(a) The department shall adopt guidelines and methods for paying handling fees to supermarket sites, nonprofit convenience zone recyclers, or rural region recyclers to provide an incentive for the redemption of empty beverage containers in convenience zones. The guidelines shall include, but not be limited to, all of the following:
(1) Handling fees shall be paid on a monthly basis, in the form and manner adopted by the department. The department shall require that claims for the handling fee be filed with the department not later than the first day of the second month following the month for which the handling fee is claimed as a condition of receiving any handling fee.
(2) The department shall determine the number of eligible containers per site for which a handling fee will be paid in the following manner:
(A) Each eligible site’s combined monthly volume of glass and plastic beverage containers shall be divided by the site’s total monthly volume of all empty beverage container types.
(B) If the quotient determined pursuant to subparagraph (A) is equal to, or more than, 10 percent, the total monthly volume of the site shall be the maximum volume which is eligible for a handling fee for that month.
(C) If the quotient determined pursuant to subparagraph (A) is less than 10 percent, the department shall divide the volume of glass and plastic beverage containers by 10 percent. That quotient shall be the maximum volume that is eligible for a handling fee for that month.
(3) (A) On and after the effective date of the act amending this section during the 2011–12 Regular Session, and until March 1, 2013, the department shall pay a handling fee per eligible container in the amount determined pursuant to subdivisions (f) and (g).
(B) On and after July 1, 2014, the department shall pay a handling fee per eligible container in the amount determined pursuant to subdivision (f).
(4) If the eligible volume in any given month would result in handling fee payments that exceed the allocation of funds for that month, as provided in subdivision (b), sites with higher eligible monthly volumes shall receive handling fees for their entire eligible monthly volume before sites with lower eligible monthly volumes receive any handling fees.
(5) (A) If a dealer where a supermarket site, nonprofit convenience zone recycler, or rural region recycler is located ceases operation for remodeling or for a change of ownership, the operator of that supermarket site nonprofit convenience zone recycler, or rural region recycler shall be eligible to apply for handling fees for that site for a period of three months following the date of the closure of the dealer.
(B) Every supermarket site operator, nonprofit convenience zone recycler, or rural region recycler shall promptly notify the department of the closure of the dealer where the supermarket site, nonprofit convenience zone recycler, or rural region recycler is located.
(C) Notwithstanding subparagraph (A), any operator who fails to provide notification to the department pursuant to subparagraph (B) shall not be eligible to apply for handling fees.
(b) The department may allocate the amount authorized for expenditure for the payment of handling fees pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) of Section 14581 on a monthly basis and may carry over any unexpended monthly allocation to a subsequent month or months. However, unexpended monthly allocations shall not be carried over to a subsequent fiscal year for the purpose of paying handling fees but may be carried over for any other purpose pursuant to Section 14581.
(c) (1) The department shall not make handling fee payments to more than one certified recycling center in a convenience zone. If a dealer is located in more than one convenience zone, the department shall offer a single handling fee payment to a supermarket site located at that dealer. This handling fee payment shall not be split between the affected zones. The department shall stop making handling fee payments if another recycling center certifies to operate within the convenience zone without receiving payments pursuant to this section, if the department monitors the performance of the other recycling center for 60 days and determines that the recycling center is in compliance with this division. Any recycling center that locates in a convenience zone, thereby causing a preexisting recycling center to become ineligible to receive handling fee payments, is ineligible to receive any handling fee payments in that convenience zone.
(2) The department shall offer a single handling fee payment to a rural region recycler located anywhere inside a convenience zone, if that convenience zone is not served by another certified recycling center and the rural region recycler does either of the following:
(A) Operates a minimum of 30 hours per week in one convenience zone.
(B) Serves two or more convenience zones, and meets all of the following criteria:
(i) Is the only certified recycler within each convenience zone.
(ii) Is open and operating at least eight hours per week in each convenience zone and is certified at each location.
(iii) Operates at least 30 hours per week in total for all convenience zones served.
(d) The department may require the operator of a supermarket site or rural region recycler receiving handling fees to maintain records for each location where beverage containers are redeemed, and may require the supermarket site or rural region recycler to take any other action necessary for the department to determine that the supermarket site or rural region recycler does not receive an excessive handling fee.
(e) The department may determine and utilize a standard container per pound rate, for each material type, for the purpose of calculating volumes and making handling fee payments.
(f) (1) On or before January 1, 2008, and every two years thereafter, the department shall conduct a survey pursuant to this subdivision of a statistically significant sample of certified recycling centers that receive handling fee payments to determine the actual cost incurred for the redemption of empty beverage containers by those certified recycling centers. The department shall conduct these cost surveys in conjunction with the cost surveys performed by the department pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 14575 to determine processing payments and processing fees. The department shall include, in determining the actual costs, only those allowable costs contained in the regulations adopted pursuant to this division that are used by the department to conduct cost surveys pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 14575.
(2) Using the information obtained pursuant to paragraph (1), the department shall then determine the statewide weighted average cost incurred for the redemption of empty beverage containers, per empty beverage container, at recycling centers that receive handling fees.
(3) Except as provided in subdivision (g), the department shall determine the amount of the handling fee to be paid for each empty beverage container by subtracting the amount of the statewide weighted average cost per container to redeem empty beverage containers by recycling centers that do not receive handling fees from the amount of the statewide weighted average cost per container determined pursuant to paragraph (2).
(4) The department shall adjust the statewide average cost determined pursuant to paragraph (2) for each beverage container annually to reflect changes in the cost of living, as measured by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the United States Department of Labor or a successor agency of the United States government.
(5) The cost information collected pursuant to this section at recycling centers that receive handling fees shall not be used in the calculation of the processing payments determined pursuant to Section 14575.
(g) (1) On and after the effective date of the act amending this section during the 2011–12 Regular Session, and until March 1, 2013, the per-container handling fee shall not be less than the amount of the per-container handling fee that was in effect on July 1, 2011.
(2) The department may update the methodology and scrap values used for calculating the handling fee from the most recent cost survey if it finds that the handling fee resulting from the most recent cost survey does not accurately represent the actual cost incurred for the redemption of empty beverage containers by those certified recycling centers.
(Amended by Stats. 2012, Ch. 540, Sec. 1. (AB 1933) Effective September 25, 2012.)