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By Noam Levey, Mercury News

SACRAMENTO, California, 1 September 2002 --Valley Lawmakers back fee tech firms oppose.

California moved to the forefront of the national movement to recycle electronics Saturday as the Legislature became the first in the country to pass a bill placing fees on new computer monitors and televisions.

With the support of Silicon Valley lawmakers, the Legislature rejected pleas from high-tech manufacturers that even the smallest fees would drive business out of state and weaken an already struggling industry.

With just hours to go before the end of the legislative session, the state Senate joined the Assembly in approving a measure that environmentalists and local government officials hope would begin raising the millions of dollars needed to safely dispose of tons of so-called e-waste accumulating in Californians' homes.

The bill now goes to Gov. Gray Davis, who has not indicated whether he will sign it.

``This is a very important step for California, the birthplace of high-tech,'' said Mark Murray, director of the Californians Against Waste Foundation, which has lobbied all year for the bill.

The Senate action, like the very close vote in the Assembly the night before, was made possible in large part by strong support from most of Silicon Valley's legislators, who lined up behind the bill's sponsor, Sen. Byron Sher, D-San Jose.

But it represented a blow to the valley's high-tech industry, which fought hard to head off the plan to place a $10 fee on new monitors and televisions, arguing that such a move would put local businesses at a competitive disadvantage.

``It's just mind-boggling that Silicon Valley legislators could support a bill like this,'' said Gary Fazzino, vice president for governmental affairs at Hewlett-Packard. ``There just seems to be a disconnect this year between Sacramento and the valley.''

Hewlett-Packard, other companies and influential trade groups in the end could not defuse the growing concern that obsolete electronics pose a serious environmental threat locally and worldwide.

For years, groups like the Californians Against Waste Foundation have been issuing dire warnings about the toxic materials in many electronics, including lead, which is used extensively in computer monitors and televisions.

During the impassioned legislative campaign, environmentalists showed pictures of used American electronics being tossed into ditches in East Asia.

And local government officials warned that they have no way to pay for recycling the estimated 6 million obsolete computers piling up in garages and attics across California that cannot be dumped legally in landfills.

$500 million price tag

To date, few cities have implemented recycling programs because they are too costly. Cleanup costs statewide have been estimated at as much as $500 million.

City officials, including representatives from San Jose and San Francisco, and waste companies joined environmentalists in lobbying for passage of an e-waste bill.

Across the nation, numerous states are wrestling with so-called e-waste but only a handful have passed laws addressing the issue.

According to the Californians Against Waste Foundation, no state has assessed fees on new electronics to pay for recycling programs, in much the same way that the state collects fees for recycling other waste such as motor oil.

The bill's opponents, led by tech manufacturers and industry organizations such as the Silicon Valley Manufacturing Group, complained that the state would not be able to collect the $10 fee on electronics purchased from out-of-state companies.

That would put local companies, such as Hewlett-Packard, at a competitive disadvantage against companies like Texas-based Dell Computer, which sells many of its products over the Internet, opponents said.

``We are once again going after our own businesses,'' said Sacramento Assemblyman Anthony Pescetti, one of many Republicans who opposed the e-waste bill.

Fazzino said most tech companies favor a federal bill that could deal with e-waste on a national scale. In the end, only Apple Computer supported the legislation.

But the bill's proponents argue that the fees would be assessed on out-of-state manufacturers. They point to parts of the law that would penalize companies that try to circumvent the fees by preventing them from bidding on state contracts.

And the bill's supporters said it included provisions that would suspend the fee if a court finds it illegal.

That was enough to convince almost every member of the Silicon Valley delegation, whose support made it possible for the bill to squeak though the Assembly in an extremely tight vote just before 1 a.m. Saturday.

For hours Friday night, the fate of the bill hung in the balance, a few votes short of the 41 needed for it to pass. But Sher worked his way around the floor of the Assembly for hours, cajoling legislators to support the measure.

In the end, Assemblywoman Rebecca Cohn, D-Campbell, was the only valley lawmaker not to vote for it.

But she changed her vote after the bill was passed by a single vote, joining the majority who passed it. ``It wasn't easy,'' said Sher, who helped shepherd passage of the California bottle bill more than a decade ago. ``Obviously, there were some very powerful forces working against us.''

On the Senate side, there was little doubt of the outcome. The upper house already had passed a stricter version of the bill, as well as another e-waste recycling measure sponsored by Los Angeles-area Democratic Sen. Gloria Romero.

Next hurdle

It is unclear whether Davis will sign the legislation, however.

Murray said the Californians Against Waste Foundation was optimistic and planned to press its case to the governor in the upcoming weeks. ``I think we have a fighting chance,'' he said, arguing that Davis could have killed the legislation in the Assembly if he had wanted to.

But tech manufacturers, many of whom have given generously to Davis in recent years, also plan to fight.

Contact Noam Levey at nlevey@sjmercury.com or (916) 712-5061.