Existing law requires the State Air Resources Board to implement a comprehensive short-lived climate pollutant strategy to achieve a reduction in statewide emissions of methane by 40% below 2013 levels by 2030. Existing law requires the methane emissions reduction goals to include a 75% reduction in the level of the statewide disposal of organic waste from the 2014 level by 2025. Existing law requires the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, in consultation with the state board, to adopt regulations to achieve these organic waste reduction goals that include, among other things, requirements intended to meet the goal that not less than 20% of edible food that is currently disposed of be recovered for human consumption by 2025 and that may include penalties to be imposed by the department for noncompliance, as provided.

The regulations, among other things, require a commercial edible food generator, as defined, to have a contract or written agreement with a food recovery organization, as defined, to recover the maximum amount of edible food that would otherwise be disposed, as provided. The regulations also require a commercial edible food generator to keep certain records regarding the recovery of edible food.

This bill would exempt from these requirements an agricultural crop preparation service, as defined, that demonstrates to the department that it has not disposed of organic waste in a landfill on or after January 1, 2016.

Existing law requires the State Air Resources Board to implement a comprehensive short-lived climate pollutant strategy to achieve a reduction in statewide emissions of methane by 40% below 2013 levels by 2030. Existing law requires the methane emissions reduction goals to include a 75% reduction in the level of the statewide disposal of organic waste from the 2014 level by 2025. Existing law requires the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, in consultation with the state board, to adopt regulations to achieve these organic waste reduction goals that include, among other things, requirements intended to meet the goal that not less than 20% of edible food that is currently disposed of be recovered for human consumption by 2025 and that may include penalties to be imposed by the department for noncompliance, as provided.

The regulations, among other things, require a commercial edible food generator, as defined, to have a contract or written agreement with a food recovery organization, as defined, to recover the maximum amount of edible food that would otherwise be disposed, as provided. The regulations also require a commercial edible food generator to keep certain records regarding the recovery of edible food.

This bill would exempt from these requirements an agricultural crop preparation service, as defined, that demonstrates to the department that it has not disposed of organic waste in a landfill on or after January 1, 2016.

Existing law requires the State Air Resources Board to implement a comprehensive short-lived climate pollutant strategy to achieve a reduction in statewide emissions of methane by 40% below 2013 levels by 2030. Existing law requires the methane emissions reduction goals to include a 75% reduction in the level of the statewide disposal of organic waste from the 2014 level by 2025. Existing law requires the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, in consultation with the state board, to adopt regulations to achieve these organic waste reduction goals that include, among other things, requirements intended to meet the goal that not less than 20% of edible food that is currently disposed of be recovered for human consumption by 2025 and that may include penalties to be imposed by the department for noncompliance, as provided.

The regulations, among other things, require a commercial edible food generator, as defined, to have a contract or written agreement with a food recovery organization, as defined, to recover the maximum amount of edible food that would otherwise be disposed, as provided. The regulations also require a commercial edible food generator to keep certain records regarding the recovery of edible food.

This bill would exempt a food processing establishment, as defined, that historically from these requirements an agricultural crop preparation service, as defined, that demonstrates to the department that it has not disposed of organic waste to in a landfill from these requirements. on or after January 1, 2016.

Existing law requires the State Air Resources Board to implement a comprehensive short-lived climate pollutant strategy to achieve a reduction in statewide emissions of methane by 40% below 2013 levels by 2030. Existing law requires the methane emissions reduction goals to include a 75% reduction in the level of the statewide disposal of organic waste from the 2014 level by 2025. Existing law requires the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, in consultation with the state board, to adopt regulations to achieve these organic waste reduction goals that include, among other things, requirements intended to meet the goal that not less than 20% of edible food that is currently disposed of be recovered for human consumption by 2025 and that may include penalties to be imposed by the department for noncompliance, as provided.

The regulations, among other things, require a commercial edible food generator, as defined, to have a contract or written agreement with a food recovery organization, as defined, to recover the maximum amount of edible food that would otherwise be disposed, as provided. The regulations also require a commercial edible food generator to keep certain records regarding the recovery of edible food.

This bill would exempt a food processing establishment, as defined, that does not divert organic waste to landfills historically has not disposed of organic waste to a landfill from these requirements.

Existing law requires the State Air Resources Board to implement a comprehensive short-lived climate pollutant strategy to achieve a reduction in statewide emissions of methane by 40% below 2013 levels by 2030. Existing law requires the methane emissions reduction goals to include a 75% reduction in the level of the statewide disposal of organic waste from the 2014 level by 2025. Existing law requires the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, in consultation with the state board, to adopt regulations to achieve these organic waste reduction goals that include, among other things, requirements intended to meet the goal that not less than 20% of edible food that is currently disposed of be recovered for human consumption by 2025 and that may include penalties to be imposed by the department for noncompliance, as provided.

The regulations, among other things, require a commercial edible food generator, as defined, to have a contract or written agreement with a food recovery organization, as defined, to recover the maximum amount of edible food that would otherwise be disposed, as provided. The regulations also require a commercial edible food generator to keep certain records regarding the recovery of edible food.

