Senate committee advances AB 720 to delay bottle‑bill labeling deadline, grandfather some winery bottles

Assemblymember Rogers, the author of AB 720, told the Senate Environmental Quality Committee that the bill "actually started as a really simple bill" to help California wineries and that it now addresses delays and conflicting guidance tied to the state's expanded bottle‑bill program.

"The regulations were actually due this year and are still not done," Rogers said, describing what the bill would do in part as an extension of the implementation date so producers have time to comply.

The bill would delay the labeling compliance date adopted when SB 1013 (Atkins, 2022) expanded the California container redemption program and would clarify the use of QR codes in place of CRV (California redemption value) wording. "Diligently, folks followed that guidance, printed bottles. We're talking, tens of millions of dollars of investment from wineries in terms of the bottling and the equipment, only to have then now guidance come back, changing that after folks have been through the process," Rogers said, arguing AB 720 would…