Californians would pay $1 car battery fee for toxic cleanup under bill sent to governor | Sustainable LA Grand Challenge

September 01, 2016

An L.A. County environmental health specialist collects a soil sample in Commerce. Photo by Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times.

The California State Legislature has voted to approve AB2153, legislation introducing a $1 fee on lead-acid car batteries for consumers and manufacturers. If signed by Governor Jerry Brown, this tax will be used by the state’s Department of Toxic Substances Control to clean brain-damaging lead from sites across the state contaminated by the battery industry. Sean Hecht, a UCLA law professor, helped negotiate the bill’s language with environmentalists, industry, and lawmakers and called the new legislation “remarkable.”