California bill would double used tire fee

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (March 1, 2017) — A bill before the California Assembly would add $1.50 to the state's current $1.75-per-tire used tire fee to pay for municipal storm sewer systems.

Introduced Feb. 17, California Assembly Bill 1180 would direct that the extra $1.50 per tire go to the state's Stormwater Permit Compliance Fund, which the bill would establish. AB 1180 would continuously appropriate money for competitive grants for projects and programs for storm sewer requirements to prevent or remediate zinc pollution caused by tires, the bill states.

The fee would stay in effect until Jan. 1, 2024 — the same date the tire fee sunsets — unless another bill deletes or extends that date, according to the bill's language.

California's waste tire fee was originally $1 on every new tire sold in the state, according to Terry Leveille, president of Sacramento-based TL & Associates and legislative representative for the California Tire Dealers Association, which opposes AB 1180.

However, in 2004 the legislature added 75 cents to the fee to help fund the California Air Resources Board (CARB), Mr. Leveille said.

The extra 75 cents goes to the state's “Carl Moyer Fund,” which replaces old, heavily polluting diesel school buses and agricultural equipment with cleaner-burning diesel engines.

California's state tax on diesel fuel should have been increased, Mr. Leveille said, but the oil lobby had more clout than the CTDA or the Rubber Manufacturers Association, which were left out of negotiations.

“The Carl Moyer program serves a public good, but it was wrong then and continues to be wrong to fund it with the tire fee,” he said.

The difference between AB 1180 and the CARB bill is that AB 1180 requires a two-thirds vote of the legislature, meaning that the extra $1.50 is classified as a tax rather than a fee.

“The extra $1.50 on the tire fee would ostensibly benefit everyone in California, and therefore must be labeled a tax and require a two-thirds vote,” Mr. Leveille said.