(A)
The purpose of this Chapter is to comply with SB 1383 and reduce the amount of edible food going to landfill.
(B)
The City Council of the City of San Juan Bautista (“City”) has the power to enact ordinances.
(C)
State organics recycling law, Senate Bill 1383 of 2016, the Short-Lived Climate Pollutant Reduction Act of 2016 (approved by the Governor of the State of California on September 19, 2016), took effect on January 1, 2017, and sets Statewide organic waste disposal reduction targets of fifty percent (50%) by 2020 and seventy-five percent (75%) by 2025, and requires CalRecycle to develop regulations to reduce organics in landfills as a source of methane. The SB 1383 regulations place requirements on multiple entities, including counties, cities, residential households, commercial businesses (including multifamily residential dwellings), commercial edible food generators, haulers, self-haulers, food recovery organizations, and food recovery services to support achievement of Statewide organic waste disposal reduction targets with compliance required beginning January 1, 2022. The City is eligible for, has applied for and expects to receive a rural waiver from CalRecycle for most of the generator and collection requirements, except for the commercial edible food generator requirements and other edible food recovery program requirements.
(D)
In furtherance of the food recovery objectives of the laws noted above and to reduce legal risks associated with food recovery, the State food donation law, Assembly Bill 1219 of 2017, the California Good Samaritan Food Donation Act of 2017, provides additional protections for entities that donate and distribute food for human consumption.
(E)
By January 1, 2022, the SB 1383 regulations require jurisidictions that provide solid waste services to adopt and enforce an ordinance or other enforceable mechanism to implement relevant provisions of SB 1383.
(F)
It is in the public interest for participants in the City to work together to advance the goals in the State legislation noted above.
(G)
The ordinance codified in this chapter is adopted pursuant to CalRecycle’s SB 1383 regulations. The SB 1383 regulations were the subject of a program environmental impact report (EIR) prepared by CalRecycle, and the activities to be carried out under this Chapter are entirely within the scope of the SB 1383 regulations and that EIR. No mitigation measures identified in the EIR are applicable to the City’s enactment of the ordinance codified in this chapter. The EIR therefore adequately analyzes any potential environmental effects of this Chapter and no additional environmental review is required. On a separate and independent basis, this Chapter is exempt from CEQA pursuant to Section 15308, Class 8 of the CEQA Guidelines as an action that will not have a significant impact on the environment and as an action taken by a regulatory agency for the protection of the environment, specifically, for the protection of the climate. There are no unusual circumstances that would cause this Chapter to have a significant effect on the environment.