This bill would exempt a food processing establishment, as defined, that does not divert organic waste to landfills from these requirements.

 THIRD READING  

Bill No: AB 1046

Author: Bains (D)

Amended: 4/10/25 in Assembly

Vote: 21

SENATE ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY COMMITTEE: 8-0, 7/2/25

AYES: Blakespear, Valladares, Dahle, Gonzalez, Hurtado, Menjivar, Padilla, Pérez

SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 7-0, 8/29/25

AYES: Caballero, Seyarto, Cabaldon, Dahle, Grayson, Richardson, Wahab

ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 79-0, 6/2/25 - See last page for vote

SUBJECT: Short-lived climate pollutants: recovered organic waste product: agricultural crop preparation service

SOURCE: California Fresh Fruit Association
Western Tree Nut Association

DIGEST:

This bill exempts food processing establishments that have not historically disposed of organic waste in a landfill from specified organic waste management requirements.

ANALYSIS:

Existing law:

1. Requires the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to develop a comprehensive strategy to reduce the emissions of short-lived climate pollutants (SLCP) to achieve a 40% reduction in methane emissions, 40% reduction in hydrofluorocarbon gases, and 50% reduction in anthropogenic black carbon below 2013 levels by 2030. (Health and Safety Code (HSC) section 39730-39730.5)
   
2. Requires the state to reduce the disposal of organic waste by 40% from the 2014 level by 2020 and 75% by 2025 to help achieve the state’s methane reduction goal. (HSC section 39730.6)
3. Requires the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle), in consultation with ARB, to adopt regulations to achieve the state’s organic waste reduction requirements. Specifies that the regulations, in part:
   1. May require jurisdictions to impose requirements on generators or other relevant entities within their jurisdiction and may authorize local jurisdictions to impose penalties on generators for noncompliance; and
   2. Include requirements intended to meet the goal that not less than 20% of edible food is recovered for human consumption by 2025.
      
4. Requires local jurisdictions to implement edible food recovery programs, which include actions jurisdictions will take to educate commercial edible food generators; increase commercial edible food generator access to food recovery options; monitor commercial edible food generator compliance; and, increase edible food recovery capacity. (Section 18001.1 of the California Code of Regulations (CCR))
   
5. Requires local jurisdictions to maintain and report specified information relating to commercial edible food generators. (CCR section 18991.2)
   
6. Requires commercial edible food generators to arrange to recover the maximum amount of edible food that would otherwise be disposed through a contract with a food recovery organization. Establishes limited exemptions from this requirement for extraordinary circumstances, as specified. (CCR section 18991.3)
   
7. Requires commercial edible food generators and food recovery organizations to keep specified records. (CCR section 18991.4 – 18991.5)
   
8. Defines “food processing establishment” as any room, building, or place or portion thereof, maintained, used, or operated for the purpose of commercially storing, packaging, making, cooking, mixing, processing, bottling, canning, packing, slaughtering, or otherwise preparing or handling food, except restaurants. Specifies that food processing establishment does not include a cottage food operation, as specified. (HSC section 111955)

This bill exempts an agricultural crop preparation service, as defined and that has not disposed of organic waste to a landfill since at least January 1, 2016, from the waste diversion requirements of SB 1383.

Background

1. Organic waste recycling. Nearly 40 million tons of waste are disposed of in California's landfills annually. Nearly half of those materials are organics (~48%). Organic waste includes food, yard, paper, and other organic materials. As that material decomposes in landfills, it generates significant amounts of methane, a potent greenhouse gas (GHG) with 84 times the climate impact as carbon dioxide. CARB states that about 20% of methane emissions in California comes from landfills.
   
   SB 1383 (Lara), Chapter 395, Statutes of 2016, requires CARB to approve and implement a comprehensive SLCP strategy to achieve, from 2013 levels, a 40% reduction in methane, a 40% reduction in hydrofluorocarbon gases, and a 50% reduction in anthropogenic black carbon, by 2030. In order to accomplish these goals, the law specifies that the methane emission reduction goals include targets to reduce the landfill disposal of organic waste, including food, 50% by 2020 and 75% by 2025 from the 2014 level. SB 1383 also requires that 20% of edible food that would otherwise be sent to landfills be redirected to feed people by 2025. Specifically, the law requires jurisdictions to establish food recovery programs and strengthen existing food recovery networks; food donors to arrange to recover the maximum amount of edible food; and, food recovery organizations and services that participate in SB 1383 to maintain specified records.
   
2. Food processors. When developing the SB 1383 program, CalRecycle cast a wide net to ensure that the program covers all sources of organic waste. This has resulted in all food processors being subject to the program, even though a number of processors do not routinely dispose of any food materials to a landfill. As noted above, SB 1383 requirements were intended to reduce the landfill disposal of organic waste to avoid SLCP emissions, which raises a question about the appropriateness of requiring these facilities to be subject to SB 1383 requirements.
   
