AB 655: Rendering: inedible kitchen grease: registration fee: additional fees.

(1)Existing law regulates rendering, which is defined as the recycling, processing, and conversion of, among other things, inedible kitchen grease. Existing law, operative until July 1, 2020, authorizes the Department of Food and Agriculture, in addition to the license fee, to charge each licensed renderer and collection center an additional fee to cover the reasonable costs of administering provisions regulating renderers, collection centers, and transporters of inedible kitchen grease, and requires that the additional fees may not exceed $3,000 per year.

This bill would increase the maximum amount of these additional fees to $10,000 per year.

(2)Existing law requires transporters of inedible kitchen grease to be registered and to pay a $100 registration fee. Existing law, operative until July 1, 2020, authorizes the department, except as specified, to charge an additional fee not to exceed $300 per year per vehicle that is operated to transport kitchen grease for purposes of administering the provisions regulating these transporters, up to a maximum of $3,000 per year per registered transporter.

This bill would increase the registration fee for transporters of inedible kitchen grease to not to exceed $250. The bill would also increase the additional fee to not to exceed $500 per year per vehicle that is operated to transport kitchen grease and the maximum to not exceed $10,000 per year per registered transporter.

(3)This bill would also authorize the Secretary of Food and Agriculture, based upon the findings and recommendation of the Rendering Industry Advisory Board, to determine the additional fee amounts, as described above under (1) and (2), necessary to provide the revenue needed to carry out these provisions. The bill would require the secretary and the board to not exceed the maximum amount for additional fees authorized pursuant to these provisions. The bill would provide that the secretary shall only have the authority to raise an additional fee upon recommendation of the board. The bill would exempt the setting of these additional fees from the requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act.

(4)Existing law requires fees collected pursuant to these provisions to be deposited into the Department of Food and Agriculture Fund and continuously appropriates the collected funds for the purposes described above.

By increasing these additional fees and the registration fee for transporters of inedible kitchen grease, which are deposited into a continuously appropriated fund, the bill would make an appropriation.