40050-40063
PUBLIC RESOURCES CODE
SECTION 40050-40063
40050. This division shall be known and may be cited as the California Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989. 40051. In implementing this division, the board and local agencies shall do both of the following: (a) Promote the following waste management practices in order of priority: (1) Source reduction. (2) Recycling and composting. (3) Environmentally safe transformation and environmentally safe land disposal, at the discretion of the city or county. (b) Maximize the use of all feasible source reduction, recycling, and composting options in order to reduce the amount of solid waste that must be disposed of by transformation and land disposal. For wastes that cannot feasibly be reduced at their source, recycled, or composted, the local agency may use environmentally safe transformation or environmentally safe land disposal, or both of those practices. 40052. The purpose of this division is to reduce, recycle, and reuse solid waste generated in the state to the maximum extent feasible in an efficient and cost-effective manner to conserve water, energy and other natural resources, to protect the environment, to improve regulation of existing solid waste landfills, to ensure that new solid waste landfills are environmentally sound, to improve permitting procedures for solid waste management facilities, and to specify the responsibilities of local governments to develop and implement integrated waste management programs. 40053. This division, or any rules or regulations adopted pursuant thereto, is not a limitation on the power of a city, county, or district to impose and enforce reasonable land use conditions or restrictions on solid waste management facilities in order to prevent or mitigate potential nuisances, if the conditions or restrictions do not conflict with or impose lesser requirements than the policies, standards, and requirements of this division and all regulations adopted pursuant to this division. 40054. This division, or any rules or regulations adopted pursuant thereto, is not a limitation on the power of the Attorney General, on the request of the board, the state water board, a regional water board, or upon his or her own motion, to bring an action in the name of the people of the State of California to enjoin any health hazard, pollution, or nuisance. 40055. (a) This division, or any rules or regulations adopted pursuant thereto, is not a limitation on the power of any state agency in the enforcement or administration of any provision of law which it is specifically authorized or required to enforce or administer, including, but not limited to, the exercise by the state water board or the regional water boards of any of their powers and duties pursuant to Division 7 (commencing with Section 13000) of the Water Code, the exercise by the Department of Toxic Substances Control of any of its powers and duties pursuant to Chapter 6.5 (commencing with Section 25100) of Division 20 of the Health and Safety Code, and the exercise by the State Air Resources Board or any air pollution control district or air quality management district of any of its powers and duties pursuant to Division 26 (commencing with Section 39000) of the Health and Safety Code. (b) The exercise of authority under this division, including, but not limited to, the adoption of regulations, plans, permits, or standards or the taking of any enforcement actions shall not duplicate or be in conflict with any determination relating to water quality control made by the state water board or regional water boards, including requirements in regulations adopted by or under the authority of the state water board. (c) Any plans, permits, standards, or corrective action taken under this division shall be consistent with all applicable water quality control plans adopted pursuant to Section 13170, and Article 3 (commencing with Section 13240) of Chapter 4 of Division 7, of the Water Code and the state policies for water quality control adopted pursuant to Article 3 (commencing with Section 13140) of Chapter 3 of Division 7 of the Water Code existing at the time of the action or proposed action. 40056. This division, or any rules or regulations adopted pursuant thereto, is not a limitation on the right of any person to commence and maintain at any time any appropriate action for relief against a nuisance as defined in the Civil Code. 40057. Each county, city, district, or other local governmental agency which provides solid waste handling services shall provide for those services, including, but not limited to, source reduction, recycling, composting activities, and the collection, transfer, and disposal of solid waste within or without the territory subject to its solid waste handling jurisdiction. 40058. The solid waste handling services shall be provided for by one or any combination of the following: (a) The furnishing of the services by the local agency itself. (b) The furnishing of the services by another local agency. (c) The furnishing of the services by a solid waste enterprise. 40059. (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, each county, city, district, or other local governmental agency may determine all of the following: (1) Aspects of solid waste handling which are of local concern, including, but not limited to, frequency of collection, means of collection and transportation, level of services, charges and fees, and nature, location, and extent of providing solid waste handling services. (2) Whether the services are to be provided by means of nonexclusive franchise, contract, license, permit, or otherwise, either with or without competitive bidding, or if, in the opinion of its governing body, the public health, safety, and well-being so require, by partially exclusive or wholly exclusive franchise, contract, license, permit, or otherwise, either with or without competitive bidding. The authority to provide solid waste handling services may be granted under terms and conditions prescribed by the governing body of the local governmental agency by resolution or ordinance. (b) Nothing in this division modifies or abrogates in any manner either of the following: (1) Any franchise previously granted or extended by any county or other local governmental agency. (2) Any contract, license, or any permit to collect solid waste previously granted or extended by a city, county, or a city and county. 