Assembly Standing Committee on Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials

Good afternoon, everyone. We are calling the hearing of the Assembly Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials Committee to order. We'll ask sergeants to please call absent members, noting the absence of a quorum right now, but we will begin as a subcommitee. We have our author here. Real quickly, our committee's policies for testimony in today's hearing are as follows.

Primary witnesses in support must be those accompanying the author or who otherwise have registered a support position with the committee. Primary witnesses in opposition must have their opposition registered with the committee as well. All other support and opposition can be stated at the standing mic.

When called upon to simply state name, affiliation, and position. Each primary witness will have two minutes to give their testimony. I also note that we are accepting written testimony through the position letter portal on the committee's website. We will hear one measure today with four measures on consent. Again, thank you everyone for attending and tuning in.

Again, we do not have a quorum at this point, so we will defer on voting on consent. We will take file item number one up, SB 615, Senator Allen. And if you can present, present your bill. Thank you.

Thank you so much, Mr. Chair. So this bill, SB 615, would establish a program under the Department of Toxic Substance Control to ensure the proper management of end of life electric vehicle batteries.

And the idea here is that it will help us promote a more sustainable circular economy and avoid problems that are created by mismanaged hazardous waste. Recycling end of life batteries from electric vehicles reduces the demand for raw materials, thereby avoiding the negative social and economic and environmental impacts of mining.

In some instances, batteries can be repurposed for energy storage, further extending their useful life. So it's not just a matter of kind of a straight recycle. They can be repurposed.

But the problem is as we, even as we seek to dramatically grow our EV system, we simply don't have a good policy framework in place to ensure that these beneficial outcomes that we seek are within reach.

And this will be problematic as we do grow out our EV system and EV batteries then reach their end of life and it could create a hazardous waste crisis if clear pathways for management are not already in place.

We're already seeing evidence of this growing problem, including in the complications that burned EV batteries pose in the cleanup of the LA fires and as local household hazardous waste facilities are starting to take in EV batteries that are coming to their facilities, but oftentimes in a really chaotic way.

So a few years ago then Senator Brian Dahle, I guess he was an Assembly Member at the time, passed AB 2832, which called for an advisory group to develop recommendations for the legislature to ensure that as close to 100% of as possible of lithium ion batteries in the steed are reused or recycled end of life.

And this bill builds off of that report and then countless stakeholder feedback that we've garnered over the last couple of years to ensure that EV batteries are properly handled and eventually recycled at their end, at the end of use, and that we really encourage reuse, repair, and repurposing whenever feasible.

This bill also holds the battery suppliers responsible for proper management and recycling of end of use, end of life batteries under warranty and other batteries offered back to the appropriate battery supplier, including associated costs of collection.

The bill also holds that entities that remove a battery from a vehicle, such as an auto shop or dismantler, has to then properly manage that battery. This could mean returning the battery to the manufacturer, selling the battery to be used for battery storage, or selling it to a battery recycler.

And the flexibility of the structure is particularly important because unlike other materials that we sought to manage at their end of life, EV batteries contain critical minerals which make them really valuable in a growing and robust recycling market.

But it's also designed to include producer responsibility as a crucial backstop if the recycling market and value of the battery material changes over time to ensure proper end of life management continues, regardless of what's happening in the market. So with me here today to speak on behalf of the bill.

In support of the bill are Daniel Barad with the Union of Concerned Scientists and Jordan Wells, who's here with the California State Association of Counties.

Thank you. Welcome.

Good afternoon. Chair and Members, Daniel Barad, on behalf of Union of Concerned Scientists here today in strong support of SB 615. Unit of Concerned Scientists has been working for the past couple decades in California to advance electric vehicles and the state has been very successful in that endeavor.

About 25% of sales annually are zero emission vehicles or plug in hybrid. But that's going to come with a lot of retirements and in the next five to 10 years, we're expecting a pretty large wave of electric vehicle battery retirements.