   Little guidance exists for local jurisdictions from CalRecycle about how to regulate processors who do not dispose of material in a landfill. According to the author, there have been several instances in which county officials have assumed agricultural processors generate organic waste and therefore must comply with the program’s recordkeeping and inspection requirements.

Comments

1. Purpose of Bill. According to the author, “AB 1046 provides a narrow exemption from the state’s Short-Lived Climate Pollutant Reduction program for crop preparers that do not send organic waste to landfills. Many crop preparers were well ahead of the state in their stewardship, implementing environmentally responsible organic byproduct handling processes decades ago. Despite these sustainable practices, some counties incorrectly classify these businesses as contributors to landfill waste, leading to unnecessary administrative burdens and misallocation of resources.”
   
2. She doesn’t even go here! To the extent that the waste generated by these facilities does not—and has not since the inception of SB 1383—go to landfills at all, it seems like a reasonable fix to not count that waste towards what must be diverted from a landfill.

FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: No

According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:

• The Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) estimates ongoing costs of about $327,000 beginning in fiscal year 2026-27 (Integrated Waste Management Account) and two positions to revise regulations, review information from agricultural crop preparation services, communicate with jurisdictions, and provide stakeholder training.

SUPPORT: (Verified 8/29/25)

American Pistachio Growers
California Citrus Mutual
California Fresh Fruit Association
Rural County Representatives of California (RCRC)
Western Tree Nut Association

OPPOSITION: (Verified 8/29/25)

None received

ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 79-0, 6/2/25

AYES: Addis, Aguiar-Curry, Ahrens, Alanis, Alvarez, Arambula, Ávila Farías, Bains, Bauer-Kahan, Bennett, Berman, Boerner, Bonta, Bryan, Calderon, Caloza, Carrillo, Castillo, Chen, Connolly, Davies, DeMaio, Dixon, Elhawary, Ellis, Flora, Fong, Gabriel, Gallagher, Garcia, Gipson, Jeff Gonzalez, Mark González, Hadwick, Haney, Harabedian, Hart, Hoover, Irwin, Jackson, Kalra, Krell, Lackey, Lee, Lowenthal, Macedo, McKinnor, Muratsuchi, Nguyen, Ortega, Pacheco, Papan, Patel, Patterson, Pellerin, Petrie-Norris, Quirk-Silva, Ramos, Ransom, Celeste Rodriguez, Michelle Rodriguez, Rogers, Blanca Rubio, Sanchez, Schiavo, Schultz, Sharp-Collins, Solache, Soria, Stefani, Ta, Tangipa, Valencia, Wallis, Ward, Wicks, Wilson, Zbur, Rivas

Prepared by: Heather Walters / E.Q. / (916) 651-4108

8/30/25 13:08:28

**** END ****

SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS

Senator Anna Caballero, Chair

2025 - 2026 Regular Session

AB 1046 (Bains) - Short-lived climate pollutants: recovered organic waste product: agricultural crop preparation service

Bill Summary:

This bill would exempt an agricultural crop preparation service, as defined and that demonstrates it has not disposed of organic waste to a landfill since at least January 1, 2016, from the state’s organic waste management requirements.

Fiscal Impact:

• The Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) estimates ongoing costs of about $327,000 beginning in fiscal year 2026-27 (Integrated Waste Management Account) and two positions to revise regulations, review information from agricultural crop preparation services, communicate with jurisdictions, and provide stakeholder training.

Background:

SB 1383 (Lara), Chapter 395, Statutes of 2016, requires CARB to approve and implement a comprehensive SLCP strategy to achieve, from 2013 levels, a 40% reduction in methane, a 40% reduction in hydrofluorocarbon gases, and a 50% reduction in anthropogenic black carbon, by 2030. In order to accomplish these goals, the law specifies that the methane emission reduction goals include targets to reduce the landfill disposal of organic waste, including food, 50% by 2020 and 75% by 2025 from the 2014 level. SB 1383 also requires that 20% of edible food that would otherwise be sent to landfills be redirected to feed people by 2025. Specifically, the law requires jurisdictions to establish food recovery programs and strengthen existing food recovery networks; food donors to arrange to recover the maximum amount of edible food; and, food recovery organizations and services that participate in SB 1383 to maintain specified records.

When developing the SB 1383 program, CalRecycle cast a wide net to ensure that the program covers all sources of organic waste. This has resulted in all food processors being subject to the program, even though a number of processors do not routinely dispose of any food materials to a landfill. As noted above, SB 1383 requirements were intended to reduce the landfill disposal of organic waste to avoid SLCP emissions, which raises a question about the appropriateness of requiring these facilities to be subject to SB 1383 requirements.

Little guidance exists for local jurisdictions from CalRecycle about how to regulate processors who do not dispose of material in a landfill. According to the author, there have been several instances in which county officials have assumed agricultural processors generate organic waste and therefore must comply with the program’s recordkeeping and inspection requirements.

Proposed Law:

This bill would exempt an agricultural crop preparation service, as defined and that has not disposed of organic waste to a landfill since at least January 1, 2016, from the waste diversion requirements of SB 1383.

