Valley Vista Services, Inc. v. City of Monterey Park
Opinion
Opinion
Rubin, J.
INTRODUCTION
Under the California Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989 (Pub. Res. Code, § 40000, et seq.), local agencies are allowed to grant exclusive operating rights to solid waste disposal companies. (Pub. Res. Code, § 40059, subd. (a)(1).) If other disposal companies have been authorized by the agency to operate within the municipality’s boundaries for more than three years, the agency may notify them that as a result of the exclusive franchise, their operating rights will expire within five years. (§ 49520.) At issue here is whether a city ordinance which prevents a waste disposal company that has received the five-year termination notice from soliciting new business during that five-year period conflicts with the Act. We conclude it does not.
FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
The Act requires local agencies to divert from landfills half of the trash they produce, either by recycling or other means. By early 2002, the City of Monterey Park (the city) had not complied with those requirements and faced the prospect of a compliance order and daily $10,000 fines. In order to meet its obligations under the Act, the city decided to grant an exclusive franchise for…