public members appointed by the Governor, one public member appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly, one public member appointed by the Senate Rules Committee, and one county supervisor from each of the four identified subregions.  The two nonvoting liaison advisers would be from the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management.

CSAC staff is very interested in receiving comments from the affected counties.  SB 1396 is scheduled to be heard by the Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee on Tuesday, April 12.