CLFP Continues Work on Legislative Issues during Recess

The California Legislature is in recess until January 6, 2020.  During the legislative interim, CLFP is engaging with stakeholder groups, Governor Gavin Newsom's Administration and legislators and staff on policy issues impacting the food processing industry, including food packaging and energy rates and programs.

Two packaging bills that CLFP strongly opposed were held in the Legislature at the end of session and will be considered again in 2020. SB 54 (Allen) and AB 1080 (Gonzalez), which are identical bills, would set impractical recycling rates and deadlines for all types of packaging materials, provides CalRecycle with broad emergency regulatory authority that include significant fee authority with no legislative oversight, draconian penalties for unintentional data reporting errors, and lacks assurances that local jurisdictions and waste haulers would pull material through for all recyclable and compostable materials, among other significant issues. CLFP is continuing to engage on these bills throughout the legislative recess to try and make these bills workable. CLFP is working with a food and agriculture stakeholder group on issues relating to food safety as well as a larger multi-industry stakeholder group on larger issues relating to infrastructure, Cal Recycle authority and more. The groups will offer amendments to Senator Allen and Assembly Member Gonzalez in the coming weeks. 

CLFP is also engaging with an agricultural and industrial stakeholder group on energy rates. With the passage of AB 1054 in July, legislative leadership asked key stakeholders to compile a wish list of potential energy proposals to help offset increased costs. The preliminary stakeholder list includes proposals surrounding de-energization, customer-generation, direct access, energy-efficiency funding and more. The CLFP Energy Committee is providing input on these proposals before they are formally presented to the Legislature for potential action in 2020. Some of the items would require legislation; some might be accomplished with regulatory action.

For more information about these and other legislative issues, please contact Trudi Hughes.