Bill Text: CA SB1013 | 2021-2022 | Regular Session | Amended

California Senate Bill 1013 (Prior Session Legislation)

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

Bill Title: Beverage container recycling.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 4-0)

Status: (Passed) 2022-09-27 - Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 610, Statutes of 2022. [SB1013 Detail]

Download: California-2021-SB1013-Amended.html

Amended IN Senate May 19, 2022

Amended IN Senate April 21, 2022

Amended IN Senate March 30, 2022

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2021–2022 REGULAR SESSION

Senate Bill

No. 1013

Introduced by Senator Atkins
(Coauthor: Assembly Member Ting)

February 14, 2022

An act to amend Sections 14504, 14550, 14560.5, and 14561 of the Public Resources Code, relating to recycling, and making an appropriation therefor.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

SB 1013, as amended, Atkins. Beverage container recycling: reports: electronic submittal: wine and distilled spirits.

The California Beverage Container Recycling and Litter Reduction Act defines the term “beverage” to include certain types of products in liquid, ready-to-drink form and excludes, among other things, wine or wine from which alcohol has been removed in whole or in part, whether or not sparkling or carbonated. The act defines the term “beverage container” to mean the individual, separate bottle, can, jar, carton, or other receptacle, however denominated, in which a beverage is sold, and which is constructed of metal, glass, or plastic, or other material, or any combination of these materials. The act requires a distributor to pay a redemption payment for every beverage container sold or offered for sale in the state to the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, and requires the department to deposit those amounts in the California Beverage Container Recycling Fund. The money in the fund is continuously appropriated to the department to pay refund values and administrative fees to processors, defined to mean persons certified by the department who purchase empty beverage containers from recycling centers and process the containers in a prescribed manner, to fund a reserve for contingencies and, after setting specified funds aside, for various purposes relating to beverage container recycling, litter cleanup and prevention, and education. The act requires processors and distributors of beverage containers to report specified information to the department, in the form and manner prescribed by the department. The act imposes certain requirements on the invoice or other form of accounting of a transaction submitted by a beverage distributor of beverages to a dealer, but authorizes a distributor of beer and malt beverages or wine or distilled spirit coolers to separately identify certain information. The act requires a beverage manufacturer to clearly indicate on all beverage containers sold or offered for sale by that beverage manufacturer in the state to be labeled as specified. The act prohibits a person from offering to sell, or selling, to a consumer a beverage container that has not been labeled as required by the act. A violation of the act is a crime.

This bill would explicitly authorize the department to require the information reported to the department by a processor or distributor of beverage containers to be submitted electronically. The bill would revise the definition of beverage to include distilled spirits and wine or wine from which alcohol has been removed in whole or in part, whether or not sparkling or carbonated, as provided. Since the additional payments for the beverage containers that this bill would make subject to the act would be deposited in a continuously appropriated fund, the bill would make an appropriation. The bill would additionally authorize a distributor of wine or distilled spirits to separately identify specified information on an invoice or other form of accounting of a transaction submitted to a dealer. The bill would exempt a beverage container included within the scope of the act beginning on January 1, 2023, from the act’s labeling requirements until January 1, 2024. The bill would provide that, notwithstanding this exemption, these beverage containers shall be considered empty beverage containers for purposes of the act between January 1, 2023, and January 1, 2024. The bill would also impose a state-mandated local program by creating new crimes relating to the regulation of beverage containers.

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.

Vote: 2/3 Appropriation: YES Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: YES

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.

Section 14504 of the Public Resources Code is amended to read:

14504.

(a) Except as provided in subdivision (b), “beverage” means any of the following products if those products are in liquid, ready-to-drink form, and are intended for human consumption:

(1) Beer and other malt beverages.

(2) Wine and distilled spirit coolers.

(3) Carbonated water, including soda and carbonated mineral water.

(4) Noncarbonated water, including noncarbonated mineral water.

(5) Carbonated soft drinks.

(6) Noncarbonated soft drinks and “sport” drinks.

(7) Except as provided in paragraph (4) of subdivision (b), noncarbonated fruit drinks that contain any percentage of fruit juice.

(8) Coffee and tea drinks.

(9) Carbonated fruit drinks.

