AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 10, 2024
california legislature—2023–24 regular session
ASSEMBLY BILL No. 2346
Introduced by Assembly Member Lee
February 12, 2024
An act to amend Section 42652.5 of the Public Resources Code, relating to solid waste.
legislative counsel’s digest
AB 2346, as amended, Lee. Organic waste reduction re gulations:
procurement of recovered organic waste products.
Existing law requires the State Air Resources Board to complete, approve, and implement a comprehensive strategy to reduce emissions of short-lived climate pollutants in the state to reduce the state wide methane emissions by 40% belo w 2013 levels by 2030. Existing la w requires the Department of Resources Rec ycling and Reco very, in consultation with the state board, to adopt re gulations that achie ve specified targets for reducing or ganic waste in landfills, as pro vided.
The department’s organic waste regulations require local jurisdictions to annually procure a quantity of recovered organic waste products and to comply with their procurement targets by directly procuring recovered organic waste products for use or giveaway or by requiring, through a written agreement, that a direct service pro vider to the jurisdiction procure recovered organic waste products, or both. Those regulations specify the types of recovered organic waste products that a jurisdiction may procure, including compost that is produced at a compostable material handling operation or facility, or a specified digestion facility that composts onsite. Other re gulations of the department require all compostable materials handling acti vities to obtain a f acility permit
98 from the department prior to commencing operations and meet other specified requirements, b ut exclude from those requirements certain activities that the re gulations state do not constitute a compostable material handling operation or f acility, including the composting of green material, agricultural material, food material, and vegetative food material, and the handling of compostable materials under certain conditions, as provided.
This bill w ould authorize local jurisdictions to be credited for the procurement of recovered organic waste products through an agreement with a direct service pro vider, as defined, and w ould allow the direct service provider agreement to include the procurement of reco vered organic waste products on a prospective or retrospective basis as long as the purchase of those products occurs during the year for which the local jurisdiction seeks credit. The bill w ould also authorize local jurisdictions to count to wards their procurement tar gets, compost produced and procured from specified compost operations, as defined, and, until 2030, investments made for the expansion of the capacity of compostable materials handling operations or community composting operations, as provided.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
line 1 SECTION 1. Section 42652.5 of the Public Resources Code line 2 is amended to read:
line 3 42652.5. (a) The department, in consultation with the State line 4 Air Resources Board, shall adopt regulations to achieve the organic line 5 waste reduction goals for 2020 and 2025 established in Section line 6 39730.6 of the Health and Safety Code. The re gulations shall line 7 comply with all of the following:
line 8 (1) May require local jurisdictions to impose requirements on line 9 generators or other rele vant entities within their jurisdiction and line 10 may authorize local jurisdictions to impose penalties on generators line 11 for noncompliance.
line 12 (2) Shall include requirements intended to meet the goal that line 13 not less than 20 percent of edible food that is currently disposed line 14 of is recovered for human consumption by 2025.
line 15 (3) Shall not establish a numeric or ganic waste disposal limit line 16 for individual landfills.
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line 1 (4) May include dif ferent le vels of requirements for local line 2 jurisdictions and phased timelines based upon their progress in line 3 meeting the or ganic w aste reduction goals for 2020 and 2025 line 4 established in Section 39730.6 of the Health and Safety Code. The line 5 department shall base its determination of progress on rele vant line 6 factors, including, but not limited to, reviews conducted pursuant line 7 to Section 41825, the amount of organic waste disposed compared line 8 to the 2014 level, per capita disposal rates, the review required by line 9 Section 42653, and other relevant information provided by a local line 10 jurisdiction.
line 11 (5) (A) May include penalties to be imposed by the department line 12 for noncompliance. If penalties are included, they shall not exceed line 13 the amount authorized pursuant to Section 41850. line 14 (B) Notwithstanding any other law, administrative civil penalties line 15 for a local jurisdiction that fails to procure a quantity of recovered line 16 organic waste products that meets or exceeds its recovered organic line 17 waste product procurement tar get established by the department line 18 pursuant to Section 18993.1 of Title 14 of the California Code of line 19 Regulations shall be imposed pursuant to the following schedule:
line 20 (i) On or after January 1, 2023, each jurisdiction shall procure line 21 a quantity of reco vered or ganic w aste products that meets or line 22 exceeds 30 percent of its reco vered or ganic w aste product line 23 procurement target.
line 24 (ii) On or after January 1, 2024, each jurisdiction shall procure line 25 a quantity of reco vered or ganic w aste products that meets or line 26 exceeds 65 percent of its reco vered or ganic w aste product line 27 procurement target.
line 28 (iii) On or after January 1, 2025, each jurisdiction shall procure line 29 a quantity of reco vered or ganic w aste products that meets or line 30 exceeds 100 percent of its reco vered or ganic w aste product line 31 procurement target.
