Davis Vetoes Fee for Computer Recycling

Gov. Gray Davis vetoed a bill that would have set a $10 recycling fee, the first in the nation, on each of millions of new televisions and computers sold in California. The fee, which would have begun in 2004, was expected to generate up to $240 million a year for grants to municipalities, materials handlers, nonprofit groups and electronics manufacturers to encourage recycling.

Millions of computers and televisions are piling up in offices and homes because the state banned them from landfills last year. Davis expressed concern “that this program is not the most efficient or most cost-effective approach for California.”