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AGENDA BILL Agenda Item No. 5(F) Date: April 1, 2014 To: El Cerrito City Council From: Garth Schultz, Operations + Environmental Services Manager Yvetteh Ortiz, Interim Public Works Director / City Engineer Subject: Support for Assembly Bill 1504 (AB 1504) (Stone) Preventing Toxic Cigarette Waste ACTION REQUESTED Authorize Mayor Abelson to sign and send letters to the author and other appropriate legislators and legislative bodies in support of Assembly Bill 1504 (AB) (Stone) preventing toxic cigarette waste to prohibit single-use plastic ‘filters’ in cigarettes sold in California. DISCUSSION The City of El Cerrito's National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit – which regulates the City’s municipal separate storm sewer system (MS4) – specifies that the City must reduce the amount of trash and litter that is transported via the City’s MS4 by 100% by 2022. One important strategy to reduce trash loads involves reducing the amount of trash that can make its way to the storm drains. AB1504, introduced by Mark Stone (D-Monterey Bay), would prevent cigarette butts – which are a prevalent type of trash that often is evident in gutters, storm drains, and creeks – from ending up as litter by taking the cigarette butts out of the equation. The bill would prohibit single-use plastic ‘filters’ in cigarettes from being sold in California. Research shows that filters do nothing to prevent harm to smokers while at the same time become a burden to taxpayers and the environment. The filters are made from a plastic called cellulose acetate that leaches carcinogenic toxins into the water and soil and results in large financial costs to local governments and agencies left with the cleanup and disposal of the litter. El Cerrito’s Green Teams, a volunteer program of the Council appointed Environmental Quality Committee, regularly observe and collect cigarette butts during litter collection activities throughout the City, and have identified them as one of the most problematic components of litter in El Cerrito. On March 11, 2014, the Environmental Quality Committee voted unanimously to recommend that the Council authorize the Mayor to send letters in support of AB1504. STRATEGIC PLAN CONSIDERATIONS If AB1504 were to be passed and implemented in its current form, the resulting policies could help the City meet the intent of the City of El Cerrito’s Strategic Plan’s Goal B: “Achieve long- ---PAGE BREAK--- Agenda Item No. 5(F) term financial sustainability," and Goal F: "Foster environmental sustainability citywide." Specifically, the resulting policies could contribute to achieving the following strategies: • Goal B Strategy: Track and promote state and federal legislation that would create new funding opportunities: Though not strictly a funding opportunity, successful implementation of AB 1504 would potentially reduce City expenses, freeing up existing funds to be used for other purposes. • Goal F Strategy: Be a leader in setting policies and providing innovative programs that promote environmental sustainability: Successful implementation of AB 1504 could potentially enable the City to meet the NPDES trash-load reduction requirements sooner than would otherwise be possible. ENVIRONMENTAL CONSIDERATIONS There is no direct environmental impact associated with supporting AB1504. If AB1504 were to be passed and implemented in its current form, the resulting policies could help El Cerrito achieve required provisions of its NPDES permit, and could help to avoid increasing ·costs of trash and litter management in streets, gutters, drains, and other public places. FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS There is no financial obligation associated with the requested action. Scott Hanin, City Manager Attachments: 1. AB 1504 Support Letter 2. Fact Sheet and Legislative Information for AB1504 Page 2 ---PAGE BREAK--- OFFICE OF THE MAYOR Janet Abelson CITY HALL 10890 San Pablo Avenue, El Cerrito, CA 94530 Telephone (510) 215-4305 Fax (510) 215-4319 http://www.el-cerrito.org April 1, 2014 The Honorable Mark Stone Member of the Assembly State Capitol Sacramento, CA 95814 RE: Assembly Bill (AB) 1504 (Stone) Preventing Toxic Cigarette Waste Dear Assembly Member Stone, On behalf of the City Council of the City of El Cerrito, I write to offer our strong support for Assembly Bill (AB) 1504, which will ban the sale of cigarettes with ‘filters,’ commonly referred to as cigarette butts, in California. Toxic single-use plastic cigarette butts end up in our marine and urban environments where they may be ingested by children or wildlife, contaminate fragile ecosystems, and cost local governments taxpayer dollars. Coupled with reports from the Surgeon General and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services pointing to the ineffectiveness of the ‘filters’ at reducing harm to smokers, taking the cigarette butts out of the equation to prevent further litter and harm to California is the right thing to do. In spite of anti-litter campaigns, strict anti-litter laws, and strong anti-litter enforcement efforts, cigarette butt litter continues to be an expensive problem for taxpayers. In California, a first-time littering infraction is punishable by a