(10) Vegetable juice in beverage containers of 16 ounces or less.

(11) Distilled spirits.

(12) (A) Wine, or wine from which alcohol has been removed, in whole or in part, whether or not sparkling or carbonated.

(B) Notwithstanding paragraph (1) of subdivision (b), wine contained in a beverage container, including, but not limited to, a bottle, can, box, bladder, or pouch, regardless of the material type from which the beverage container is made.

(b) “Beverage” does not include any of the following:

(1) Any product sold in a container that is not an aluminum beverage container, a glass container, a plastic beverage container, or a bimetal container.

(2) Milk, medical food, or infant formula.

(3) One hundred percent fruit juice in containers that are 46 ounces or more in volume.

(1) “Infant formula” means any liquid food described or sold as an alternative for human milk for the feeding of infants.

(2) (A) “Medical food” means a food or beverage that is formulated to be consumed, or administered enterally under the supervision of a physician, and that is intended for specific dietary management of diseases or health conditions for which distinctive nutritional requirements, based on recognized scientific principles, are established by medical evaluation.

(B) A “medical food” is a specially formulated and processed product, for the partial or exclusive feeding of a patient by means of oral intake or enteral feeding by tube, and is not a naturally occurring foodstuff used in its natural state.

(C) “Medical food” includes any product that meets the definition of “medical food” in the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. Sec. 360ee(b)(3)).

(3) “Noncarbonated soft drink” means a nonalcoholic, noncarbonated naturally or artificially flavored water containing sugar or sweetener or trace amounts of various elements from both natural and synthetic sources.

SEC. 2.

Section 14550 of the Public Resources Code is amended to read:

14550.

(a) (1) Every processor shall report to the department for each month the amount of empty beverage containers, by material type and weight of container or material, excluding refillable beverage containers, received from recycling centers and curbside programs for recycling, and the scrap value paid for glass, PET, and bimetal containers and any beverage container that is assessed a processing fee. Every processor shall also report to the department for each month the amount of other postfilled aluminum, glass, and plastic food and drink packaging materials sold filled to consumers in this state and returned for recycling. These reports shall be submitted within 10 days after each month, in the form and manner that the department may prescribe, which may include electronic submittal.

(2) The department shall treat all information reported pursuant to this section by a processor as commercial or financial information subject to the procedures established pursuant to Section 14554.

(b) Every distributor who sells or offers for sale in this state beverages in aluminum beverage containers, nonaluminum metal beverage containers, glass beverage containers, plastic beverage containers, or other beverage containers, including refillable beverage containers of these types, shall report to the department for each month the number of beverages sold in these beverage containers in this state that are labeled pursuant to Section 14561, by material type and size and weight of container or any other method as the department may prescribe. These reports shall be submitted by the day when payment is due, consistent with the applicable payment schedule specified in subdivision (a) of Section 14574, in the form and manner that the department may prescribe, which may include electronic submittal.

(c) Every distributor who sells or offers for sale in this state beverages in refillable beverage containers and who pays a refund value to distributors, dealers, or consumers who return these containers for refilling, shall report to the department for each month the number of these beverage containers returned empty to be refilled, by material type and size of container or any other method that the department may prescribe. These reports shall be submitted by the day when payment is due, consistent with the schedule specified in subdivision (a) of Section 14574, in the form and manner that the department may prescribe, which may include electronic submittal.

(d) Notwithstanding subdivision (b), a distributor who elects to make an annual payment pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 14574 may, upon department approval, submit the reports required by this section annually to the department. The reports shall accompany the annual payment submitted pursuant to Section 14574.

SEC. 3.

Section 14560.5 of the Public Resources Code is amended to read:

14560.5.

(a) (1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), an invoice or other form of accounting of a transaction submitted by a beverage distributor of beverages to a dealer shall separately identify the amount of any redemption payment imposed on beverage containers pursuant to Section 14560 and the separate identification of the invoice or other form of accounting of the transaction shall not combine or include the gross wholesale price with the redemption payment but shall separately state the gross amount of the redemption payment for each type of container included in each delivery.