So SB 615 looks to get ahead of that wave and make sure that as many of these batteries are recovered and recycled or repurposed as possible. There's three things Union of Concerned Scientists has really been advocating for throughout this entire process and we're really pleased are in this bill.

First of all, the bill is extended producer responsibility, which means that the batteries will be collected and recycled and won't become a burden to Californians, electric vehicle owners, et cetera. Second, the bill includes tracking and reporting requirements that will make sure that batteries aren't slipping through the cracks.

And if they do, we will have a report on that and we'll be able to come back and enact policy solutions to fix those cracks. And finally, the bill makes sure that we're only sending batteries to responsible recyclers by requiring DTSC to actually certify recyclers and make sure they're safe for workers and communities.

This bill is not the first bill in the country for EV battery recycling, but if it's passed, it certainly would be the strongest and would serve as a model to other states and to the the country as a whole. It's a result of five years of work, two and a half years on this specific bill.

So we really appreciate Senator Allen and his office for all that work, and we respectfully request your I vote.

Good Afternoon, Chair Connolly and members of the committee. My name is Jordan Wells. I'm with the California State Association of Counties, representing all of California's 58 counties. California has the greatest number of registered electric vehicles, or EVs in the nation, with over 1.2 million registered in 2023.

As an early driver and adopter of zero emission vehicle technology, California is also at the forefront of dealing with the end of life management of EV batteries. EV batteries have already started arriving at household hazardous waste, or HHW, facilities operated by local governments.

The significant management costs of HHW continue to rise and are born by local jurisdictions, budgets and ratepayers fees. When these facilities do not accept materials from the public because they lack the infrastructure or funding to manage them, it can result in improper disposal, including illegal dumping.

However, batteries are inherently valuable as they contain critical earth minerals, but can also pose a potential environmental health and public safety hazard if not handled properly at end of life producers must take accountability for the materials they put into the stream of commerce and it is critical that we address the issue of vehicle traction battery management before it becomes an overwhelming problem for local jurisdictions.

SB 615 would address the issue and ensure vehicle batteries are properly managed by establishing a framework for the end of life management and recycling vehicle traction batteries. For these reasons, CSAC strongly supports SB 615 and thanks Senator Allen for his leadership and respectfully ask for your I vote. Thank you.

Thank you. Do we have any remaining members of the public who wish to indicate support for SB 615? Come on up.

Good afternoon, Tony Hackett from Californians Against Waste in support. Extremely grateful for the author's office in working with us, especially on the amendment for a categorical prohibition on smelting.

Good afternoon. Shawn Tapeckian on behalf of the Ford Motor Company in support.

Ryan McCarthy on behalf of Redwood Materials in support.

Sean Flanagan on behalf of LKQ in support.

Amanda Bloom from the California Association of Environmental Health Administrators in support.

Good afternoon. Sarah Erlich from the Center for Environmental Health in support.

Hello. Kai Clausen on behalf of CALSTART in a support if amended position. While we do recognize the importance of having a regulatory framework for these batteries, we look forward to continuing to work with the author and electric automakers on some potential amendments to address safety concerns. So thank you so much. We look forward to those discussions.

Thank you. Do we have anyone in opposition to the bill? If so, come on up.

Just to meet you if that's all right. Okay. Lizzie Cootsona here on behalf of Tesla in respectful opposition for the reasons in our letter. Thank you.

Kasha Hunt with Nossaman in opposition oppose unless amended as motorcycle and power sports are much smaller entities and therefore can't take on the burden that is being imposed on this Bill by this Bill. Thank you.

Timothy Burr on behalf of Rivian in opposition. Thank the author and his team for work on this and we'll continue to work with you on this. So thank you all.

Elizabeth Esquivel with the California Manufacturers and Technology Association also in respectful opposition. Thank you.

Good afternoon, Chair. Members. John Kendrick on behalf of the California Chamber of Commerce in opposition is currently constructed. Thank you. Thank you. Any further opposition scene, then we're going to bring it back to the committee with any questions, comments. Vice Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you. I have some questions. Do you know how many batteries are recycled each year out of this 1.4 million, 1.2 million.

Currently in California?

Yes.

Gosh, I don't know. Do either of you guys know?

It's 15%.

Okay, well, that's not good.

So. Do you know the difference between reuse and repurpose?

Well, yes.

And I'm asking respectfully because the reason I'm asking is that and I'll tell you why I'm asking. About. 80% of the batteries that come out of electric vehicles still have an 80% life and they can be repurposed.

So my concern here is that is that we may be trying to regulate and we probably maybe should differentiate from, for example, like a lead acid battery that comes out versus a lithium ion battery. Go ahead.

Well, tell me more about. The system is structured to pull in all these different types of batteries and obviously reuse is the number one. There's an order of, there's a hierarchy of, of best use and obviously reuse followed by repurpose and recycling.

So there's a system we've structured in the bill to ensure that to the extent that we can, we're going to be putting these things right back into vehicles. But then obviously we know that the minerals and various component parts of the batteries can be very valuable and there's, they can be turned into other types of batteries.

They can be turned into.

The reason we're having this conversation, I, I simply was trying to figure out how we could encourage recycling because of the exact, you know, because of the metal content, because of lithium. And so I, I, to try to, to try to put the ownership responsibility on the, the people that buy the batteries, they're already expensive enough.

Is there a way that we could amend this so that we could stimulate, recycle? That was my question.

That's exactly how, that's the purpose of the bill. We're not putting the onus on the folks who purchase the automobiles. We're actually asking the manufacturers, the producers, and the infrastructure that is likely to take these things out of the cars to take responsibility.

And one of the, I mean you're opening data point illustrates why it's so important for us to do this. In spite of the fact that we've got lots of valuable minerals, there's so much opportunity associated with these products.

There's no system in place like a comprehensive system to extract these batteries and repurpose them, reuse them, recycle them, et cetera. We worked very closely with the OEMs on this. It's part of why you saw Ford come out here and testify in support of the bill.

The challenges that you've heard from Tesla and others really come down to questions of responsibility.

If there's a body shop or something that does some work on the battery and they're concerned about who, they don't want to take on any liability associated with mistake or something that's out of the usual practice that that person might apply to the battery.

But I think everybody agrees that there's so much low hanging fruit here and we're really losing a lot of opportunity by not having a more comprehensive system in place.

So that just automatically when a battery is replaced or a car is turned in at the end of life, there's a system in place to take the battery and make sure it's being used as best we possibly can. That's what this bill seeks to structure. And we, you know, and again, we've got. We had. It's why.

It's why you got Ford here asking for you to vote for this, because they recognize what a lost opportunity the broken 15% status quo that you highlighted presents.

Yeah, I mispromote, recycle. Thank you, Senator. Appreciate that.

Yeah. But this is about recycling. I mean, that's what this is all about. It's about making sure that these batteries are properly removed, either reused, repurposed, recycled, however best they can. And then the good thing here, unlike with plastics, we all worked on plastics a couple of years ago.

That's the one type of plastic that you're drinking out of right now that actually is recycled at any decent rate in this state. Everything else is not. That's about 75%. But unlike plastics, where there's really no market, it's very, very hard to turn that into something that's actually valuable.

In this case, we've got cobalt, nickel, lithium, and all these different minerals that are in metals that are in the batteries that are actually potentially, you know, valuable. And you. And there's. And there's a potential market there. So there's opportunity here.

Let's go ahead and do a quorum.

For the purposes of establishing a quorum, I will call the role.

[roll call]

Great. We have a motion and second. Further questions? Comments from committee members?

I know, I know. We're back again for more punishment.

Yeah. And to that, senator, I want to appreciate your work on this, which has been over the course of a couple years in terms of prior efforts and kind of how this is different and hoping to get it across the finish line. If you wanted to talk to that briefly.

Yeah. So the governor, you know, the governor, we had a substantively similar. Well, the governor had a bill, I'm sorry, a veto message a year or two ago on this topic that talked about wanting to do all this within a producer responsibility organization.

And it's funny, because their folks have not been as positive about producer responsibility organizations in other contexts more recently. But anyhow, and then the challenge I think we have, we really do want to work with industry. This is. And they themselves have said that they want more flexibility in the bill to do this right.

And to really create the kind of circularity that Assembly Member Ellis was talking about. So the challenge here is how do we land this in a way that's truly workable for our partners in local government and in industry in a way that the governor's office feels comfortable. And we're going to be engaging in intense conversations.

I invite anyone who's got an interest in this to help us in that effort and just to get them into a place where they understand the conversations we've had and why we structured it this way. But we're feeling.

We're feeling good about how the conversation has been going, but it's still a work in progress, as you can imagine.

If I may, I really appreciate this, and as an electric car driver myself who struggles with this part of my footprint, I wish this were more available. And so I. I wish you godspeed as you head towards those conversations with the governor's office, so we can see this become a reality.

And I would love to be out as a co author. Thank you. Thank you.

I think that with respect to the DTSC's involvement, it appears to me that as the recept.

This is not a question, by the way, more of a statement, which I'd like to have on the record, that just the receiving of information as it relates to how these particular batteries are either recycled or parts are extracted or whatever should be.

In reading the governor's message, he was very worried about a big onus on the dtsc. So this, it seems like your bill provides for tracking, but not a whole lot of, you know, huge enforcement part of it. So I think that should make the bill look attractive.

That's right. That's right. Yeah. Yeah. No, I think you're right. I think on the state financing side, we've definitely improved. We're still a little stuck on trying to. How to really read the most we can out of it is PRO. The PRO portion of the message, but that's a great point. Thank you for bringing it up. Yeah, yeah.

Good comments. Thank you again for your work. Senator, this does have an I reco from the chair. With that, Madam Secretary, please call the roll file.

Item 1, SB 615, authored by Senator Allen. This bill has an urgency clause. The motion is do pass to the committee on National. Oh, I'm sorry. Sorry, I misspoke. This one does not have an urgency clause.

You just made my path a little harder.

Do pass to the Committee on Natural Resources. My apologies.

[roll call]

That has the vote to get out. We will leave it open for absentee members. Thank you.

Thank you, co author.

We will in fact take up the consent calendar now. We have a motion. Bauer-Kahan. Do we have a second? McKinner. Madam Secretary.

39.

All right. On the proposed consent calendar are item number two, SB39. This item has an urgency clause authored by Suber Weber Pearson. The motion is do pass to the Assembly floor. Item number three, SB454, authored by Senator McNerney. The motion is do pass to the Committee on appropriations. Item number four, SB 724, authored by Senator Richardson.

The motion is do pass to the Committee on Housing. Item number five, SCR3, authored by Senator Laird. The motion is do pass to the Assembly floor. So the, the Bill is to be adopted to the consent calendar. Connolly. Aye. Connolly, aye. Ellis. Aye. Ellis, aye. Bauer-Kahan. Aye. Bauer-Kahan, aye. Castillo. Lee. McKinnor. Aye. McKinnor Aye. And Papen. Aye. Papan, aye. 5 to 0.

Great. Those bills are out. We'll leave the roll open for absentee Members.

Next week, next year. Oh, really? Next year?

Almost.

Yeah.

No, in two weeks.

Oh, yeah. You're welcome to stay. Well.

Enjoy your afternoon.

Yeah, I will. Anyone? How you doing? I'm doing well.

Oh, yeah, we just got done over there.

Go.

Oh, someone already here.

Thank you.

It.

Okay. We will now allow Members to add on.

Opening the roll again for consent. Castillo. Consent. Oh, aye. Castillo, aye. Lee. Aye. Lee, aye. 7 to 0. And then also reopening the rule for file item number one, SB615. The measure is do pass to the Committee on Natural Resources, with the Chair voting aye. Castillo. Castillo, no. And Lee. Lee, aye.

Great. All right. Thank you Members, this concludes the hearing of the ESTM Committee. The hearing is now adjourned.