AB 1526: Public resources.

(1)Existing law requires the Department of Conservation, in consultation with the State Water Resources Control Board, to provide to the fiscal and relevant policy committees of the Legislature an annual report regarding certain aspects of the implementation of the Underground Injection Control Program until October 1, 2024.

This bill would make these provisions inoperative on October 1, 2029, and would repeal them as of January 1, 2030.

(2)Existing law requires the Geologic Energy Management Division in the Department of Conservation, in consultation with the State Air Resources Board, to initiate a study to be conducted by independent experts of fugitive emissions from idle, idle-deserted, and abandoned wells in the state, as provided. Existing law requires oil and gas operators with wells selected for purposes of sampling under these provisions to (1) make reasonable efforts to permit access to the wells to the division and the independent experts contracted to undertake the study if adequate notice is provided to the operator to ensure appropriate safety precautions are taken at the well site, and (2) submit to the division a certification stating that no action was taken to reduce emissions from the sampling site within 72 hours of the sampling taking place so as to reduce the value of measurements taken. A violation of these requirements is a crime. Existing law requires the department, on or before January 1, 2022, to post all results of testing conducted pursuant to the study on the departments internet website in a machine-readable format. Existing law requires the independent experts contracted to undertake the study, on or before July 1, 2022, to complete a peer-reviewed written document that includes specified elements. Existing law requires the division, on or before January 1, 2023, to make the results of the study, as per the required written document, available on its internet website. Existing law repeals these provisions on January 1, 2024.

This bill would extend the operation of these provisions until January 1, 2029. The bill would change the deadline for the department to post all results of the testing on its internet website from January 1, 2022, to January 1, 2026. The bill would change the deadline for independent experts contracted to undertake the study to complete the written document from July 1, 2022, to July 1, 2026. The bill would change the deadline for the division to make the results of the study available on its internet website from January 1, 2023, to January 1, 2028.

By extending provisions that the violation of which is a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

(3)The Zberg-Nejedly Forest Practice Act of 1973 prohibits a person from conducting timber operations, as defined, unless a timber harvesting plan prepared by a registered professional forester has been submitted to the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The act authorizes the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection to exempt from some or all of those provisions of the act a person engaging in specified forest management activities, as prescribed, including the one-time conversion of less than 3 acres to a nontimber use, as specified.

This bill would authorize the board to adopt regulations for a waiver of the one-time limitation, as specified, including a process for an appeal of a denial of a waiver.

(4)The Plastic Pollution Prevention and Packaging Producer Responsibility Act covers certain single-use packaging and plastic single-use food service ware, as provided. As part of its comprehensive statutory scheme, the act requires producers of those covered materials to reduce and recycle the covered plastic material and to ensure that covered materials that are offered for sale, distributed, or imported in or into the state on or after January 1, 2032, are recyclable or compostable, as provided. The act prohibits 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, except as provided. The act requires the producer responsibility plan to include certain information, including, but not limited to, arrangements with processors or recyclers to ensure that covered materials that are not collected through a curbside collection program are collected and recycled at a viable responsible end market.

This bill would instead require a producer responsibility plan to include arrangements with processors or recyclers to ensure that covered materials that are not collected through a curbside collection program or other local collection program are collected and recycled at a viable responsible end market. The bill would require the producer responsibility plan to include a mechanism and schedule for transferring specified fee proceeds to local jurisdictions. The bill would make technical amendments and other revisions to certain components of the act.

The act defines covered material to include, among others, wraps or wrappers and bags sold to food service establishments.

This bill would instead include as covered material wraps or wrappers and bags used in the packaging of food offered for sale or provided to customers by food service establishments.

The act requires 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. The act requires the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery to transmit to the CDTFA by March 1 of each year specified information regarding who is liable for the surcharge and in what amounts. The act requires the surcharge be paid 30 days from the date of CDTFAs assessment. The act requires a producer that is not in a PRO to pay the surcharge on July 1 of each year.

This bill would recast the surcharge as the environmental mitigation surcharge. The bill would delete the July 1 date for the requirement for a producer not in a PRO to pay the environmental mitigation surcharge. The bill would instead require the CDTFA to mail to each person liable for the environmental mitigation surcharge a notice of determination within 90 days of receiving from the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery the information regarding who is liable for the environmental mitigation surcharge and the amounts to be assessed.

(5)The California Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989 establishes the architectural paint recovery program, under which a manufacturer of architectural paint is required, individually or through a stewardship organization, to submit an architectural paint stewardship plan to the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery to develop and implement a recovery program to reduce the generation of postconsumer architectural paint, promote the reuse of postconsumer architectural paint, and manage the end of life of postconsumer architectural paint. Existing law excludes from the program aerosol spray paint. Existing law requires a manufacturer of architectural paint or a stewardship organization to submit to the department on or before November 1 of each year a report describing its architectural paint recovery efforts.

This bill would, among other things, eliminate the exemption from the program of aerosol spray paint and would provide that architectural paint includes aerosol coating products, as defined. The bill would specify that aerosol coating products shall not be regulated under the program until the implementation date of a plan or plan amendment concerning aerosol coating products approved by the department or January 1, 2027, whichever occurs sooner, and would authorize the department to extend that implementation date. The bill would require, on or before July 1, 2026, a manufacturer or stewardship organization to submit an architectural paint stewardship plan or amendment to an approved architectural paint stewardship plan to the department. The bill would change the due date for the annual report to on or before May 15 of each year, would require certain information included in the annual report to be reported based on calendar year, and, commencing with the 2028 report, would require the annual report to include certain information on aerosol coating products. The bill would authorize the department, in coordination with the Department of Toxic Substances Control, to adopt regulations to clarify and implement the architectural paint recovery program.

(6)This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 42041 of the Public Resources Code proposed by SB 303 to be operative only if this bill and SB 303 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.

(7)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.