fine up to $1,000 and a mandatory order to clean up litter for no less than eight hours. Citation rates for cigarette litter from vehicles are annually about five times greater than the amount of citations issued for general litter from vehicles. Even so, the California Department of Transportation reports that it spends around $52 million per year in litter abatement on our highways, of which cigarette butts are the number one littered item. The El Cerrito Environmental Quality Committee, appointed by the El Cerrito City Council, regularly sends volunteer Green Teams into the community to pick up trash alongside our streets, creeks, neighborhoods, and parks. Cigarette filters make up a significant portion of the trash collected, and are particularly difficult to pick up because of their size, proliferation, and the way they intermingle with twigs and grass and other objects. AB 1504 is a novel solution to a long-standing problem that shows no signs of going away. For all the reasons stated above, the City Council supports passage of this important measure to keep toxic cigarette waste from littering our state and communities. Sincerely, Janet Abelson, Mayor City of El Cerrito Agenda Item No. 5(F) Attachment 1 ---PAGE BREAK--- AB 1504 (Stone) Preventing Toxic Cigarette Waste SUMMARY AB 1504 helps prevent the environmental harm and cost to state and local governments caused by the improper disposal of cigarette butts. The bill prohibits single-use plastic ‘filters’ in cigarettes sold in California. PROBLEM The illegal litter of cigarette ‘filters’, commonly referred to as cigarette butts, harms and pollutes our environment1. The vast majority of these cigarette butts are made from a plastic called cellulose acetate. When a person discards a cigarette butt, the plastic cigarette butt leaches carcinogenic toxins into the water and soil2, hurts children and wildlife that ingest them3, and results in large financial costs to local governments and agencies left with the cleanup and disposal of the litter4. Reliable estimates state that 845,000 tons of cigarette butts wind up as litter around the globe each year5. As a result of the litter, cigarette butts remain as the single most collected item of trash collected by volunteer groups and organizations that conduct parks, rivers and beach cleanup events. In the past 25 years volunteers have picked up 52.9 million plastic cigarette butts during the International Coastal Cleanup event sponsored by Ocean Conservancy6. In California, citation rates for cigarette litter from vehicles are annually about five times the amount of citations issued for general litter from vehicles. Despite strong laws and enforcement against cigarette litter, butts remain the single most littered item on our highways. The California Department of Transportation has estimated the costs to clean up cigarettes on roadways at $41 million annually. The City and County of San Francisco estimates its costs for cleanup at $6 million annually. From 2006 to 2008, the American Association of Poison Control Centers reported approximately 12,600 cases of children ingesting cigarettes or cigarette butts, especially children under six years of age7. According to the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration’s Office of Response and Restoration, it is common for fish, birds and other animals that mistakenly ingest plastic waste like cigarette butts to starve to death as a result of a false feeling of satiation from the plastic in the cigarette butt8. The US Department of Health and Human Services9 and the Surgeon General of the United States10 have judged cigarette filters to be useless in reducing harm to the average smoker. EXISTING POLICY Under current law, a conviction for littering from a vehicle, cigarette or otherwise, is punishable by a fine up to $1,000 and a mandatory order to clean up litter for no less than eight hours. A 2006 United States Department of Justice RICO decision against tobacco companies forbids terms including "low tar," "light," "ultra light," "mild," and "natural" along with “any other words which reasonably could be expected to result in a consumer believing that smoking the cigarette brand using that descriptor may result in a lower risk of disease or be less hazardous to health than smoking other brands of cigarettes.”11 ‘Light’ varieties include a ‘filter’ housed in a ventilated wrapper. SOLUTION AB 1504 would prohibit the sale, gift, or furnishing of cigarettes that come with single-use ‘filters’. Given that anti-litter campaigns and strict laws and penalties have not resulted in the abatement of cigarette butt litter, this bill takes the cigarette butts completely out of the equation. Each violation of this prohibition is subject to a fine of $500. FOR MORE INFORMATION Contact: Alfredo Arredondo Office of Mark Stone Phone: (916) 319-2029 Fax: (916)-319-2129 [EMAIL REDACTED] Agenda Item No. 5(F) Attachment 2 ---PAGE BREAK--- 1 Novotny T, Lum K, Smith E, et al. Cigarette butts and the case for an environmental policy on hazardous cigarette waste. Int J Environ Res Public Health 2009; 6:1691-705 Web Link: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2697937/ 2 Slaughter E, Gersberg R, Watanabe K, et al. Toxicity of cigarette buttes, and their chemical