line 32 (6) Shall tak e effect on or after January 1, 2022, e xcept the line 33 imposition of penalties pursuant to paragraph (1) shall not tak e line 34 effect until two years after the effective date of the regulations. line 35 (7) Jurisdictions in possession of a rural exemption pursuant to line 36 subdivision (c) of Section 18984.12 of Title 14 of the California line 37 Code of Regulations, as that section read on January 1, 2022, are line 38 exempt from the procurement requirement of this subdivision until line 39 December 31, 2026. Be ginning January 1, 2027, the department line 40 may, in its discretion, pro vide rural counties and jurisdictions 98 AB 2346 — 3 —
line 1 located within rural counties that are e xempt from organic waste line 2 collection requirements an e xtended reco vered or ganic w aste line 3 product procurement tar get schedule similar to the schedule set line 4 forth in this subdi vision, which shall be e xempt from the line 5 Administrative Procedure Act (Chapter 3.5 (commencing with line 6 Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government line 7 Code).
line 8 (8) The department may , in its discretion, create an adjusted line 9 recovered organic waste product procurement target schedule, not line 10 to e xceed the requirements of the schedule set forth in this line 11 subdivision, which shall be e xempt from the Administrative line 12 Procedure Act (Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of line 13 Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code). line 14 (b) A local jurisdiction may charge and collect fees to recover line 15 the local jurisdiction’ s costs incurred in complying with the line 16 regulations adopted pursuant to this section.
line 17 (c) A local jurisdiction f acing continuing violations of the line 18 regulations adopted pursuant to subdi vision (a) that commence line 19 during the 2022 calendar year may submit to the department a line 20 notification of intent to comply, as described in this section. Upon line 21 approval by the department, and implementation by the local line 22 jurisdiction, of a notification of intent to comply that meets the line 23 requirements of subdivision (e), a local jurisdiction may be eligible line 24 for both of the following:
line 25 (1) Administrative civil penalty relief for the 2022 calendar year line 26 pursuant to subdivision (d).
line 27 (2) A corrective action plan pursuant to Section 18996.2 of Title line 28 14 of the California Code of Regulations.
line 29 (d) (1) For violations of the regulations that are disclosed in a line 30 notification of intent to comply that is approved by the department line 31 as meeting the requirements of subdi vision (e), the department line 32 shall waive administrative civil penalties under paragraph (5) of line 33 subdivision (a) during the 2022 calendar year if, and administrative line 34 civil penalties shall not accrue under paragraph (5) of subdivision line 35 (a) during the 2022 calendar year if, the local jurisdiction line 36 implements the proposed actions according to the schedule line 37 proposed pursuant to paragraph (4) of subdivision (e). line 38 (2) For violations that commence during the 2022 calendar year line 39 and continue into the 2023 calendar year , administrati ve ci vil line 40 penalties may be gin accruing as of January 1, 2023. Those 98 — 4 — AB 2346
line 1 administrative ci vil penalties accruing on and after January 1, line 2 2023, shall be waived upon complete compliance with the terms line 3 of a corrective action plan pursuant to Section 18996.2 of Title 14 line 4 of the California Code of Regulations.
line 5 (3) If a local jurisdiction fails to adhere to the proposed actions line 6 and schedule described in a notification of intent to comply line 7 pursuant to paragraph (4) of subdivision (e), the department may line 8 revoke its appro val of the notification of intent to comply and line 9 impose administrative civil penalties for violations occurring during line 10 the 2022 calendar year retroactive to the date of violation. line 11 (4) Notwithstanding any proposed actions and schedule provided line 12 by a local jurisdiction in an appro ved notification of intent to line 13 comply pursuant to paragraph (4) of subdivision (e), the department line 14 may instead address through a corrective action plan any violations line 15 disclosed in that notification that may take more than 180 days to line 16 correct. Under those circumstances, the proposed actions and line 17 schedule provided pursuant to an appro ved notification of intent line 18 to comply pursuant to paragraph (4) of subdivision (e) shall control line 19 until a corrective action plan is finalized.
line 20 (e) The department shall appro ve a notification of intent to line 21 comply if the department determines the notification meets the line 22 requirements of this subdivision. A notification of intent to comply line 23 shall be in writing, adopted by formal resolution by the governing line 24 body of the local jurisdiction, and filed with the department no line 25 later than March 1, 2022. The notification of intent to comply shall line 26 include, at a minimum, all of the following:
line 27 (1) A description, with specificity, of the continuing violations. line 28 (2) A detailed e xplanation of the reasons, supported by line 29 documentation, why the local jurisdiction is unable to comply. line 30 (3) A description of the impacts of the CO VID-19 pandemic line 31 on compliance.
line 32 (4) A description of the proposed actions the local jurisdiction line 33 will take to remedy the violations within the timelines established line 34 in Section 18996.2 of Title 14 of the California Code of line 35 Regulations with a proposed schedule for doing so. The proposed line 36 actions shall be tailored to remedy the violations in a timely line 37 manner.
line 38 (f) The department shall respond in writing to a local jurisdiction line 39 within 45 b usiness days of recei ving a notification of intent to line 40 comply with an appro val, disappro val, request for additional 98 AB 2346 — 5 —
line 1 information, or timeline for a decision on approval or disapproval. line 2 If the department disapproves the notification of intent to comply line 3 due to the notification not meeting the requirements of subdivision line 4 (e), the department shall include in the response a justification for line 5 the disapproval.
