Coalition Seeks Preliminary Injunction Blocking California Packaging EPR Law
A 17-state coalition that includes the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors (NAW) as its only business plaintiff has asked a federal court to block California from enforcing its packaging extended producer responsibility (EPR) law, known as S.B. 54, while a broader legal challenge to the law moves forward.
NAW has asked the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California to issue a preliminary injunction stopping the state’s Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery and its chosen producer responsibility organization, Circular Action Alliance, from enforcing S.B. 54 until the court decides whether the law is constitutional. The coalition argues businesses are already facing steep compliance costs, even though the state hasn’t finalized the rules for calculating those fees. Companies should not be forced to comply with requirements regulators haven’t yet finalized, the motion states, and California cannot credibly claim it would be harmed by pausing enforcement until the legal issues are resolved.
“S.B. 54 piles new problems on top of an already structurally problematic model,” said Eric Hoplin, president and CEO of NAW. “California’s own data shows most of the material this law regulates can’t meet the vague ‘recyclability’ standard it demands. We’re asking the court to stop enforcement before businesses and consumers are forced to pay for something California hasn’t shown is achievable.”
The updated complaint contends the law violates the Constitution’s Due Process Clause because it imposes sweeping obligations without telling businesses how to meet them. Basic terms like “covered material” and “recyclable” are not clearly defined, the group says, leaving businesses to guess what’s required and risk penalties for getting it wrong. NAW also points out that the law incorporates a recyclability standard that another federal court already preliminarily blocked.
“Earlier this summer, a federal judge blocked California from enforcing S.B. 343, the ‘chasing arrows’ recycling labeling law,” said Brian Wild, chief government relations officer for NAW. “S.B. 54 relies on the same definition of recyclability, so we are asking the court to come to the same conclusion and enjoin S.B. 54 as well.”
California’s S.B. 54 regulations took effect May 1. NAW and the 17-state coalition filed the lawsuit challenging the law in late June. The filing builds on momentum from a similar fight in Oregon, where NAW members won a preliminary injunction against that state’s packaging EPR in February. That case went to trial in July and is awaiting a ruling. NAW also filed a separate lawsuit challenging Colorado’s EPR law in July.