40059.1. (a) The Legislature hereby finds and declares both of the following: (1) In 1989, the Legislature enacted this division as the California Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989. One of the key provisions of this division is that each local agency has the responsibility for diverting 50 percent of all solid waste generated within the local agency by January 1, 2000. (2) The public policy objective of the Legislature in enacting this section is to ensure that those local agencies that require an indemnity obligation retain their responsibility for implementing the diversion requirements of this division. (b) For the purposes of this section, the following terms have the following meanings: (1) "Indemnity obligation" means any indemnity obligation directly or indirectly related to the failure of a local agency to meet the solid waste diversion requirements imposed by Chapter 6 (commencing with Section 41780) of Part 2, that is expressly assumed by, or imposed upon, the solid waste enterprise, whether pursuant to ordinance, contract, franchise, license, permit, or other entitlement or right, for the benefit of the local agency. (2) "Local agency" means any county, city, city and county, district, regional agency as defined in Section 40181, or other local government agency. (c) Any provision, term, condition, or requirement contained in any ordinance, contract, franchise, license, permit, or other entitlement or right adopted, entered into, issued, or granted, as the case may be, by a local agency for solid waste collection and handling, including the recycling, processing, or composting of solid waste, or in any request for bids or proposals in connection with any such contract or franchise, that authorizes or requires the imposition of an indemnity obligation, shall, notwithstanding any such provision, term, condition, or requirement, be subject to all of the following restrictions: (1) An indemnity obligation shall not be enforceable if the board imposed penalty is based solely upon the failure of the local agency to establish and maintain a source reduction and recycling element pursuant to Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 41000) of Part 2, Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 41300) of Part 2, or Section 41750.1, as the case may be. (2) Any board imposed penalty based upon a local agency's failure to meet the solid waste diversion requirements imposed by Chapter 6 (commencing with Section 41780) of Part 2, resulting in whole or in part from the solid waste enterprise's breach of contract or noncompliance with any other authorization, shall be apportioned in accordance with the percentage of fault of the local agency and the solid waste enterprise. (3) For purposes of this section, a solid waste enterprise is not liable for the indemnity obligation to the extent that the solid waste enterprise's breach or noncompliance resulted from the action or failure to act of the local agency. (4) No payment required or imposed pursuant to an indemnity obligation, whether required or imposed by ordinance, contract, franchise, license, permit, or other entitlement or right, may exceed that portion of any penalty assessed by the board against the local agency that was caused by the solid waste enterprise's breach or noncompliance of an express obligation or requirement. (5) No indemnity obligation shall be enforceable against a solid waste enterprise until the local agency has affirmatively sought, in good faith, all administrative relief available pursuant to Chapter 6 (commencing with Section 41780) and Chapter 7 (commencing with Section 41800) of Part 2, unless the local agency demonstrates good cause, based on substantial evidence in the record, for not pursuing that administrative relief. The solid waste enterprise shall cooperate, in good faith, with the local agency seeking that administrative relief and shall provide in writing to the local agency all known defenses to the imposition of penalties. (d) Nothing in this section shall be construed to preclude either party from seeking any other remedy under law or equity. (e) The provisions of this section are not subject to waiver, and any attempted waiver shall be null and void as against public policy. (f) This section is not intended to do any of the following: (1) Add to or expand the authority of local agencies to determine aspects of solid waste collection and handling pursuant to Section 40059. (2) Alter the authority of business entities to collect or process materials that are not solid waste. (3) Affect any contract right existing on the effective date of this section. 40060. (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a regional water board shall not issue a waste discharge permit for a new landfill, or a lateral expansion of an existing landfill, which is used for the disposal of nonhazardous solid waste if the land has been primarily used at any time for the mining or excavation of gravel or sand. (b) A regional water board, in a public meeting, may grant a variance from subdivision (a) if the applicant demonstrates and the regional water quality control board determines that the discharges to a new facility or expansion of an existing facility during its operation and postclosure period will not pollute or threaten to pollute the waters of the state. In deciding whether to grant a variance, the regional water board shall consider, among other factors, site characteristics, including permeability and transmissivity of the underlying soils and depth to groundwater. For the purpose of this section, "groundwater" means the uppermost aquifer usable for beneficial purposes. (c) Nothing in this section precludes any local jurisdiction from exercising any power which it has pursuant to any other provision of law. (d) The following definitions govern the construction of this section: (1) "Landfill used for the disposal of nonhazardous solid waste" means a disposal site regulated by a regional water board as a Class III landfill pursuant to Sections 2533 and 2541 of Title 23 of the California Code of Regulations. (2) "Lateral expansion" means a new or expanded waste management unit which is not authorized on January 1, 1989, under existing waste discharge requirements issued pursuant to Division 7 (commencing with Section 13000) of the Water Code and an existing solid waste facility permit issued pursuant to this title. For purposes of subdivision (f), "lateral expansion" does not include a new or expanded waste management unit for which waste discharge requirements were issued by a regional water board before January 1, 1989, but were subject to review after that date pursuant to Section 13320 of the Water Code. (e) The regional water board may hold a single hearing for purposes of granting a variance pursuant to subdivision (b) and establishing waste discharge requirements. (f) Notwithstanding subdivision (b), a regional water board shall not grant a variance from subdivision (a) if the variance is for a new landfill, or a lateral expansion of an existing landfill, located within the boundaries of the Main San Gabriel Groundwater Basin. For purposes of this subdivision, the boundaries of the Main San Gabriel Groundwater Basin are the boundaries described in Exhibit A of the judgment in Upper San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District v. City of Alhambra, et al., Case Number 924128 of the Superior Court for the County of Los Angeles. 