Legislative Update From Rich Gordon

I am proud to be carrying 13 bills at this time that address a number of issues pertaining to government efficiency and reform, implementing part of the Federal Affordable Care Act, boosting recycling programs, and protecting California's natural resources.  All bills are currently in the Senate for consideration.

Key among these bills are:

AB 1647: Boosting Tire Recycling

Currently, CalReycle administers a statewide tire recycling program that promotes and develops alternatives to landfill disposal of waste tires. However, tire recyclers and processors have recently reported a large increase of waste tires being sent to unpermitted facilities.  Legitimate California-based tire recyclers have noticed a 50 percent drop in waste tire stocks.  Many of these tires are illegally being shipped overseas by rogue tire operators and are disposed of through toxic incineration methods.

Improper disposal of waste tires has serious consequences for our environment.  AB 1647 aims to address these issues by streamlining the enforcement process, allowing CalRecycle to shut down these illegal tire operations before they cause additional harm to our business climate and environment.

AB 1933: Protecting Recycling Programs in California

Last year, I successfully authored AB 1149 which allocated more funding to the successful Plastic Market Development (PMD) program in California.  The PMD program has created hundreds of green jobs throughout the state by offering incentives to companies to remanufacture plastics in-state. Currently, around 90 percent of all plastic recyclables are shipped overseas to be remanufactured, to only be shipped back to the U.S. to be consumed.

Continuing in my efforts to boost and protect recycling programs in California, I introduced AB 1933 to create greater enforcement of out-of-state rogue recyclers who bring recyclable materials into the state by the tractor-trailer load and are depleting California's recycling redemption funds.  This bill will help protect our recycling programs to ensure California continues to be a leader in recycling and continues to create green jobs.

AB 2382: Streamlining Transportation Projects in Santa Clara County

As California's transportation needs continue to outpace reduced state and federal revenues, we can expect our state's infrastructure will increasingly rely on locally generated transportation funds. With this shift, counties with local transportation revenues, like Santa Clara, will need to develop improved partnerships with Caltrans and the California Transportation Commission.

To that effect, AB 2382 would establish an Innovation District Demonstration Project (I-District), a unique partnership between Caltrans and the Santa Clara County Valley Transit Authority (VTA). The I-District would serve as a mechanism for trying new approaches to project delivery.  Improved management techniques, the use of advanced technologies, and streamlined processes between VTA and Caltrans could all be piloted by VTA with the possibility of other transit agencies adopting these practices at a later time.

If passed, AB 2382 would streamline processes to use our limited resources in the most responsive, cost-effective, and efficient manner possible.

AB 1846: Establishing Health Care Programs under the Affordable Care Act

AB 1846 will establish Consumer Owned and Operated Plans (CO-OPs) as part of the federal Affordable Care Act (ACA).  As created under the ACA, CO-OPs are a new type of non-profit health insurer that are directed by its customers and use profits for customers' benefit.

CO-OPs are a new way of offering affordable and quality health insurance for thousands of Californians.  Their presence will provide the critically needed injection of new insurance options into the marketplace, and could in turn reduce overall costs of insurance. AB 1846 establishes the necessary statutory framework for the licensing and regulating CO-OPs as the state continues to prepare for the implementation of health care reform.

For a full list of my bills, please visit my website. 

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