BILL NUMBER: AB 649	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN SENATE  JUNE 2, 2015
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 16, 2015

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Patterson

                        FEBRUARY 24, 2015

   An act to amend Section 118215 of, and to add Sections 117748 and
118217 to, the Health and Safety Code, relating to medical waste.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 649, as amended, Patterson. Medical waste: law enforcement drug
takeback programs.
   Existing law, the Medical Waste Management Act, regulates the
disposal of medical waste, including requiring medical waste to be
treated by specified methods prior to disposal, including
incineration in a controlled-air, multichamber incinerator, or other
method of incineration approved by the State Department of Public
Health that provides complete combustion of the waste into carbonized
or mineralized ash.
   This bill would include among those authorized treatment methods
any alternative medical waste treatment solely designed to treat
pharmaceutical waste, including a pharmaceutical incinerator, as
defined, and would require this method to be evaluated and approved
by the State Department of Public Health.  The bill would require
the department to complete the   first evaluation and
approval of these alternative medical waste treatments solely
designed to treat pharmaceutical waste, including a pharmaceutical
incinerator, by June 1, 2017.  The bill would authorize a law
enforcement agency that operates a prescription drug takeback program
to utilize a pharmaceutical incinerator up to 4 times per year if
the incinerator is evaluated and approved by the department.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 117748 is added to the Health and Safety Code,
to read:
   117748.  "Pharmaceutical incinerator" means a treatment device
that solely incinerates pharmaceutical waste, as defined in Section
117690, that renders the pharmaceutical waste as solid waste.
  SEC. 2.  Section 118215 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to
read:
   118215.  (a) Except as provided in subdivisions (b) and (c), a
person generating or treating medical waste shall ensure that the
medical waste is treated by one of the following methods, thereby
rendering it solid waste, as defined in Section 40191 of the Public
Resources Code, prior to disposal:
   (1) (A) Incineration at a permitted medical waste treatment
facility in a controlled-air, multichamber incinerator, or other
method of incineration approved by the department which provides
complete combustion of the waste into carbonized or mineralized ash.
   (B) Treatment with an alternative technology approved pursuant to
paragraph (3), which, due to the extremely high temperatures of
treatment in excess of 1300 degrees Fahrenheit, has received express
approval from the department.
   (2) Steam sterilization at a permitted medical waste treatment
facility or by other sterilization, in accordance with all of the
following operating procedures for steam sterilizers or other
sterilization:
   (A) Standard written operating procedures shall be established for
biological indicators, or for other indicators of adequate
sterilization approved by the department, for each steam sterilizer,
including time, temperature, pressure, type of waste, type of
container, closure on container, pattern of loading, water content,
and maximum load quantity.
   (B) Recording or indicating thermometers shall be checked during
each complete cycle to ensure the attainment of 121 Centigrade (250
Fahrenheit) for at least one-half hour, depending on the quantity and
density of the load, to achieve sterilization of the entire load.
Thermometers, thermocouples, or other monitoring devices identified
in the facility operating plan shall be checked for calibration
annually. Records of the calibration checks shall be maintained as
part of the facility's files and records for a period of two years or
for the period specified in the regulations.
   (C) Heat-sensitive tape, or another method acceptable to the
enforcement agency, shall be used on each biohazard bag or sharps
container that is processed onsite to indicate that the waste went
through heat treatment. If the biohazard bags or sharps containers
are placed in a large liner bag within the autoclave for treatment,
heat-sensitive tape or another method acceptable to the enforcement
agency only needs to be placed on the liner bag and not on every
hazardous waste bag or sharps container being treated.
   (D) The biological indicator Geobacillus stearothermophilus, or
other indicator of adequate sterilization as approved by the
department, shall be placed at the center of a load processed under
standard operating conditions at least monthly to confirm the
attainment of adequate sterilization conditions.
   (E) Records of the procedures specified in subparagraphs (A), (B),
and (D) shall be maintained for a period of not less than two years.

   (3) (A) Other alternative medical waste treatment methods which
are both of the following:
   (i) Approved by the department.
   (ii) Result in the destruction of pathogenic micro-organisms.
   (B) Any alternative medical waste treatment method proposed to the
department shall be evaluated by the department and either approved
or rejected pursuant to the criteria specified in this subdivision.
   (C) Any alternative medical waste treatment solely designed to
treat pharmaceutical waste, including a pharmaceutical incinerator,
shall be evaluated and approved by the department with regard to the
necessary treatment of pharmaceuticals.  By June 1, 2017, the
department shall complete the first evaluation and approval of these
alternative medical waste treatments, including a pharmaceutical
incinerator. 
   (b) Fluid blood or fluid blood products may be discharged to a
public sewage system without treatment if its discharge is consistent
with waste discharge requirements placed on the public sewage system
by the California regional water quality control board with
jurisdiction.
   (c) (1) A medical waste that is a biohazardous laboratory waste,
as defined in subparagraph (B) of paragraph (1) of subdivision (b) of
Section 117690, may be treated by a chemical disinfection if the
waste is liquid or semiliquid and the chemical disinfection method is
recognized by the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention, or the American Biological Safety
Association, and if the use of chemical disinfection as a treatment
method is identified in the site's medical waste management plan.
   (2) If the waste is not treated by chemical disinfection, in
accordance with paragraph (1), the waste shall be treated by one of
the methods specified in subdivision (a).
   (3) Following treatment by chemical disinfection, the medical
waste may be discharged to the public sewage system if the discharge
is consistent with waste discharge requirements placed on the public
sewage system by the California regional water control board, and the
discharge is in compliance with the requirements imposed by the
owner or operator of the public sewage system. If the chemical
disinfection of the medical waste causes the waste to become a
hazardous waste, the waste shall be managed in accordance with the
requirements of Chapter 6.5 (commencing with Section 25100) of
Division 20.
  SEC. 3.  Section 118217 is added to the Health and Safety Code, to
read:
   118217.  A law enforcement agency that operates a prescription
drug takeback program may utilize up to four times per year a
pharmaceutical incinerator that is evaluated and approved by the
department pursuant to Section 118215.