Waste Recycling Bill Vetoed as Unneeded

Gov. George Deukmejian vetoed environmentalist-backed legislation Friday that would have required cities and counties to develop plans to recycle 25% of their solid waste in order to take pressure off near-capacity landfills.

Deukmejian, in his veto message, said the legislation would create an “unnecessary” duplication of efforts by state agencies responsible for overseeing waste disposal programs.

In other action, Deukmejian signed a bill to ban the manufacture and possession of plastic guns that cannot be detected by airport security equipment.

The governor also signed a bill permitting physicians to tell certain people, without a patient’s consent, that a person has tested positive for the AIDS virus.

Currently, the Solid Waste Management Board is responsible for state policy on solid waste disposal. The vetoed legislation, drafted by Assemblywoman Lucy Killea (D-San Diego), would have removed that agency and required cities and counties instead to file solid waste reduction and recycling plans with the Department of Conservation.

Environmentalists contend that the Solid Waste Management Board is dominated by the garbage industry.

The veto brought an angry response from the Planning and Conservation League, a sponsor of the Killea bill.

“Gov. Deukmejian continues to be a major obstacle to adopting environmentally sound and cost-effective solutions (to garbage disposal),” said Corey Brown, lobbyist and general counsel for the league.

He said environmentalists will sponsor a similar bill next year, hoping that Deukmejian will change his mind. The legislation also was supported by the Sierra Club, Californians Against Waste, the City of Los Angeles and the League of California Cities.

Brown said, “We are running out of places to put our garbage.” He cited statistics showing that by 1996 two-thirds of the state’s urban areas will run out of landfill capacity.

The measure passed the Assembly 45 to 30 and the Senate 21 to 13. It drew opposition from the waste disposal industry.

Supporters of the measure noted that on Thursday, the federal Environmental Protection Agency encouraged state and local governments to increase recycling and waste reduction 15% by 1992. About 10% of the nation’s waste is now recycled.

The EPA has made California a “target state” for its recycling campaign because of its large population and industrial base.

Deukmejian, continuing to work his way through hundreds of bills sent to him in the closing days of the legislative session, signed the bill banning the manufacture, sale or possession in California of plastic guns that cannot be detected by metal screening or X-ray devices commonly used at airports and municipal buildings.

No such guns are yet being manufactured in California, but Assemblyman Mike Roos (D-Los Angeles), who drafted the bill, said the measure is needed as a precaution. He said the technology exists, and manufacture of the weapons is just a matter of time. Congress is considering a similar bill.

The measure drew support from medical groups in addition to a long list of law enforcement agencies that fear such weapons could be used by terrorists.

The American Public Health Assn. said production of plastic weapons also would increase the number of accidental shootings involving children because the lightweight guns could be mistaken for toys.

Deukmejian also signed legislation repealing criminal and civil penalties for physicians who disclose, without the consent of the patient, that a person has tested positive for the AIDS virus if the disclosure is made to a county health officer, to someone reasonably believed to be a sexual partner or to a person who may have shared a hypodermic needle with the patient.

Currently, disclosure can be made to persons exposed to the AIDS virus, but only with the written consent of the patient, except in cases where the person is the patient’s spouse. The bill repeals provisions of the current law requiring that a consent form be signed by the patient before any notifications are made.

The California Medical Assn. sponsored the bill as a follow-up to legislation enacted last year that provided for notification without consent, but limited the disclosure to a person’s spouse. Until that bill passed, the law specifically prohibited the disclosure of AIDS test results without the written consent of the patient.