Related Legislation:

SB 1383 (Lara), Chapter 395, Statutes of 2016, requires CARB to approve and implement a comprehensive SLCP strategy to achieve, from 2013 levels, a 40% reduction in methane, a 40% reduction in hydrofluorocarbon gases, and a 50% reduction in anthropogenic black carbon, by 2030.

Staff Comments:

This bill intends to clarify SB 1383 regulations for commercial edible food generators that historically have not disposed of organic waste to landfill. To the extent that the waste generated by agricultural crop preparation services does not—and has not since the inception of SB 1383—go to landfills at all, it seems like a reasonable fix to not count that waste towards what must be diverted from a landfill.

-- END --

ASSEMBLY THIRD READING

ATR Bill Id:AB 1046

Author:(Bains)

As Amended Ver:April 10, 2025

Majority vote

SUMMARY

Exempts agricultural crop preparation services that have not historically disposed of organic waste in a landfill from specified organic waste management requirements.

Major Provisions

Exempts an agricultural crop preparation service, as defined by Section 3001 of Title 13 of the California Code of Regulations, that has not disposed of organic waste, including, but not limited to, culls, fruit skins, hulls, leaves, seed pits, shells, and sticks, in a landfill since 2016 from state regulations relating to edible food recovery pursuant to Article 10 (commencing with Section 18991.1) of Chapter 12 of Division 7 of Title 14 of the California Code of Regulations (CCR).

COMMENTS

Organic waste recycling. Nearly 40 million tons of waste are disposed of in California's landfills annually. Nearly half of those materials are organics (~48%). Organic waste includes food, yard, paper, and other organic materials. As that material decomposes in landfills, it generates significant amounts of methane, a potent greenhouse gas (GHG) with 84 times the climate impact as carbon dioxide. ARB states that about 20% of methane emissions in California comes from landfills.

SB 1383 (Lara), Chapter 395, Statutes of 2016, requires ARB to approve and implement a comprehensive SLCP strategy to achieve, from 2013 levels, a 40% reduction in methane, a 40% reduction in hydrofluorocarbon gases, and a 50% reduction in anthropogenic black carbon, by 2030. In order to accomplish these goals, the law specifies that the methane emission reduction goals include targets to reduce the landfill disposal of organic waste, including food, 50% by 2020 and 75% by 2025 from the 2014 level. SB 1383 also requires that 20% of edible food that would otherwise be sent to landfills is redirected to feed people by 2025. Specifically, the law requires: jurisdictions to establish food recovery programs and strengthen existing food recovery networks; food donors to arrange to recover the maximum amount of edible food; and, food recovery organizations and services that participate in SB 1383 to maintain specified records.

According to CalRecycle guidance for jurisdictions, commercial edible food generators are comprised of two tiers. Tier one generators generally have more produce, fresh grocery, and shelf-stable foods, and include wholesale food vendors, food service providers, food distributors, and grocery stores. Tier two generators generally have more prepared foods to donate, and include hotels, restaurants, health care facilities, cafeterias, and large venues. Both tiers of commercial edible food generators, as specified by CalRecycle, are required to send surplus food to food recovery organizations as of January, 1, 2024. These generators are required to maintain specified records and work with CalRecycle inspectors to demonstrate compliance with the requirements.

To achieve this, California's waste management infrastructure is going to have to process and recycle much higher quantities of organic materials, involving significant investments in additional processing infrastructure. Organic waste is primarily recycled by composting the material, which generates compost that can be used in gardening and agriculture as a soil amendment and engineering purposes for things like slope stabilization. Anaerobic digestion is also widely used to recycle organic wastes. This technology uses bacteria to break down the material in the absence of oxygen and produces biogas, which can be used as fuel, and digestate, which can also be used as a soil amendment. Tree trimmings and prunings can also be mulched.

In order to ensure that there are adequate markets for the state's increasing quantities of products made from organic waste, like mulch, compost, and digestate, CalRecycle established procurement requirements for local jurisdictions. The procurement targets are based on the average amount of organic waste generated by Californians annually multiplied by the population of a jurisdiction. Jurisdictions can meet the target by procuring, giving away, or arranging for the use of the material through contracts with direct service providers. Eligible materials include compost, mulch, biomass electricity, or renewable gas, as specified.

1383 Regulations. When developing the SB 1383 program, CalRecycle cast a wide net to ensure that the program covers all sources of organic waste. This has resulted in all food processors being subject to the program, even though a number of processors do not routinely dispose of any food materials to a landfill. As noted above, SB 1383 requirements were intended to reduce the landfill disposal of organic waste to avoid SLCP emissions, which raises a question about the appropriateness of requiring these facilities to be subject to SB 1383 requirements.

Little guidance exists for local jurisdictions from CalRecycle about how to regulate processors who do not dispose of material in a landfill. According to the author, there have been several instances in which county officials have assumed agricultural processors generate organic waste and therefore must comply with the program's recordkeeping and inspection requirements.

