California Governor Vetoes PC Recycling Bill

Citing a difficult economy as the state struggles with reducing its government bureaucracy, California Governor Gray Davis vetoed Senate Bill 1253, which would assess a tax of $10 for each computer, television and electronic product sold in the state. If it had passed, the bill would have been the first piece of legislature in the country that would have imposed a tax on electronics for the purpose of improving the products recycling level.

While vetoing the bill, Davis acknowledged that the growth in the amount of electronics being disposed of in the state is of growing concern and needs to be addressed immediately.

The governor’s veto, Sept. 30, followed intensive lobbying by many of the high tech firms in the state who opposed the measure. The bill, authored by Sen. Byron Sher, proposed on and after January 1, 2004, a CRT recycling fee of $10, upon every purchase in the state of a CRT device from a CRT device retailer or manufacturer, as defined.

The bill would require the prospective bidder in a procurement conducted by a state agency for the purchase or lease of equipment, materials, or supplies, to certify compliance with that provision, or justify noncompliance, as specified.  The bill would require every manufacturer and retailer that sells CRT devices directly to consumers to collect the fee at the time of sale for each CRT device sold in the state.  The bill would require the manufacturer and retailer to transmit the fees, minus a specified amount for administrative costs, to the board on or before the last day of the month following each quarter, accompanied by any forms prescribed by the board.

The bill would require the board to deposit the fees in the Cathode Ray Tube Recycling Account, which the bill would establish in the Integrated Waste Management Fund.  The funds in the account would be available to the board, upon appropriation, for the purposes of implementing the recycling and refurbishment program.

To read the bill, as well as the history of the bill, up the veto by Governor Davis, click on the following link -- SB 1253