Two bills that seek to address illegal dumping met very different fates on Thursday.
The Senate Appropriations Committee passed Senate Bill 367 (Seyarto-R, Murrieta), which seeks to create a new grant program to help fund the cleanup of solid waste illegally dumped on state or federal lands. RCRC helped to rework the measure and strongly supports the bill, as illegal dumping continues to be a serious problem for many local governments, especially in unincorporated rural areas.
On the same day, the Assembly Appropriations Committee held Assembly Bill 909 (Hoover, R-Folsom), which RCRC sponsored to expand California’s illegal dumping grant program. Under current law, the state grant program only pays for the cleanup and disposal of illegally dumped solid waste. While hazardous wastes are also commonly found either intermixed with solid waste or on their own, the higher costs of managing hazardous wastes are ineligible for funding under the program. AB 909 attempted to break down regulatory silos and made both types of waste eligible for funding under the program.
For more information, contact RCRC Policy Advocate, John Kennedy.