A bill that could save services at the university’s recycling center headed to the governor’s desk after being approved by the California Assembly.
Lee Johnson, Associated Students Inc. recycling coordinator, said in an e-mail, “ABX8 7 just passed out of the Assembly with overwhelming bipartisan support. That is the bill that reinstates funding for our recycle center.”
The bill passed 63-0 Thursday afternoon.
According to environmental organization Californians Against Waste, the bill would retroactively refund core money for the state’s Beverage Container Recycling Fund and will “temporarily stabilize the fund.”
The state has heavily borrowed from the fund due to the budget crisis, putting recycling centers in a tough spot since they depend on the fund for revenue.
Lee said the governor usually has 30 days to sign or veto a bill. However, since this bill was signed in an extraordinary session, Lee didn’t know if the deadline was the same.
Regardless, Bryan Early, policy associate for Californians Against Waste, said he thinks Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will “act on this quickly,” and said his organization has hope that the governor will sign the bill into law.
“We think [the governor] should sign it,” Early said. “I think its vote in the Assembly speaks for itself. … It’s hard to imagine an excuse he would come up for not signing it.”
The state Legislature sent a recycling bill, Senate Bill 402, to the governor’s desk last year. Among other things, that bill would have put more containers in the state’s recycling fund program.
Lee said this bill “would’ve had the net effect of putting enough money of the fund to pay off all of those different program elements.” However, the governor vetoed it Oct. 11, saying that the bill inappropriately targeted drinks that are dietary necessities for families.