components, to the marine and freshwater fish. Tob Control 2011;20(Supp 1):i23-i27. Web Link: http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/20/Suppl_1/i25.full 3 Novotny TE, Hardin SN, Hovda LR, et al. Tobacco and cigarette butt consumption in humans and animals. Tob Control 2011;20(Suppl 1):i17-20. Web Link: http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/20/Suppl_1/i17.full 4 Schneider, John et al. Tobacco Litter Costs and Public Policy: A Framework and Methodology for Considering the Use of Fees to Offset Abatement Costs. Tob Control 2011;20:i36-i41 Web Link: http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/20/Suppl_1/i36.full 5 Novotny T, Lum K, Smith E, et al. Cigarette butts and the case for an environmental policy on hazardous cigarette waste. Int J Environ Res Public Health 2009; 6:1691-705. Web Link: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2697937/ 6 Office of Response and Restoration. Marine Debris Impacts. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Web Link: http://response.restoration.noaa.gov/about/media/picking-52-million-plastic-cigarette-butts- beaches.html 7 Novotny TE, Hardin SN, Hovda LR, et al. Tobacco and cigarette butt consumption in humans and animals. Tob Control 2011;20(Suppl 1):i17-20. Web Link: http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/20/Suppl_1/i17.full 8 Office of Response and Restoration. Picking up 52.9 Million Plastic Cigarette Butts off Beaches. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). APRIL 26, 2012 Web Link: http://response.restoration.noaa.gov/about/media/picking-52-million-plastic-cigarette-butts- beaches.html 9 National Cancer Institute. Risks Associated with Smoking Cigarettes with Low Machine-Measured Yields of Tar and Nicotine. Smoking and Tobacco Control Monograph No. 13. Bethesda, MD: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, NIH Pub.No. 02-5074, October 2001 Web Link: http://cancercontrol.cancer.gov/brp/tcrb/monographs/13/index.html 10 Harris B. The intractable cigarette ‘filter problem’. Tob Control 2011;20(Supp i9-i15. Web Link: http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/20/Suppl_1/i10.full 11 U.S. v. Philip Morris, et al. Civil Action No. 99-2496 (GK). Order #1015 Web Link: www.justice.gov/civil/cases/tobacco2/ORDER_FINAL.pdf ---PAGE BREAK--- california legislature—2013–14 regular session ASSEMBLY BILL No. 1504 Introduced by Assembly Member Stone January 14, 2014 An act to add Division 8.55 (commencing with Section 22964) to the Business and Professions Code, relating to single-use filter cigarettes. legislative counsel’s digest AB 1504, as introduced, Stone. Single-use filter cigarettes. Existing law, the Stop Tobacco Access to Kids Enforcement Act, requires all persons engaging in the retail sale of tobacco products to check the identification of tobacco purchasers, to establish the age of the purchaser, if the purchaser reasonably appears to be under 18 years of age. Under existing law, an enforcing agency, as defined, may assess civil penalties against any person, firm, or corporation that sells, gives, or in any way furnishes to another person who is under 18 years of age, any tobacco, cigarette, cigarette papers, any other instrument or paraphernalia that is designed for the smoking or ingestion of tobacco, or products prepared from tobacco. The existing civil penalties range from $400 to $600 for a first violation, up to $5,000 to $6,000 for a 5th violation within a 5-year period. Existing law prohibits the sale, distribution, or nonsale distribution of tobacco products directly or indirectly to any person under 18 years of age through the United States Postal Service or through any other public or private postal or package delivery service at locations, including, but not limited to, public mailboxes and mailbox stores. Under existing law, a district attorney, city attorney, or the Attorney General may assess civil penalties against a violator of that provision 99 ---PAGE BREAK--- of not less than $1,000 or more than $2,000 for the first violation and up to $10,000 for a 5th violation within a 5-year period. Under existing law, every person, firm, or corporation that knowingly or under circumstances in which it has knowledge, or should otherwise have grounds for knowledge, sells, gives, or in any way furnishes to another person who is under 18 years of age any cigarette, among other specified items, is subject to either a criminal action for a misdemeanor or to a civil action brought by a city attorney, a county counsel, or a district attorney, punishable by a fine of $200 for the first offense, $500 for the 2nd offense, and $1,000 for the 3rd offense. This bill would state findings and declarations of the Legislature regarding the health and safety hazards to residents of the state related to single-use cigarette filters. The bill would prohibit a person or entity from selling, giving, or in any way furnishing to another person of any age in this state a cigarette utilizing a single-use filter made of any material, including cellulose acetate, or other fibrous plastic material, and any organic or biodegradable material. The bill would prohibit that selling, giving, or furnishing, whether conducted directly or indirectly through an in-person transaction or by means of any public or private method of shipment or delivery to an address in this state. This bill would provide that each violation of that prohibition is subject to a civil fine of $500, and would authorize a district attorney or city attorney to assess that civil fine. Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no. The people of the State of California do enact as follows: line 1 SECTION 1. Division 8.55 (commencing with Section 22964) line 2 is added to the Business and Professions Code, immediately line 3 following Section 22963, to read: line 4 line 5 DIVISION 8.55. PROHIBITION ON SINGLE-USE FILTER line 6 CIGARETTES line 7 line 8 22964. Studies published in the peer-reviewed journal line 9 Tobacco Control estimate the percentage of smokers who litter to line 10 range from 75 percent to 92 percent, for smokers between 21 and line 11 25 years of age. It is estimated that 845,500 tons of cigarette butts line 12 become litter around the globe each year. 99 — 2 — AB 1504 ---PAGE BREAK--- line 1 Cigarette butts have consistently been the single line 2 most-recovered item since collections began among volunteer line 3 groups, including the Ocean Conservancy and its International line 4 Coastal Cleanup event, which cleans litter in waterways, beaches, line 5 and parks in this state. line 6 Although the citation rate for littering cigarette waste is line 7 annually about five times that of general litter from vehicles, as line 8 reported in the Department of Motor Vehicles’ citation statistics, line 9 cigarette butts remain at the top of the list for litter on our line 10 highways. line 11 The Department of Transportation has estimated the costs line 12 to clean up cigarette butts at forty-one million dollars ($41,000,000) line 13 annually. line 14 The City and County of San Francisco has estimated costs line 15 for city abatement of cigarette butts at over six million dollars line 16 ($6,000,000) annually. line 17 From 2006 to 2008, the American Association of Poison line 18 Control Centers reported approximately 12,600 cases of children line 19 ingesting cigarettes or cigarette butts. Children under six years of line 20 age are especially prone to cigarette butt ingestion. line 21 The well-documented and common occurrence of cigarette line 22 butt ingestion by domestic animals points to the larger impact that line 23 improperly discarded cigarette butts have on our environment and line 24 wildlife. line 25 As early as the mid-1960s, the Surgeon General of the United line 26 States judged cigarette filters to be useless in reducing harm to the line 27 average smoker. line 28 Banning the sale, gift, or other furnishing of cigarettes with line 29 single-use filters is necessary to keep toxic litter out of our state’s line 30 environment and promote the health and safety of our state’s line 31 residents. line 32 22965. No person or entity shall sell, give, or in any way line 33 furnish to another person, of any age, in this state, a cigarette line 34 utilizing a single-use filter made of any material including, but not line 35 limited to, cellulose acetate, or other fibrous plastic material, or line 36 any organic or biodegradable material. The prohibition under this line 37 subdivision applies to any direct or indirect transaction, whether line 38 made in-person in this state or by means of any public or private line 39 method of shipment or delivery to an address in this state. 99 AB 1504 — 3 — ---PAGE BREAK--- line 1 The sale, gift, or other furnishing of one to 20 cigarettes line 2 constitutes a single violation of this section. line 3 22966. Each violation of Section 22965 is subject to a civil line 4 fine of five hundred dollars ($500). Only a district attorney or city line 5 attorney may assess the civil fine against each person determined line 6 to be in violation of Section 22965. Fine moneys assessed pursuant line 7 to this section shall be deposited in the treasury of the city or line 8 county, respectively, of the city attorney or district attorney who line 9 assessed the fine. O 99 — 4 — AB 1504 ---PAGE BREAK--- file:///CI/Users/gas/Dropbox/Work/AB1504%20-%20April%201%202014/AB%201504%20Assembly%20Bill%20-%20History.txt[3/13/2014 4:54:37 PM] AB 1504 Assembly Bill - History COMPLETE BILL HISTORY BILL NUMBER : A.B. No. 1504 AUTHOR : Stone TOPIC : Single-use filter cigarettes. TYPE OF BILL : Active Non-Urgency Non-Appropriations Majority Vote Required Non-State-Mandated Local Program Non-Fiscal Non-Tax Levy BILL HISTORY 2014 Jan. 15 From printer. May be heard in committee February 14. Jan. 14 Read first time. To print. ---PAGE BREAK--- file:///CI/Users/gas/Dropbox/Work/AB1504%20-%20April%201%202014/AB%201504%20Assembly%20Bill%20-%20Status.txt[3/13/2014 4:54:37 PM] CURRENT BILL STATUS MEASURE : A.B. No. 1504 AUTHOR(S) : Stone. TOPIC : Single-use filter cigarettes. HOUSE LOCATION : ASM TYPE OF BILL : Active Non-Urgency Non-Appropriations Majority Vote Required Non-State-Mandated Local Program Non-Fiscal Non-Tax Levy LAST HIST. ACT. DATE: 01/15/2014 LAST HIST. ACTION : From printer. May be heard in committee February 14. TITLE : An act to add Division 8.55 (commencing with Section 22964) to the Business and Professions Code, relating to single-use filter cigarettes.