This bill. This bill is intended to clarify that SB 1383 regulations for edible food recovery do not apply to agricultural crop processors, as defined, that have not disposed of organic waste since the adoption of SB 1383 in 2016.

According to the Author

AB 1046 provides a narrow exemption from the state's Short-Lived Climate Pollutant Reduction program for crop preparers that do not send organic waste to landfills…Many crop preparers were well ahead of the state in their stewardship, implementing environmentally responsible organic byproduct handling processes decades ago. Despite these sustainable practices, some counties incorrectly classify these businesses as contributors to landfill waste, leading to unnecessary administrative burdens and misallocation of resources.

Arguments in Support

According to a coalition of supporters:

SB 1383 established targets of 50% reduction in the statewide disposal of organic waste from the 2014 level by 2020, a 75% reduction by 2025 and requires CalRecycle and the Air Resources Board to adopt regulations to achieve the organic waste reduction targets.

To achieve this goal, local jurisdictions are required to impose program requirements on "generators" of organic waste that might ultimately end up in a landfill. Hullers and processors of almonds, pecans, pistachios, walnuts and other agricultural products do not send their organic waste that would end up at a landfill.

All products and byproducts from these operations are repurposed for biomass, wood pellets, road materials, compost, building materials, animal feed and bedding. Notwithstanding this information, these entities are receiving notices requiring them to register as Tier 1 facilities.

Arguments in Opposition

None on file

FISCAL COMMENTS

According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, CalRecycle will incur costs, likely in the low hundreds of thousands of dollars, to amend its existing organic waste regulations implementing SB 1383 (Lara), Chapter 395, Statutes of 2016, to incorporate the exemption provided by this bill, as well as to evaluate and make determinations regarding waiver requests.

For its part, CalRecycle estimates ongoing annual costs of approximately $327,000 for two new positions (General Fund or special fund) to revise regulations, review information submitted by agricultural crop preparation services, communicate with jurisdictions, and provide stakeholder training.

As part of the Governor's January budget for fiscal year 2025-26, CalRecycle requests four permanent positions to implement two bills from last year – AB 2902 (Wood), Chapter 421, Statutes of 2024, and AB 2346 (Lee), Chapter 712, Statutes of 2024 – that require CalRecycle, among other things, to update the SB 1383 regulations. CalRecycle notes that its costs to implement this bill would be absorbable by the staff positions in the department's budget request.

VOTES

ASM NATURAL RESOURCES: 14-0-0

YES: Bryan, Alanis, Connolly, Ellis, Flora, Garcia, Haney, Hoover, Kalra, Muratsuchi, Pellerin, Schultz, Wicks, Zbur

ASM APPROPRIATIONS: 14-0-1

YES: Wicks, Arambula, Calderon, Caloza, Dixon, Elhawary, Fong, Mark González, Hart, Pacheco, Pellerin, Solache, Ta, Tangipa

ABS, ABST OR NV: Sanchez

UPDATED

VERSION: April 10, 2025

CONSULTANT: Elizabeth MacMillan / NAT. RES. / (916) 319-2092 FN: 0000570

Date of Hearing: May 7, 2025

ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS

Buffy Wicks, Chair

ABPCA Bill Id:AB 1046

Author:(Bains) – As Amended Ver:April 10, 2025

Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: No Reimbursable: No

SUMMARY:

This bill exempts from the state’s organic waste management requirements an agricultural crop preparation service, as defined, that demonstrates to the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle), in a form and manner developed by the department, that it has not disposed of organic waste in a landfill on or after January 1, 2016.

FISCAL EFFECT:

CalRecycle will incur costs, likely in the low hundreds of thousands of dollars, to amend its existing organic waste regulations implementing SB 1383 (Lara), Chapter 395, Statutes of 2016, to incorporate the exemption provided by this bill, as well as to evaluate and make determinations regarding waiver requests.

For its part, CalRecycle estimates ongoing annual costs of approximately $327,000 for two new positions (General Fund or special fund) to revise regulations, review information submitted by agricultural crop preparation services, communicate with jurisdictions, and provide stakeholder training.

As part of the Governor’s January budget for fiscal year 2025-26, CalRecycle requests four permanent positions to implement two bills from last year – AB 2902 (Wood), Chapter 421, Statutes of 2024, and AB 2346 (Lee), Chapter 712, Statutes of 2024 – that require CalRecycle, among other things, to update the SB 1383 regulations. CalRecycle notes that its costs to implement this bill would be absorbable by the staff positions in the department’s budget request.

COMMENTS:

1) Purpose. According to the author:

AB 1046 provides a narrow exemption from the state’s Short-Lived Climate Pollutant Reduction program for crop preparers that do not send organic waste to landfills…Many crop preparers were well ahead of the state in their stewardship, implementing environmentally responsible organic byproduct handling processes decades ago. Despite these sustainable practices, some counties incorrectly classify these businesses as contributors to landfill waste, leading to unnecessary administrative burdens and misallocation of resources.

