Bill to Aid Mobile Recyclers Vetoed

Arguing that it would be “an inappropriate intrusion” into local government, Gov. George Deukmejian on Tuesday vetoed a bill sought by Alhambra City Councilman J. Parker Williams to ease restrictions for his and other mobile waste-recycling businesses.

The bill would have prohibited cities from banning recycling vans but would have allowed them to impose conditions, regulating such matters as when and where the trucks could park.

Assemblyman Charles Calderon (D-Alhambra) introduced the measure at the councilman’s request after Williams told him that several cities around the San Gabriel Valley had hampered his recycling operation, Cash for Trash.

But Deukmejian, in his veto message, said the bill “represents an inappropriate intrusion into local land-use control.”

The governor also said: “It would have the effect of creating a special exception from such control for one particular type of business operation.

“Further, the bill would create a legal ambiguity as to whether a city or other local agency could ever issue an outright denial of an application for a conditional use permit for a mobile recycling unit.”

In a brief statement issued Wednesday, Calderon said he was disappointed by the governor’s action. “The governor was wrong to veto this bill, which would promote recycling,” Calderon asserted.

The Assembly approved the measure in May by a 66-7 margin and the Senate approved it 33 to 0 on Sept. 6.

Williams said he had expected that Deukmejian would sign the legislation because it passed by such wide margins. He was so confident that he had not contacted the governor’s office to urge Deukmejian to sign the measure.

A Senate consultant who analyzed the bill said cities have restricted and banned recycling trucks, in part, because they violated local zoning. The trucks park in shopping center parking lots on a rotating basis and collect old newspapers, cans and glass.

Williams said he was not sure if he would ask Calderon to introduce similar legislation next year.