E-Waste bill passes out of committee

Senator Jenny Oropeza’s SB1052, which rationalize state agencies’ approach to  electronic waste, passed out of the Senate Environmental Quality Committee this afternoon, according to a press release sent out by Oropeza’s office.

“I am alarmed the California State Auditor has found so much confusion and lack of coordination among state agencies,” Oropeza says in the release about a 2008 state Auditor’s report that discovered state agencies were routinely throwing away mountains of computers, television monitors and cellular phones.

Last week, I wrote this investigative story that was based on a California Public Records Act request that showed the same thing still seemed to be happening. Our investigation also showed that the state Department of General Services was also still having difficulty tracking agency e-waste reports. Oropeza mentioned the CalWatchdog investigation in her press release.

“A report March 31 by CalWatchdog.org, a Pacific Research Institute-funded, non-partisan journalism Web site, concluded that state agencies continued to be unresponsive to the Auditor General’s report that there is little oversight of getting rid of old TVs, computers, monitors, cell phones and other electronic gear,” stated the release.

The Senate Appropriations Committee takes up the bill next, though no hearing date has yet been set.

-Anthony Pignataro