Bills Pertaining to the Conservation Program
AB 888
Bloom
Waste management: plastic microbeads.
Summary: Would prohibit the sale or promotional distribution of any product (generally
personal care products used for exfoliation or rinse off) containing microbeads of more than
one part per million by weight after January 1, 2020. Enforceable by a fine of $2,500 per day by
the State Attorney General. (Rationale: these microbeads are plastic and do not break down
after they are flushed or go down the drain; they enter the environment and cannot be cleaned
up. Animals eat them and we eat the animals which cause cancers and harm up the food
chain.)
Status: Senate Appropriations Committee – Poised to become law
Resolutions: GFWC 011-190 Waste Management and Recycling; CFWC 011-017 Biodegradable
Packaging and Recyclable Materials
Analysis: Who knew? I always thought the claim of microbeads was a fiction since I never see
them. Lots of products claim to have them. The smaller they are the more easily they are
ingested and the more impossible they are to clean up. These products do not dissolve or
break down over time.
Recommendation: Endorse. I would normally say “ignore” when it is this close to becoming
law but I am inclined to believe that women are the primary users of these products and we
need to make people aware of this issue IMMEDIATELY and not wait for it to become law
Committee Vote: Endorse
AB 453 Bigelow
Groundwater management.
Summary: Bill deals with money and says that if monies in the Water Rights Fund collected
from administration of the Groundwater Management Act are less than the monies spent in
administering that act, other monies in the Water Rights Fund can be used for the purpose
continuing the administration of that Act.
Status: Senate Appropriations Committee – poised to become law.
Resolutions: CFWC 011-046 Off-Shore Drilling; CFWC 011-067 Coastal Waters
Analysis: Presumably ensures that the Groundwater Management Act which protects the
management and quality of water in our groundwater basins will still be enforced even if it is
not monetarily self supporting or profitable. Prioritizes groundwater basins. as more important
than money.
Committee Vote: Endorse.
AB 1323 Frazier
Marine debris: removal and disposal.
Summary: Shortens time which authorities have to store marine debris such as unseaworthy
watercraft or debris for their owners to claim them from the current 15 days to 10 days and
allows debris which poses threat to public safety or well being subject to immediate disposal
unless the debris is whole and intact and the owner can be readily identified in which case the
owner will still have 10 days to claim it. Owners of debris can be charged for its removal and
storage.
Status: Senate Appropriations Committee.
Resolutions: CFWC 011-067 Coastal Waters
Analysis: Seems more of a safety issue than conservation issue but since it does take place on
water and deals with debris it technically falls in Conservation. Seems like a reasonable law but
I am unsure how much difference 5 days will make.
Committee Vote: Endorse.
AB 317 Maienschein
Veterinary medicine: temporary shelter facility.
Summary: Exempts temporary/emergency animal shelters which care for displaced animals in
disaster situations from requirements that they display a valid veterinarian license in order to
provide medical or dental care to animals. Requires the temporary shelter to provide a report
to the veterinary licensing board within 30 days after it ceases operation.
Status: Senate Appropriations Committee
Resolutions: GFWC 015-260 Humane Treatment of Animals; GFWC 013-200 Humane Slaughter
Act Enforcement.
Analysis: Bill specifies that these are temporary shelters for animals displaced by a State of
Emergency (such as when the Red Cross is involved) not ordinary shelters. Seems like we would
want animals to receive any care that might save them in a state of emergency. Some care is
better than no care. These shelters are not places where owners take their pets under ordinary
circumstances since pets are separated from the owner due to the state of emergency.
Committee Vote: Endorse.
AB 853
Roger Hernandez
Electrical and gas corporations: security of plant and
facilities.
Summary: Existing law requires Public Utilities to provide safe courteous and accurate delivery
and charging of utilities and that the Public Utilities Commission can order the public utility to
remedy things when they are failing to meet these requirements. This bill prevents public
utilities from outsourcing the work necessary to meet these requirements to third parties
maintain the utilities responsibility for compliance. Requires repair work at nuclear and power
plant utilities to be done by direct employees.
Status: Senate Energy, Utilities and Communication
Resolutions:
Analysis: Keeps public utilities failing to maintain basic standards from shrugging off their
failures to comply with basic services by saying they are not responsible since the service was
outsourced. Public utilities have a special relationship with public interests unlike ordinary
businesses and should not be able to divest themselves of their obligations through outsourcing
to companies not held to these standards.
Committee Vote: Endorse.