40061. (a) Notwithstanding Section 40059, every local agency which does not directly charge residential households a fee for the collection, transportation, and disposal of solid waste and every local agency which directly charges residential customers a fee which represents less than 90 percent of the average cost of collecting, transporting, and disposing of residential solid waste shall, at least once every three months, arrange to inform all residential households of all of the following: (1) The average monthly volume of solid waste produced by each residential household. (2) The total estimated monthly cost to the local agency to collect, transport, and dispose of all solid waste produced by residential households. (3) The average monthly cost to the local agency to collect, transport, and dispose of solid waste produced by each residential household. (b) For the purposes of this section, "residential household" means those single and multifamily residential units which are not charged a periodic fee for the collection, transportation, and disposal of solid waste or which are assessed a periodic fee which represents less than 90 percent of the local agency's total cost of providing these services. (c) The notification provided under subdivision (a) may, not more than twice in any calendar year, be made by publication in a newspaper of general circulation in the county in which the local agency is located. (d) Unless notification is made by publication, when possible, the notification provided under subdivision (a) shall be distributed by each local agency to residential households in a manner that results in no distribution costs to the local agency in excess of distribution costs otherwise incurred for other purposes. 40062. (a) Upon the request of any person furnishing any report, notice, application, plan, or other document required by this division, including any research or survey information requested by the board for the purpose of implementing its programs, neither the board nor an enforcement agency, in accordance with subdivisions (c) and (d), shall make available for inspection by the public any portion of the report, notice, application, plan, or other document that contains a trade secret, as defined in subdivision (d) of Section 3426.1 of the Civil Code, that has been identified pursuant to subdivision (b). (b) Any person furnishing information, as described in subdivision (a), to the board or an enforcement agency pursuant to this division shall, at the time of submission, identify all information which the person believes is a trade secret. Any information not identified by the person as a trade secret shall be made available to the public, unless exempted from disclosure by another provision of law. (c) (1) With regard to information that has been identified as a trade secret pursuant to subdivision (b), the board, upon its own initiative, or upon receipt of a request for public information pursuant to Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 6250) of Division 7 of Title 1 of the Government Code, shall determine whether any or all of the information has been properly identified as a trade secret. If the board determines that the information is not a trade secret, the board shall notify the person who furnished the information by certified mail. (2) The person who furnished the information shall have 30 days from the date of receipt of the notice required by paragraph (1) to provide the board with a complete justification and statement of the grounds on which the trade secret privilege is claimed. The justification and statement shall be submitted to the board by certified mail. (3) The board shall determine whether the information is protected as a trade secret within 15 days from the date of receipt of the justification and statement or, if no justification and statement is filed, within 45 days from the date of the notice required by paragraph (1). The board shall notify the person who furnished the information and any party who has requested the information pursuant to Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 6250) of Division 7 of Title 1 of the Government Code of that determination by certified mail. If the board has determined that the information is not protected as a trade secret, this final notice shall also specify a date, not sooner than 15 days from the date of the date of mailing of the final notice, when the information shall be available to the public. (d) Except as provided in subdivision (c), the board or an enforcement agency may release information submitted and designated as a trade secret only to the following public agencies under the following conditions: (1) To other public agencies in connection with the responsibilities of the board or an enforcement agency under this division or for use in making reports. (2) To the state or any state agency in judicial review for enforcement proceedings involving the person furnishing the information. (e) For the purpose of implementing this section, the disclosure of information shall be consistent with Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 6250) of Division 7 of Title 1 of the Government Code. 40063. At the request of a county with a population of less than 250,000, the board and the state water board may meet with the county to prioritize, through development and joint adoption of a five-year plan, state environmental concerns with regard to solid waste management in relation to the fiscal and staffing constraints on the county.