Mar 8 - Governor Schwarzenegger Signs Bottle Bill Fix

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed legislation to reinstate funding for thousands of recycling centers and programs under the California Bottle Bill. AB 7 (Evans) provides for the payback of funds borrowed from the Bottle Bill, and will help bring the recycling program revenues and expenditures into balance for the next 24 months.

In July of 2009, the Department of Recycling was forced to cut roughly $20 million/month in recycling program funding to local governments, recyclers, and curbside program operators. The shortfall was caused in large part by the 'borrowing' of recycling funds to help close the state's overall budget gap. As a result of those cuts, hundreds of recycling centers and programs were forced to shut down and hundreds of workers were laid off.

In September Governor Schwarzenegger vetoed legislation that would have fixed the funding shortfall while expanding recycling.