republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20112012/ab-549.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Recycling: electronic waste."
description: "(1) Existing law, the Electronic Waste Recycling Act of 2003 (act) , requires a retailer selling a covered electronic device in this state to collect a covered electronic waste recycling fee from the consumer, as specified. These fees are deposited in the Electronic Waste Recovery and Recycling Account, and the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (department) is continuously appropriated the money in the account to, among other things, make electronic waste recovery payments and recycling payments. The department is authorized to make these payments only if certain conditions are met. Existing law requires the act to be enforced pursuant to the hazardous waste control laws, a violation of which, including the making of a false statement or representation in a document, is a crime."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20112012"
identifier: "AB 549"
citation: "California AB 549 (20112012)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Recycling: electronic waste."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Carter"]
version_count: 8
action_count: 26
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2011-02-16"
last_action: "2012-09-25"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/2e97fece-cdaa-413a-8c73-442d0185d350"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB549"
source_hash: "1d71fd6df2ccef9e035bb114c93b1842c658dad0218dfc519f13a60c1bfbb83a"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ca"]
---

# California AB 549 (20112012) — Recycling: electronic waste.

(1) Existing law, the Electronic Waste Recycling Act of 2003 (act) , requires a retailer selling a covered electronic device in this state to collect a covered electronic waste recycling fee from the consumer, as specified. These fees are deposited in the Electronic Waste Recovery and Recycling Account, and the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (department) is continuously appropriated the money in the account to, among other things, make electronic waste recovery payments and recycling payments. The department is authorized to make these payments only if certain conditions are met. Existing law requires the act to be enforced pursuant to the hazardous waste control laws, a violation of which, including the making of a false statement or representation in a document, is a crime.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **02/16/11 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB549&version=20110AB54999INT)
2. **05/02/12 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB549&version=20110AB54998AMD)
3. **05/31/12 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB549&version=20110AB54997AMD)
4. **06/26/12 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB549&version=20110AB54996AMD)
5. **08/23/12 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB549&version=20110AB54995AMD)
6. **09/25/12 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB549&version=20110AB54993CHP)
7. **AB549** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB549)
8. **09/10/12 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB549&version=20110AB54994ENR)

## Votes

- 3rd Reading AB549 Carter By Hancock — **30–5** (pass) · upper
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials. — **9–0** (pass) · lower
- AB 549 CARTER Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **79–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, to Consent Calendar. — **16–0** (pass) · lower
- AB 549 CARTER Consent Calendar Second Day — **78–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended, and re-refer to the Committee on Appropriations. — **5–1** (pass) · upper
- Do pass and re-refer to Committee on Appropriations with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. — **9–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Carter — primary (person)
- Wieckowski — author (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2011-02-16** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2011-02-17** From printer. May be heard in committee March 19.
- **2011-03-03** Referred to Coms. on NAT. RES. and E.S. & T.M. `referral-committee`
- **2011-04-04** In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.
- **2011-04-12** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on E.S. & T.M. (Ayes 9. Noes 0.) (April 11). Re-referred to Com. on E.S. & T.M. `referral-committee, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2011-04-27** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: to consent calendar. (Ayes 9. Noes 0.) (April 26). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2011-05-12** From committee: Do pass. To consent calendar. (Ayes 16. Noes 0.) (May 11). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2011-05-16** Read second time. Ordered to consent calendar. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2011-05-19** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 78. Noes 0. Page 1451.) `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2011-05-19** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2011-06-02** Referred to Com. on E.Q. `referral-committee`
- **2012-03-13** In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author.
- **2012-05-02** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on E.Q. `reading-2, amendment-introduction, reading-1, amendment-passage, referral-committee`
- **2012-05-30** From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 5. Noes 1.) (May 14). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2012-05-31** Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `reading-2, reading-1, amendment-passage, referral-committee`
- **2012-06-25** From committee: Be placed on second reading file pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8 and be amended. `committee-passage, amendment-passage`
- **2012-06-26** Read second time and amended. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1, amendment-passage`
- **2012-08-23** Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `reading-3, reading-1, amendment-passage`
- **2012-08-24** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2012-08-28** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 30. Noes 5. Page 4890.). `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2012-08-28** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after August 30 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2012-08-29** Assembly Rule 77 suspended. (Page 6488.)
- **2012-08-29** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 79. Noes 0. Page 6527.). `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2012-09-12** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 1:35 p.m.
- **2012-09-25** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2012-09-25** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 523, Statutes of 2012.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/2e97fece-cdaa-413a-8c73-442d0185d350`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).