About AB34

CA Assemblymember Das Williams introduces green legislation

By Robert Cuthbert, Central Coast Democrat Examiner

December 7th, 2010


In his first day representing the 35th State Assembly District, Assemblymember Das Williams introduced new legislation. The bill would upgrade the California Integrated Waste Management Act (1989). According to Williams’ staff, Assembly Bill 34 “…aims to continue the work he started as a Santa Barbara City Councilman by encouraging composting as a way of decreasing the amount of organic materials sent to landfills.”

... the bill modifies an existing law that established a “compost market program.” The Department of Transportation is required to use compost “…in place of, or to supplement, petroleum-based commercial fertilizers in the state's highway landscape maintenance program.” The Williams’ bill expands the definition of compost under the law. The 1989 legislation simply defines compost as “controlled biological decomposition” material from municipal sources. The new legislation adds “vegetable, yard, and wood wastes.”

This small change in definition will have a significant impact. In Section 1 of the act, as reported by the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, 32% of solid waste sent to land fills is “compostable.” The legislation sets a goal of reducing that percentage by half in the next ten years. That means diverting 15 to 18 million tons of usable organic compost from the landfills.

Not only would this action reduce already impacted landfills, lower “methane and other volatile” chemical levels, it will also require up to 96 new low-tech facilities requiring the “creation of hundreds of green jobs.”

Numerous and redundant studies show significant savings when organic wastes are diverted from landfills.

After the formal swearing in the new Assemblymember Williams said, “I’m very excited to start to address some of the many issues of concern to the people of the 35th Assembly District and Central Coast region.”

“I look forward to working with other representatives from the region to find the right solutions to the budget, which has an immediate shortfall of $6 billion, finding appropriate revenue sources to prevent further evisceration of vital public services; particularly public education.”

http://www.examiner.com/central-coast-democrat-in-los-angeles/ca-assemblymember-das-williams-introduces-green-legislation