(a) (1) The department shall certify processors pursuant to this section.

(2) The department shall review whether an application for certification or renewal is complete within 30 working days of receipt, including compliance with subdivision (c). If the department deems an application complete, the department shall approve or deny the application no later than 60 calendar days after the date when the application was deemed complete.

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(b) The director shall adopt, by regulation, requirements and standards for certification. The regulations shall require, but shall not be limited to requiring, that all of the following conditions be met for certification:

(1) The processor demonstrates to the satisfaction of the department that the processor will operate in accordance with this division.

(2) If one or more certified entities have operated at the same location within the past five years, the operations at the location of the processor exhibit, to the satisfaction of the department, a pattern of operation in compliance with the requirements of this division and regulations adopted pursuant to this division.

(3) The processor notifies the department promptly of any material change in the nature of the processor’s operations that conflicts with the information submitted in the operator’s application for certification.

(c) (1) An applicant for certification as a processor and a processor applying for renewal of a certification shall complete the precertification training program required by this subdivision and meet all other qualification requirements prescribed by the department, which may include, but are not limited to, requiring the applicant to obtain a passing score on an examination administered by the department.

(2) The department may use staff or industry experts, or may seek expertise available in other state agencies, to provide the training program required by this subdivision, which shall include providing technical assistance to better prepare processors for successful participation in this division, thereby reducing the potential for errors, fraud, or other activities that compromise the integrity of the implementation of this division.

(d) A certified processor shall comply with all of the following requirements for operation:

(1) The processor shall not pay a refund value for, or receive a refund value from the department for, any food or drink packaging material or any beverage container or other product that does not have a refund value established pursuant to Section 14560.

(2) The processor shall take those actions that satisfy the department to prevent the payment of a refund value for any food or drink packaging material or any beverage container or other product that does not have a refund value established pursuant to Section 14560.

(3) Unless exempted pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 14572, the processor shall accept, and pay at least the refund value for, all empty beverage containers, regardless of type, for which the processor is certified.

(4) A processor shall not pay any refund values, processing payments, or administrative fees to a noncertified recycler. A processor may pay refund values, processing payments, or administrative fees to any entity that is identified by the department on its list of certified recycling centers.

(5) A processor shall not pay any refund values, processing payments, or administrative fees on empty beverage containers or other containers that the processor knew, or should have known, were coming into the state from out of the state, or are otherwise ineligible for redemption.

(6) A processor shall not claim refund values, processing payments, or administrative fees on empty beverage containers that the processor knew, or should have known, were received from noncertified recyclers or on beverage containers that the processor knew, or should have known, come from out of the state, or are otherwise ineligible for redemption. A processor may claim refund values, processing payments, or administrative fees on any empty beverage container that does not come from out of the state and that is received from any entity that is identified by the department on its list of certified recycling centers.

(7) (A) A processor shall take the actions necessary and approved by the department to cancel containers to render them unfit for redemption.

(B) A processor may be authorized by the department to satisfy the cancellation requirements of this section by washing a reusable beverage container or transferring a reusable beverage container for subsequent washing to a processor approved by the department.

(8) A processor shall prepare or maintain the following documents involving empty beverage containers, as specified by the department by regulation:

(A) Shipping reports that are required to be prepared by the processor or that are required to be obtained from recycling centers.

(B) Processor invoice reports.

(C) Cancellation verification documents.

(D) Documents authorizing recycling centers to cancel empty beverage containers.

(E) Processor-to-processor transaction receipts.

(F) Rejected container receipts on materials subject to this division.

(G) Receipts for transactions with beverage manufacturers on materials subject to this division.

(H) Receipts for transactions with distributors on materials subject to this division.

(I) Weight tickets.

(9) In addition to the requirements of paragraph (7), a processor shall cooperate with the department and make available its records of scrap transactions when the review of these records is necessary for an audit or investigation by the department.

(e) The department may recover, in restitution pursuant to paragraph (5) of subdivision (c) of Section 14591.2, any payments made by the department to the processor pursuant to Section 14573 that are based on the documents specified in paragraph (8) of subdivision (d), that are not prepared or maintained in compliance with the department’s regulations, and that do not allow the department to verify claims for program payments.

(f) The department may certify additional models of processors that are determined necessary to implement subparagraph (B) of paragraph (7) of subdivision (d), who may be subject to requirements and standards that differ from those set forth in this section. The director shall adopt by regulation the requirements and standards for the certification and operation of those processors no later than January 1, 2024. The regulations shall include, at a minimum, the approval requirements, approval processes, standards of operations, and oversight of those models of processors, as appropriate.

(Amended by Stats. 2021, Ch. 502, Sec. 2. (AB 962) Effective January 1, 2022.)