Panel OK'd trash bill after all

A state Assembly bill limiting what Yuba County or other local governments could do to stop trash from being imported into their backyards is headed to the Assembly's appropriations committee.

The bill, A.B. 1178, passed Monday by the Assembly Natural Resources Committee on a 5-2 vote, after stalling on a 3-3 vote earlier in the hearing.

David Tam, a member of a group opposing the bill, said he had left the hearing under the belief the matter wouldn't come up again.

"It caught me off guard," he said. "I think they knew they were in trouble."

Critics of the bill, by Assemblywoman Fiona Ma, D-San Francisco, said it would make it difficult for Yuba County or Wheatland officials or residents to restrict or put limits on Recology Inc., which is working on a plan to bring San Francisco garbage to the Ostrom Road landfill in four years.

Local governments could still enact special fees to deal with such plans. Yuba County is in the early stages of an environmental impact report on building a rail spur near the landfill so a train could carry the trash.

San Francisco supervisors are also considering the Recology contract, which wouldn't take effect until 2015.

According to Ma's office, the bill will go to appropriations within the next couple weeks. Tam said the bill's slotting there is merely to make sure it won't have an associated cost to the state, and it should then proceed to the full Assembly for a vote.

Assemblyman Dan Logue, R-Linda, who represents Yuba County, could not be reached for comment Tuesday on his stance on A.B. 1178.

If it passes, the bill would then go through committees and a full vote at the Senate before it reached Gov. Jerry Brown for his signature or veto.