Published: 2015-07-09
Key Benefits:
(a) (1) An owner of a landfill for which evidence of financial ability is maintained pursuant to Article 4 (commencing with Section 43600) of Chapter 2 of Part 4, whose landfill is operating on January 1, 2012, and that elects to participate in the State Solid Waste Postclosure and Corrective Action Trust Fund pursuant to this article, shall submit written notice to the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery on or before January 1, 2012.
(2) Except as provided in paragraph (3), an owner of multiple landfills that elects to participate in the State Solid Waste Postclosure and Corrective Action Trust Fund is required to submit written notice that includes all of the owner’s operating landfills and all other landfills in which that owner has in common ownership.
(3) A landfill with multiple owners may participate only if all owners of that landfill elect to participate. Participation of a landfill with multiple owners shall not obligate a partial owner of that landfill to include any other landfill at which that owner has full or partial ownership.
(4) The Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery shall provide to the state board the name and address, and any other information necessary to administer and collect the fee imposed pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (b) of Section 48000, of every owner of a landfill electing to participate in the State Solid Waste Postclosure and Corrective Action Trust Fund on or before February 29, 2012.
(b) If an operator that is operating a landfill on January 1, 2012, submits a written notification to the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery that it elects to participate after the trust fund fee goes into effect, the operator shall pay all trust fund fees applicable from July 1, 2012, and a 5-percent penalty before being allowed to participate.
(c) For new landfills that receive a solid waste facility permit after January 1, 2012, the owner’s election to participate in the State Solid Waste Postclosure and Corrective Action Trust Fund shall be submitted in writing to the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery before the department concurs in the issuance of the permit pursuant to Section 44009.
(d) All elections to participate made by landfill owners pursuant to this section are final, binding, and irrevocable for those owners and their successors and assignees.
(Amended by Stats. 2010, Ch. 417, Sec. 2. Effective January 1, 2011.)
(a) For the purposes of this article, “solid waste landfill” means a disposal site that is required to maintain evidence of financial ability pursuant to Part 4 (commencing with Section 43600) of Chapter 2 of Part 4.
(b) The board may expend money in the State Solid Waste Postclosure and Corrective Action Trust Fund to pay for corrective action and postclosure activities that have not been performed by the owner or operator of a solid waste landfill, upon a determination by the board that all of the following conditions are met:
(1) The solid waste landfill owner or operator has failed to comply with a final enforcement order issued by the enforcement agency, the regional water board, or the board.
(2) The financial assurance mechanisms are inadequate to pay for the required corrective action or postclosure maintenance activities or both that action and those activities.
(3) The solid waste landfill was operating pursuant to a valid solid waste facilities permit on or after January 1, 1988, when the state’s requirements for solid waste landfill financial assurances went into effect as a result of Assembly Bill 2448 of the 1987–88 Regular Session, and is required to have financial assurances pursuant to Article 4 (commencing with Section 43600) of Chapter 2 of Part 4.
(4) The board has first used and exhausted all immediately available financial assurance mechanisms provided by the operator.
(5) The solid waste landfill owner and operator are otherwise unable or unwilling to pay, in a timely manner, for the required corrective action or postclosure maintenance activities or both that action and those activities.
(c) The board may adopt regulations, if necessary, setting forth additional criteria for making expenditures from the State Solid Waste Postclosure and Corrective Action Trust Fund.
(d) Notwithstanding Section 10295 of the Public Contract Code, a contract entered into by the board for the purposes of this article is not subject to approval by the Department of General Services.
(e) No liability or obligation is imposed on the state under this article, and the board shall not incur any obligation beyond the extent to which money is expended from the State Solid Waste Postclosure and Corrective Action Trust Fund pursuant to this article.
(f) The board shall, to the maximum extent feasible, recover from the landfill owner or operator the amount of money expended from the State Solid Waste Postclosure and Corrective Action Trust Fund, including a reasonable amount for any board contract administration costs and an amount equal to the interest that would have been earned on the expended funds. The board shall deposit all funds recovered pursuant to an action authorized by this section into the State Solid Waste Postclosure and Corrective Action Trust Fund.
(g) The amount of any cost incurred by the board pursuant to this section is recoverable from the landfill owner or operator in a civil action brought by the Attorney General pursuant to Section 40432.
(h) The board may, consistent with Section 48023.5, impose a lien on the owner’s or operator’s assets or real property as an additional remedy to recover funds from the operator for expenditures from the State Solid Waste Postclosure and Corrective Action Trust Fund.
(Added by Stats. 2009, Ch. 318, Sec. 4. Effective January 1, 2010.)
After January 1, 2016, as part of the annual report required pursuant to Section 40507, the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery shall report on expenditures from the State Solid Waste Postclosure and Corrective Action Trust Fund, the status of cost recovery actions, and any recommended statutory changes that are necessary to ensure adequate resources are available to carry out the purposes of the State Solid Waste Postclosure and Corrective Action Trust Fund.
(Amended by Stats. 2010, Ch. 417, Sec. 3. Effective January 1, 2011.)
Except as provided in paragraph (3) of subdivision (a) of Section 48010, an owner of multiple landfills for which evidence of financial ability is maintained pursuant to Article 4 (commencing with Section 43600) of Chapter 2 of Part 4 and whose landfills are operating on January 1, 2012, shall include all other landfills in which that owner has in common ownership in the letter of participation.
(Amended by Stats. 2010, Ch. 417, Sec. 4. Effective January 1, 2011.)
