Unsafe products: disposal: penalties.

Plain English Breakdown

The bill's status as 'Passed Legislature' indicates it has passed both chambers but does not specify if or when it was signed into law.

Rules for Disposing Unsafe Products

This law changes how manufacturers handle unsafe products and sets new penalties for not following rules.

What This Bill Does

• Defines a manufacturer as someone who makes a product and owns or licenses the brand name under which it is sold.
• Requires manufacturers to safely dispose of unsafe products at no cost to consumers, recycling centers, municipal facilities, retailers, solid waste facilities, hazardous waste collection sites, and thrift stores.
• Changes penalties for breaking these rules from up to $1,000 per occurrence or a maximum of $20,000 to fines ranging from $2,500 to $5,000 per day depending on the severity of the violation.
• Creates two new accounts in the State Treasury: Product Recall Penalty Account and Hazardous Product Recall Penalty Account for collecting penalties and funding related activities.
• Gives the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery authority to impose administrative penalties and establish a process for assessing them.

Who It Names or Affects

• Manufacturers who make unsafe products
• Consumers returning unsafe products
• Recycling centers, municipal facilities, retailers, solid waste facilities, hazardous waste collection sites, and thrift stores handling unsafe product disposal

Terms To Know

Manufacturer

A person who makes a product and owns or licenses the brand name under which it is sold.

Product Recall Penalty Account

An account in the State Treasury where penalties for breaking unsafe product disposal rules are collected and used to fund related activities.

Limits and Unknowns

• The bill does not specify how much money will be available from the accounts created.
• It is unclear if this bill has been signed into law or what its effective date might be.
• The exact process for assessing penalties and holding informal hearings is to be established through regulations.

Official Summary Text

AB 2462, as introduced, Pellerin.
Unsafe products: disposal: penalties.
Existing law, the Product Recall Safety and Protection Act, provides for the establishment and enforcement of various product safety standards for consumer products, and prohibits a commercial dealer, manufacturer, importer, distributor, wholesaler, or retailer from placing into the stream of commerce a product that is unsafe, knowing that the product is unsafe. For purposes of the act, a manufacturer is any person who makes, and places into the stream of commerce, a product.
This bill would instead state that a manufacturer is a person who manufactures a product and who owns or is the licensee of the brand or trademark under which the product is sold, as specified.
Under the act, a manufacturer is required to provide for the safe return or appropriate disposal of an unsafe product at no cost to the end
consumer or retailer in a manner that is in compliance with all applicable federal, state, and local laws, regulations, and ordinances.
This bill would instead require the safe return or appropriate disposal of the unsafe product to be at no cost to the end consumer, a recycling center, a municipal facility that accepts the product for recycling or disposal, a retailer that sells the product, a permitted solid waste facility, a household hazardous waste collection facility, and a thrift retail store.
Existing law provides that any violation of the act is subject to a civil penalty of up to $1,000 per occurrence, up to a maximum of $20,000.
This bill would instead authorize the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery to administratively impose an administrative penalty on a person in violation of the act of $2,500 per day or $5,000 per day if the violation is intentional or
knowing, as specified. The bill would require the department to establish through regulations a process by which the penalties will be assessed, including an informal hearing, as specified. The bill would create the Product Recall Penalty Account in the State Treasury and would require the department to deposit the penalties collected into the account. The bill would require moneys in the account, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to be available for expenditure by the department for certain purposes. The bill would authorize the department to refer enforcement to the Department of Toxic Substances Control for unsafe products identified as hazardous waste, and would create the Hazardous Product Recall Penalty Account in the State Treasury. The bill would require moneys in the account, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to be available for expenditure by the Department of Toxic Substances Control for certain purposes.

Current Bill Text

Download Bill PDF