2) Background. Organic material accounts for more than a third of California’s disposed waste stream. As this material decomposes in the state’s landfills, it generates significant quantities of methane. Methane is a powerful short-lived climate pollutant (SLCP) that is 84 times more potent than carbon dioxide over a 20-year timescale. According to CalRecycle, landfills emit approximately 20% of the state’s total methane emissions.

SB 1383 (Lara), Chapter 395, Statutes of 2016, requires the Air Resources Board to approve and implement a comprehensive SLCP strategy to achieve, by 2030, the following reductions from 2013 levels: a 40% reduction in methane, a 40% reduction in hydrofluorocarbon gases, and a 50% reduction in anthropogenic black carbon. In order to accomplish these goals, the law specifies that the methane emission reduction goals include the following targets to reduce the landfill disposal of organic waste, including food: 50% from the 2014 level by 2020 and 75% from the 2014 level by 2025. The law also requires that, by 2025, 20% of edible food that would otherwise be sent to landfills be redirected to feed people.

In order to ensure there are adequate markets for the state's increasing quantities of products made from organic waste, like mulch, compost, and digestate, CalRecycle established procurement requirements for local jurisdictions. When developing the SB 1383 program, CalRecycle cast a wide net to ensure that the program covers all sources of organic waste. The author contends that, due to varying interpretations of the law, some counties have required agricultural processors – who do not contribute organic waste to landfills and who handle organic byproducts in an environmentally responsible manner – to comply with the program’s registration and reporting regulations.

This bill is sponsored by the Western Tree Nut Association (WTNA) and the California Fresh Fruit Association. WTNA writes:

Hullers and processors of tree nuts utilize every single product and by-product that is created in the hulling, shelling and processing operation. Nothing goes to waste, and nothing goes to a landfill… Unfortunately, existing law implementing SB 1383 doesn’t allow for an off ramp from the reporting and inspection aspects of regulations and counties are imposing fees and paperwork burdens on our members that do not in any way, or at any time, divert waste or byproducts to a landfill. AB 1046 is very narrow and is needed to provide that clarification in order to avoid these specific burdens.

Analysis Prepared by: Nikita Koraddi / APPR. / (916) 319-2081

ASSEMBLY THIRD READING

ATR Bill Id:AB 1046

Author:(Bains)

As Amended Ver:April 10, 2025

Majority vote

SUMMARY

Exempts agricultural crop preparation services that have not historically disposed of organic waste in a landfill from specified organic waste management requirements.

Major Provisions

Exempts an agricultural crop preparation service, as defined by Section 3001 of Title 13 of the California Code of Regulations, that has not disposed of organic waste, including, but not limited to, culls, fruit skins, hulls, leaves, seed pits, shells, and sticks, in a landfill since 2016 from state regulations relating to edible food recovery pursuant to Article 10 (commencing with Section 18991.1) of Chapter 12 of Division 7 of Title 14 of the CCR.

COMMENTS

Organic waste recycling. Nearly 40 million tons of waste are disposed of in California's landfills annually. Nearly half of those materials are organics (~48%). Organic waste includes food, yard, paper, and other organic materials. As that material decomposes in landfills, it generates significant amounts of methane, a potent greenhouse gas (GHG) with 84 times the climate impact as carbon dioxide. Air Resources Board (ARB) states that about 20% of methane emissions in California comes from landfills.

SB 1383 (Lara), Chapter 395, Statutes of 2016, requires ARB to approve and implement a comprehensive SLCP strategy to achieve, from 2013 levels, a 40% reduction in methane, a 40% reduction in hydrofluorocarbon gases, and a 50% reduction in anthropogenic black carbon, by 2030. In order to accomplish these goals, the law specifies that the methane emission reduction goals include targets to reduce the landfill disposal of organic waste, including food, 50% by 2020 and 75% by 2025 from the 2014 level. SB 1383 also requires that 20% of edible food that would otherwise be sent to landfills is redirected to feed people by 2025. Specifically, the law requires: jurisdictions to establish food recovery programs and strengthen existing food recovery networks; food donors to arrange to recover the maximum amount of edible food; and, food recovery organizations and services that participate in SB 1383 to maintain specified records.

According to CalRecycle guidance for jurisdictions, commercial edible food generators are comprised of two tiers. Tier one generators generally have more produce, fresh grocery, and shelf-stable foods, and include wholesale food vendors, food service providers, food distributors, and grocery stores. Tier two generators generally have more prepared foods to donate, and include hotels, restaurants, health care facilities, cafeterias, and large venues. Both tiers of commercial edible food generators, as specified by CalRecycle, are required to send surplus food to food recovery organizations as of January, 1, 2024. These generators are required to maintain specified records and work with CalRecycle inspectors to demonstrate compliance with the requirements.

To achieve this, California's waste management infrastructure is going to have to process and recycle much higher quantities of organic materials, involving significant investments in additional processing infrastructure. Organic waste is primarily recycled by composting the material, which generates compost that can be used in gardening and agriculture as a soil amendment and engineering purposes for things like slope stabilization. Anaerobic digestion is also widely used to recycle organic wastes. This technology uses bacteria to break down the material in the absence of oxygen and produces biogas, which can be used as fuel, and digestate, which can also be used as a soil amendment. Tree trimmings and prunings can also be mulched.

In order to ensure that there are adequate markets for the state's increasing quantities of products made from organic waste, like mulch, compost, and digestate, CalRecycle established procurement requirements for local jurisdictions. The procurement targets are based on the average amount of organic waste generated by Californians annually multiplied by the population of a jurisdiction. Jurisdictions can meet the target by procuring, giving away, or arranging for the use of the material through contracts with direct service providers. Eligible materials include compost, mulch, biomass electricity, or renewable gas, as specified.

1383 Regulations. When developing the SB 1383 program, CalRecycle cast a wide net to ensure that the program covers all sources of organic waste. This has resulted in all food processors being subject to the program, even though a number of processors do not routinely dispose of any food materials to a landfill. As noted above, SB 1383 requirements were intended to reduce the landfill disposal of organic waste to avoid short-lived climate pollutants (SLCP) emissions, which raises a question about the appropriateness of requiring these facilities to be subject to SB 1383 requirements.

Little guidance exists for local jurisdictions from CalRecycle about how to regulate processors who do not dispose of material in a landfill. According to the author, there have been several instances in which county officials have assumed agricultural processors generate organic waste and therefore must comply with the program's recordkeeping and inspection requirements.

This bill. This bill is intended to clarify that SB 1383 regulations for edible food recovery do not apply to agricultural crop processors, as defined, that have not disposed of organic waste since the adoption of SB 1383 in 2016.

According to the Author

Arguments in Support

According to a coalition of supporters:

SB 1383 established targets of 50% reduction in the statewide disposal of organic waste from the 2014 level by 2020, a 75% reduction by 2025 and requires CalRecycle and the Air Resources Board to adopt regulations to achieve the organic waste reduction targets.

To achieve this goal, local jurisdictions are required to impose program requirements on "generators" of organic waste that might ultimately end up in a landfill. Hullers and processors of almonds, pecans, pistachios, walnuts and other agricultural products do not send their organic waste that would end up at a landfill.

All products and byproducts from these operations are repurposed for biomass, wood pellets, road materials, compost, building materials, animal feed and bedding. Notwithstanding this information, these entities are receiving notices requiring them to register as Tier 1 facilities.

Arguments in Opposition

None on file

FISCAL COMMENTS

Nonfiscal

VOTES

ASM NATURAL RESOURCES: 14-0-0

YES: Bryan, Alanis, Connolly, Ellis, Flora, Garcia, Haney, Hoover, Kalra, Muratsuchi, Pellerin, Schultz, Wicks, Zbur

UPDATED

VERSION: April 10, 2025

CONSULTANT: Elizabeth MacMillan / NAT. RES. / (916) 319-2092 FN: 0000221

Date of Hearing: April 7, 2025

ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES

Isaac G. Bryan, Chair

ABPCA Bill Id:AB 1046 (

Author:Bains) – As Amended Ver:March 27, 2025

SUBJECT: Short-lived climate pollutants: recovered organic waste product: food processing establishments

SUMMARY: Exempts food processing establishments that have not historically disposed of organic waste in a landfill from specified organic waste management requirements.

EXISTING LAW:

1. Requires the Air Resources Board (ARB) to develop a comprehensive strategy to reduce the emissions of short-lived climate pollutants (SLCP) to achieve a 40% reduction in methane emissions, 40% reduction in hydrofluorocarbon gases, and 50% reduction in anthropogenic black carbon below 2013 levels by 2030. (Health and Safety Code (HSC) 39730-39730.5)
2. Requires the state to reduce the disposal of organic waste by 40% from the 2014 level by 2020 and 75% by 2025 to help achieve the state’s methane reduction goal. (HSC 39730.6)
3. Requires the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle), in consultation with ARB, to adopt regulations to achieve the state’s organic waste reduction requirements. Specifies that the regulations, in part:
   1. May require jurisdictions to impose requirements on generators or other relevant entities within their jurisdiction and may authorize local jurisdictions to impose penalties on generators for noncompliance.
   2. Include requirements intended to meet the goal that not less than 20% of edible food is recovered for human consumption by 2025.
4. Requires local jurisdictions to implement edible food recovery programs, which include actions jurisdictions will take to educate commercial edible food generators; increase commercial edible food generator access to food recovery options; monitor commercial edible food generator compliance; and, increase edible food recovery capacity. (Section 18001.1 of the California Code of Regulations (CCR))
5. Requires local jurisdictions to maintain and report specified information relating to commercial edible food generators. (CCR 18991.2)
6. Requires commercial edible food generators to arrange to recover the maximum amount of edible food that would otherwise be disposed through a contract with a food recovery organization. Establishes limited exemptions from this requirement for extraordinary circumstances, as specified. (CCR 18991.3)
7. Requires commercial edible food generators and food recovery organizations to keep specified records. (CCR 18991.4 – 18991.5)
8. Defines “food processing establishment” as any room, building, or place or portion thereof, maintained, used, or operated for the purpose of commercially storing, packaging, making, cooking, mixing, processing, bottling, canning, packing, slaughtering, or otherwise preparing or handling food, except restaurants. Specifies that food processing establishment does not include a cottage food operation, as specified. (HSC 111955)