line 6 (g) Notwithstanding Section 18996.2 of Title 14 of the California line 7 Code of Regulations, the department may establish any maximum line 8 compliance deadline in a corrective action plan that it determines line 9 to be necessary and appropriate under the circumstances for the line 10 correction of a violation of the re gulations adopted pursuant to line 11 subdivision (a).
line 12 (h) A local jurisdiction may be credited for the procurement of line 13 recovered organic waste products, pursuant to Section 18993.1 of line 14 Title 14 of the California Code of Re gulations, through an line 15 agreement with a direct service pro vider, as defined in Section line 16 18982 of Title 14 of the California Code of Regulations. The direct line 17 service pro vider agreement may include the procurement of line 18 recovered organic waste products on a prospective or retrospective line 19 basis, as long as the purchase of recovered organic waste products line 20 occurs during the year for which the local jurisdiction seeks line 21 procurement credit.
line 22 (i) Notwithstanding the e xcluded acti vities listed in Section line 23 17855 of Title 14 of the California Code of Regulations, in addition line 24 to the compostable material handling operation or facilities listed line 25 in paragraph (1) of subdivision (f) of Section 18993.1 of Title 14 line 26 of the California Code of Re gulations, a local jurisdiction may line 27 count compost produced and procured from the following compost line 28 operations towards its procurement target established pursuant to line 29 Section 18993.1 of Title 14 of the California Code of Regulations:
line 30 (1) Community composting operations. “Community line 31 composting” has the same meaning as defined in Section 18982 line 32 of Title 14 of the California Code of Regulations. line 33 (2) On-farm compost operations. “On-farm compost operation” line 34 means an operation located on an agricultural operation that line 35 composts organic material collected from the f arm in which it is line 36 located. “ Agricultural operation” has the same meaning as line 37 “agricultural acti vity, operation, or f acility, or appurtenances line 38 thereof,” as defined in subdi vision (e) of Section 3482.5 of the line 39 Civil Code.
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line 1 (3) Home compost operations. “Home compost operation” line 2 means an operation that composts or ganic material from the line 3 residence on which it is located.
line 4 (j) (1) Until 2030, a local jurisdiction may count an investment line 5 made within the jurisdiction’ s geographic boundaries for the line 6 expansion of the capacity of compostable materials handling line 7 operations or community composting operations to ward its line 8 recovered organic waste procurement target established pursuant line 9 to Section 18993.1 of Title 14 of the California Code of line 10 Regulations, including, but not limited to, an investment made to line 11 establish or expand a compostable materials handling operation, line 12 community composting operation, or onsite composting operation. line 13 (2) For an investment made pursuant to paragraph (1), a local line 14 jurisdiction may obtain procurement credit using the follo wing line 15 conversion factors, as applicable:
line 16 (A) If the local jurisdiction in vests in the creation of a ne w line 17 compostable materials handling operation, community composting line 18 operation, or onsite composting operation, for the year in which line 19 the in vestment w as made, the local jurisdiction may claim line 20 procurement credit based on the percentage of the total cost of the line 21 project that the local jurisdiction funded, multiplied by the line 22 estimated annual compost production capacity.
line 23 (B) If the local jurisdiction in vests in the e xpansion of an line 24 existing compostable materials handling operation, community line 25 composting operation, or onsite composting operation, for the year line 26 in which the investment was made, the local jurisdiction may claim line 27 procurement credit based on the percentage of the total cost of the line 28 project that the local jurisdiction funded, multiplied by the line 29 estimated additional annual compost production capacity. line 30 (3) For purposes of this subdi vision, “compostable materials line 31 handling operation” has the same meaning as defined in paragraph line 32 (12) of subdi vision (a) of Section 18982 of Title 14 of the line 33 California Code of Regulations, “community composting” has the line 34 same meaning as defined in paragraph (8) of subdi vision (a) of line 35 Section 18982 of Title 14 of the California Code of Re gulations, line 36 and “onsite composting operation” means a composting operation line 37 that generates compost from organic materials generated onsite. line 38 (k) (1) The department may adopt regulations it determines to line 39 be necessary to implement and enforce the changes made to this 98 AB 2346 — 7 —
line 1 section by Chapter 508 of the Statutes of 2021 as emer gency line 2 regulations.
line 3 (2) Emergency regulations adopted pursuant to paragraph (1) line 4 shall be adopted in accordance with Chapter 3.5 (commencing line 5 with Section 11340) of P art 1 of Di vision 3 of Title 2 of the line 6 Government Code, and for purposes of that chapter , including line 7 Section 11349.6 of the Go vernment Code, the adoption of these line 8 regulations is an emergency and shall be considered by the Office line 9 of Administrative Law as necessary for the immediate preservation line 10 of the public peace, health, safety , and general welf are. line 11 Notwithstanding Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) line 12 of P art 1 of Di vision 3 of Title 2 of the Go vernment Code, line 13 emergency re gulations adopted by the department pursuant to line 14 paragraph (1) shall be filed with, but not be repealed by, the Office line 15 of Administrative Law and shall remain in effect until January 1, line 16 2024.
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