(2) An invoice or other form of accounting of a transaction submitted by a distributor of beer and malt beverages, wine or distilled spirit coolers, wine, or distilled spirits to a dealer may separately identify the portion of the gross wholesale price attributable to any redemption payment imposed on beverage containers pursuant to Section 14560 and the separate identification of the invoice or other form of accounting of the transaction may separately state the gross amount of the redemption payment for each type of container included in each delivery. The invoice or other form of accounting of this transaction may separately identify the portion of the gross wholesale price attributable to the redemption payment.

(3) Notwithstanding Section 14541, the department shall randomly inspect beverage distributor invoices or other forms of accounting to ensure compliance with this subdivision. However, an unintentional error in addition or subtraction on an invoice or other form of accounting by a route driver of a distributor shall not be deemed a violation of this subdivision.

(4) For purposes of this subdivision, the term “type of container” includes the amount of the redemption payment on containers under 24 ounces and on containers 24 ounces or more.

(b) To the extent technically and economically feasible, a dealer may separately identify the amount of any redemption payment on the customer cash register receipt provided to the consumer, by the dealer, that is applied to the purchase of a beverage container.

(c) (1) A dealer shall separately identify the amount of any redemption payment imposed on a beverage container in all advertising of beverage products and on the shelf labels of the dealer’s establishment. The separate identification shall be accomplished by stating one of the following:

(A) The price of the beverage product plus a descriptive term, as described in paragraph (2).

(B) The price of the beverage product plus the amount of the applicable redemption payment and a descriptive term, as described in paragraph (2).

(C) The price of the beverage product plus the amount of the applicable redemption payment, a descriptive term, as described in paragraph (2), and the total of these two amounts.

(2) For purposes of paragraph (1), the redemption payment shall be identified by one of the following descriptive terms: “California Redemption Value,” “CA Redemption Value,” “CRV,” “California Cash Refund,” “CA Cash Refund,” or any other message specified in Section 14561.

(3) A dealer shall not include the redemption payment in the total price of a beverage container in any advertising or on the shelf of the dealer’s establishment.

(4) This subdivision applies only to a dealer at a dealer location with a sales and storage area totaling more than 4,000 square feet.

(5) The penalties specified in Sections 14591 and 14591.1 shall not apply to a person who violates this subdivision.

(d) With regard to the sale of beer and other malt beverages, wine and distilled spirits cooler beverages, wine, and distilled spirits, any amount of redemption payment imposed by this division is subject to Section 25509 of the Business and Professions Code.

SEC. 4.

Section 14561 of the Public Resources Code is amended to read:

14561.

(a) A beverage manufacturer shall clearly indicate on all beverage containers sold or offered for sale by that beverage manufacturer in this state the message “CA Redemption Value,” “California Redemption Value,” “CA Cash Refund,” “California Cash Refund,” or “CA CRV,” by either printing or embossing the beverage container or by securely affixing a clear and prominent stamp, label, or other device to the beverage container.

(b) A refillable beverage container sold or offered for sale is exempt from this section. However, a beverage manufacturer or container manufacturer may place upon, or affix to, a refillable beverage container any message that the manufacturer determines to be appropriate relating to the refund value of the beverage container.

(c) A person shall not offer to sell, or ~~sell~~ sell, to a consumer, a beverage container subject to subdivision (a) that has not been labeled pursuant to this section, except for a refillable beverage container that is exempt from labeling pursuant to subdivision (b).

(d) The department may require that a beverage container intended for sale in this state be printed, embossed, stamped, labeled, or otherwise marked with a universal product code or similar machine-readable indicia.

(e) A beverage container labeled with the message specified in subdivision (a) shall have the minimum redemption payment established pursuant to Section 14560, which shall be paid by the distributor to the department pursuant to Section 14574.

(f) Notwithstanding any other requirement of this section, a beverage container that is included within the scope of this division beginning on January 1, 2023, but that was not subject to this division before that date, shall be exempt from the labeling requirements of this section until January 1, 2024. However, even though these beverage containers are not required to bear the message required by this section from January 1, 2023, to January 1, 2024, inclusive, notwithstanding subdivision (c) of Section 14512, they shall be considered “empty beverage containers” for purposes of this division during that time.

SEC. 5.

No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution.