April 13, 2017

The legislature will come back from spring recess with a packed schedule next week! The following AENR bills of interest will be heard next week:

AB 509 (Frazier) would create the Tire Recycling Incentive Program to increase tire recycling, support local government infrastructure development, and reduce the illegal dumping of waste tires. CSAC supports AB 509, which will be heard in the Assembly Natural Resources Committee on Monday, April 17.

AB 347 (Chau) extends existing authority to charge fees to recover costs of the county sealer. County sealers are required to inspect and test devices for weights and measures and to weigh or measure certain items to determine whether or not the amount represented is accurate. Current law authorizes ordinances to charge fees to recover the cost of this work, but those provisions expire on January 1, 2019. CSAC supports AB 347, which will be heard in the Assembly Privacy and Consumer Protection Committee on Tuesday, April 18.

SB 618 (Bradford) would vest the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) with authority to approve or disapprove a CCA’s Integrated Resource Plan beyond assuring compliance with the requirements of state law. CSAC believes this would unduly interfere with the ability of CCAs to locally control electricity procurement, subject to state mandates applicable to all load serving entities. CSAC opposes SB 618, which will be heard in the Senate Environmental Quality Committee on Wednesday, April 19.

SB 242 (Skinner) adds consumer protections to strengthen the PACE program, including notifications, reporting, and limits on program administrators and solicitations. CSAC supports SB 242, which will be heard in the Senate Governance and Finance Committee on April 19.

The Senate Appropriations Committee will meet on Monday, April 17. The committee is slated to hear a very lengthy list of bills, including the following:

· SB 80 (Wieckowski) would increase electronic notification requirements for certain CEQA-related notices and mandate the filing of notices that are exempt from CEQA due to a categorical exemption. CSAC has concerns with SB 80.

· SB 148 (Wiener) will improve cash handling issues associated with cannabis. This bill would allow agreements between the Board of Equalization and local governments to collect on behalf of the other under certain agreements. SB 148 would also allow cannabis-related businesses to make payments by means other than electronic funds transfer, including cash. Finally, the bill would require the Board to accept cash payments from cannabis-related businesses, and sets standards for a certain percentage of branch and district offices throughout the state that would accept cash. CSAC supports SB 148.

SB 175 (McGuire) clarifies existing law related to labeling cannabis products with information about county of origin. This will lead to less ambiguity and will help protect cannabis products from misleading statements about county of origin. CSAC supports SB 175