The California Integrated Waste Management Board (CIWMB) June 16 unanimously approved emergency regulations to provide retreaders relief from a tire manifest rule.
The regulations will allow retreaders to document the transport of used tires with a single trip log with invoice instead of multiple forms for each pickup and delivery, said Terry Leveille, lobbyist for the Tire Retread Information Bureau (TRIB). The board will submit legal paperwork authorizing the change, allowing it to become effective, probably by mid-July, Mr. Leveille said.
The regulations will not be permanent but are good for 120 days, according to a CIWMB spokesman. The board has agreed to look at making those regulations permanent, a process that can take six months or less, he said.
Retreaders' delivery trucks will be required to carry registration cards and decals to show state highway patrol officers that their transports are legal despite not having manifest forms on hand, Mr. Leveille said. Waste haulers must still file manifests with the state.
``I think one of the things we noted in discussions is that the retreaders did have a unique situation when it came to the waste tire manifest regulations and requirements,'' another CIWMB spokesman told Tire Business. ``Basically, what the board has done with this decision...is that we recognized some of those differences and have come up with a form instead of the regular manifest document.''
Harvey Brodsky, TRIB's managing director and a staunch opponent of the manifest, jubilantly declared the board decision an ``absolute done deal.'' He had used similar language in March to describe positive negotiations between TRIB and the CIWMB on the manifest rule and predicted an exemption for retreaders only to be disputed by the state agency responsible for waste tire oversight.
That dispute, however, occurred before the board added two new appointments by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in May and could make a final decision on the manifest rule.
Mr. Brodsky told Tire Business that he has seen a draft of the new form for retreaders that will replace the manifest forms and said one of the reasons the emergency regulations won't be effective until mid-July is that the state still is printing the new form.
The controversial manifest rule became effective last July and carried fines of up to $25,000 against retreaders transporting 10 or more used tires without the forms, which Mr. Brodsky claimed were lengthy and complicated.
Mr. Brodsky said he was told thousands of mailed-in manifest forms overwhelmed the state agency and still are unopened.