Bills

SB 1341: Beverage containers: wine and distilled spirits: processing fees.

  • Session Year: 2025-2026
  • House: Senate
  • Latest Version Date: 2026-05-18

Current Status:

In Progress

(2026-06-01: Referred to Com. on NAT. RES.)

Introduced

In Committee

First Chamber

In Committee

Second Chamber

Enacted

Version:

The California Beverage Container Recycling and Litter Reduction Act requires a beverage manufacturer to pay to the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery a processing fee for each beverage container, as defined, sold or transferred in this state. The act requires the department to deposit the fee into the California Beverage Container Recycling Fund, a continuously appropriated fund. The act requires the department to pay processing payments to processors and recycling centers from the fund, as specified. The act requires the processing payment to be at least equal to the difference between the scrap value of the beverage containers and the sum of certain actual operational costs for certified recycling centers and a reasonable financial return for recycling centers, as specified. The act requires the processing fee to be 65% of the processing payment, except as specified.

This bill would, until January 1, 2031, authorize the department to reduce the processing fee for a beverage container that is a box, bladder, pouch, or similar container containing wine or distilled spirits to a value greater than or equal to the processing payment for HDPE plastic beverage containers if the department determines the aggregate amount forecasted to be collected from that processing fee will exceed the aggregate amount needed to pay the corresponding processing payment, as specified. Once each year, if the processing fee that would otherwise apply to a beverage container that is a box, bladder, pouch, or similar container containing wine or distilled spirits is higher than the processing fee established pursuant this bill, the bill would authorize the department to increase the processing payment for those beverage containers.

This bill would state the intent of the Legislature that the department, in calculating the processing fee for a beverage container that is a box, bladder, pouch, or similar container containing wine or distilled spirits, establish the processing fee at a level that does not impose an economic burden on beverage manufacturers and generates sufficient funds to make processing payments to recyclers, as specified.

Discussed in Hearing

Senate Floor1MIN
May 22, 2026

Senate Floor

Senate Standing Committee on Environmental Quality8MIN
Apr 22, 2026

Senate Standing Committee on Environmental Quality

View Older Hearings

News Coverage:

SB 1341: Beverage containers: wine and distilled spirits: processing fees. | Digital Democracy