AB 712 would prohibit the department from making any payments, grants, or loans to a local government that has adopted or is enforcing a land-use restriction that prevents the siting or operation of a certified recycling center at a supermarket site.

You can find the full text of the bill at http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/postquery?bill_number=ab_712&sess=1112&house=B

AB 950 would make drayage truck operators employees of those persons who arrange for or engage their services.  As a result, drayage truck drivers would be employees for purposes of state employment law, including, but not limited to, workers compensation, occupational safety and health, and retaliation or discrimination.

The bill defines a "drayage truck operator" as "the driver of, or any person, party, or entity that controls the operation of, any in-use on-road vehicle with a gross vehicle weight rating greater than 33,000 pounds operating on or transgressing through port or intermodal rail yard property for the purpose of loading, unloading, or transporting cargo, including containerized, bulk, or break-bulk goods."

The Journal of Commerce reports that the "classification of drayage truck drivers is a key issue in the effort by the Teamsters union to organize harbor truck drivers, not only in California but in ports across the nation...Drivers at most ports are classified as independent contractors, and by federal law unions cannot organize independent contractors. If classified as employees, however, the drivers could be organized."  You can read more about it at http://www.joc.com/government-regulation/assembly-decide-fate-drayage-trucker-classification.

You can find the full text of the bill at http://leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/postquery?bill_number=ab_950&sess=1112&house=B&author=john_a._p%E9rez

SB 567 (DeSaulnier) would specify when certain labels like "compostable" and "marine degradable" could be used in connection with plastic products.

Existing law prohibits a person from selling a plastic bag or a plastic food or beverage container that is labeled as "compostable" or "marine degradable" unless that plastic bag or container meets certain American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) standard specifications or a standard adopted by the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery. Existing law also prohibits the sale of a plastic bag or plastic food or beverage container that is labeled as "biodegradable," "degradable," "decomposable," or as otherwise specified, and further provides for the imposition of a civil penalty for a violation of these prohibitions.

This bill would repeal those prohibitions and would instead prohibit the sale of a plastic product¹ labeled as "compostable" or "marine degradable" unless it meets those ASTM standard specifications or a standard adopted by the department, or unless the plastic product is labeled with a qualified claim for which the department has adopted an existing standard, and the plastic product meets that standard. The bill would prohibit the sale of a plastic product that is labeled as "biodegradable," "degradable," "decomposable," or as otherwise specified, and would provide for the imposition of a civil penalty for a violation of those prohibitions.

You can find the full text of the bill at http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/postquery?bill_number=sb_567&sess=1112&house=B

¹ "Plastic product" means a product made of plastic, whether alone or in combination with other material, including, but not limited to, paperboard. A plastic product includes, but is not limited to, any of the following:

(1)  (A) A consumer product.
(B) For purposes of this paragraph, "consumer product" means a product or part of a product that is used, bought, or leased for use by a person for any purpose.
(2) A package or a packaging component.
(3) A bag, sack, wrap, or other thin plastic sheet film product.
(4) A food or beverage container or a container component, including, but not limited to, a straw, lid, or utensil.

Current law allows the department to make discretionary expenditures (after core expenditures) of up to $10,000,000 to make market development payments for empty plastic beverage containers.  These market development payments will sunset on January 1, 2012, unless extended.  If passed, AB 1149 (Gordon) would extend the authorization to make these payments until January 1, 2017 and would require the department, in setting the amount of the market development payment, to consider all of the following: 
(A) The minimum funding level needed to encourage the in-state washing and processing of empty plastic beverage containers collected for recycling in this state. 
(B) The minimum funding level needed to encourage the in-state manufacturing that utilizes empty plastic beverage containers collected for recycling in this state. 
(C) The total amount of funds projected to be available for plastic market development payments and the desire to maintain the minimum funding level needed throughout the year.

You can find the full text of the bill at http://leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/postquery?bill_number=ab_1149&sess=1112&house=B&author=gordon