THIS BILL exempts a food processing establishment, as defined by HSC 111955, that “historically has not disposed of organic waste, including, but not limited to, culls, fruit skins, hulls, leaves, seed pits, shells, and sticks, to a landfill” from regulations relating to edible food recovery pursuant to Article 10 (commencing with Section 18991.1) of Chapter 12 of Division 7 of Title 14 of the CCR.

FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown

COMMENTS:

1. Organic waste recycling. Nearly 40 million tons of waste are disposed of in California's landfills annually. Nearly half of those materials are organics (~48%). Organic waste includes food, yard, paper, and other organic materials. As that material decomposes in landfills, it generates significant amounts of methane, a potent greenhouse gas (GHG) with 84 times the climate impact as carbon dioxide. ARB states that about 20% of methane emissions in California comes from landfills.

SB 1383 (Lara), Chapter 395, Statutes of 2016, requires ARB to approve and implement a comprehensive SLCP strategy to achieve, from 2013 levels, a 40% reduction in methane, a 40% reduction in hydrofluorocarbon gases, and a 50% reduction in anthropogenic black carbon, by 2030. In order to accomplish these goals, the law specifies that the methane emission reduction goals include targets to reduce the landfill disposal of organic waste, including food, 50% by 2020 and 75% by 2025 from the 2014 level. SB 1383 also requires that 20% of edible food that would otherwise be sent to landfills is redirected to feed people by 2025. Specifically, the law requires: jurisdictions to establish food recovery programs and strengthen existing food recovery networks; food donors to arrange to recover the maximum amount of edible food; and, food recovery organizations and services that participate in SB 1383 to maintain specified records.

According to CalRecycle guidance for jurisdictions, commercial edible food generators are comprised of two tiers. Tier one generators generally have more produce, fresh grocery, and shelf-stable foods, and include wholesale food vendors, food service providers, food distributors, and grocery stores. Tier two generators generally have more prepared foods to donate, and include hotels, restaurants, health care facilities, cafeterias, and large venues. Both tiers of commercial edible food generators, as specified by CalRecycle, are required to send surplus food to food recovery organizations as of January, 1, 2024. These generators are required to maintain specified records and work with CalRecycle inspectors to demonstrate compliance with the requirements.

To achieve this, California’s waste management infrastructure is going to have to process and recycle much higher quantities of organic materials, involving significant investments in additional processing infrastructure. Organic waste is primarily recycled by composting the material, which generates compost that can be used in gardening and agriculture as a soil amendment and engineering purposes for things like slope stabilization. Anaerobic digestion is also widely used to recycle organic wastes. This technology uses bacteria to break down the material in the absence of oxygen and produces biogas, which can be used as fuel, and digestate, which can also be used as a soil amendment. Tree trimmings and prunings can also be mulched.

In order to ensure that there are adequate markets for the state’s increasing quantities of products made from organic waste, like mulch, compost, and digestate, CalRecycle established procurement requirements for local jurisdictions. The procurement targets are based on the average amount of organic waste generated by Californians annually multiplied by the population of a jurisdiction. Jurisdictions can meet the target by procuring, giving away, or arranging for the use of the material through contracts with direct service providers. Eligible materials include compost, mulch, biomass electricity, or renewable gas, as specified.

1. Food processors. When developing the SB 1383 program, CalRecycle cast a wide net to ensure that the program covers all sources of organic waste. This has resulted in all food processors being subject to the program, even though a number of processors do not routinely dispose of any food materials to a landfill. As noted above, SB 1383 requirements were intended to reduce the landfill disposal of organic waste to avoid SLCP emissions, which raises a question about the appropriateness of requiring these facilities to be subject to SB 1383 requirements.

Little guidance exists for local jurisdictions from CalRecycle about how to regulate processors who do not dispose of material in a landfill. According to the author, there have been several instances in which county officials have assumed agricultural processors generate organic waste and therefore must comply with the program’s recordkeeping and inspection requirements.

1. This bill. This bill is intended to clarify that SB 1383 regulations for commercial edible food generators do not apply to food processing establishments, as defined, that “historically has not disposed of organic waste to landfill.”
2. Suggested amendments. The committee may wish to amend the bill to narrow the types of exempt facilities to agricultural crop preparation services, as defined, and required that the service demonstrate to CalRecycle that it has not disposed of organic waste in a landfill since 2016.

REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:

Support

American Pistachio Growers

California Citrus Mutual

California Fresh Fruit Association

Western Tree Nut Association


Opposition

None on file

Analysis Prepared by: Elizabeth MacMillan / NAT. RES. /