SB 212 Summary

• Establishes a statewide pharmaceutical and sharps waste stewardship program requiring manufacturers and distributors of covered drugs and sharps to create collection and disposal programs either independently or through stewardship organizations.

• Requires stewardship plans to meet minimum collection site standards of at least 5 sites or 1 per 50,000 people per county, with mail-back programs required for counties lacking adequate retail pharmacy participation.

• Mandates covered entities pay all administrative and operational costs of stewardship programs plus quarterly administrative fees deposited in the Pharmaceutical and Sharps Stewardship Fund to cover state regulatory costs.

• Authorizes the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery to impose administrative penalties up to $10,000 per day (or $50,000 per day for intentional violations) on non-compliant covered entities, with penalties deposited in a Stewardship Penalty Account.

• Requires CalRecycle to adopt implementing regulations by January 1, 2021, and protects proprietary information submitted under the program as confidential under the California Public Records Act.