For lawmakers and lobbyists who worked to ensure the passage of California’s groundbreaking Plastic Waste Act, Rachel Wagoner’s sudden career shift was nothing more than a drop in the jaw.
The former director of CalRecycle, who oversaw, wrote and promoted the single-use plastics law known as SB 54, is now the executive director of the Circular Action Alliance, a coalition of plastics and packaging companies that have decided to delay the derailment of the law.
And it’s not clear that her pivot is legal.
On February 19, an anonymous whistleblower filed a formal complaint with California’s Fair Political Practices Commission, asking the agency to investigate Wagoner on the grounds that it violated a “switcher” ban that prevented the state from receiving compensation for issues previously overseen by the then regulator.
“It’s pretty bad,” said Sean McMorris, manager of transparency, ethics and accountability programs at the political watchdog group California Common Cause. “I don’t know how else to say it, whether the law is broken or not, but the public sees it and says, “What’s going on here? This is pretty suspicious.”
Others say Wagoner is helping her promote the regulations and language that are currently in question.
“That certainly raises a lot of concern,” said Sen. Ben Allen (D-Santa Monica), who wrote and sponsored the original law.
Wagoner did not answer questions from the Times, but in an email exchange that began on February 12, she was proud of her time working for the state government, advised businesses and felt she had the privilege of being asked to provide information about SB 54 and California’s environmental and regulatory laws and processes.
She said she hasn’t defended the companies she represents in her new role, including the world’s largest producers and plastic packaging distributors, including Amazon, Coca-Cola, Conagra, Procter & Gamble and Target. She said she would just provide them with information.
Coalition spokesman Larin Urbina said that “it is not appropriate to comment at this time” as the state’s political practices committee had not contacted her organization.
SB 54 is designed to reduce single-use plastics and packaging as plastic waste wagoners help craft, and shift the responsibility for plastic waste to companies that manufacture, sell, or move their products away from consumers and local jurisdictions. This can be done by reducing the amount of single-use plastic these companies create and sell, or by producing products that can be recycled or composted.
According to an analysis by one state, 2.9 million tons of single-use plastic and 171.4 billion single-use plastic components were sold and offered for sale or distributed in California in 2023.
The wider and wider disposal of single-use plastics and plastic waste is considered to be an increase in environmental and health issues. Over the past few decades, plastic waste accumulation has overwhelmed waterways and the oceans, become tired of marine life, and threatened human health.
The bill was signed into law in 2022, but regulations designed to govern it have yet to be finalized.
Over the past two years, stakeholders representing plastic manufacturers and producers, packaging companies, environmental groups and waste carriers have hashed out and negotiated the proposed regulations.
Throughout this period, Wagoner-led Calrecycle, led by Wagoner, led by Wagoner until March 2024, led the discussion and incorporated feedback into several proposed drafts of these rules.
For example, in early June 2022, stakeholders were blaming the initial regulatory set, making it clear that according to the law, the state’s waste infrastructure needs to be regularly assessed to get to where the materials are needed and where they are properly disposed of. The industry is responsible for meeting these goals, including, among other requirements, 65% of all disposable plastic packages in the state being recycled by 2032.
Stakeholders initially agreed that this costly time-consuming and HR-intensive assessment should be carried out by the industry. This allows the industry to evaluate and take responsibility for ratings when they are in place. However, sources said Wagoner, director of the state agency, decided that Callex should be held responsible. Several drafts of the proposed rules and changes have been shared with the Times.
Now, Wagoner and her industry coalition complain that the state is taking too long to do an assessment scheduled to be completed in January 2026. As a result, she said she has compromised her ability to develop target-meeting programs by April 2026.
“This timeline is challenging even under ideal conditions,” she said in an email on February 12th. “The planning process must start without this required data and is difficult to complete due to this delay.”
Additionally, Wagoner critics say some experts oversaw regulations that could open the door to certain types of chemical recycling technologies. This is the technology that turns into superheat plastic and converts it into fuel or other kinds of plastic. Any changes to the regulations, including wording about hazardous materials, have since been amended and addressed.
On February 7th, Eastman Chemical ran a sponsored ad at Sacramento Bee, telling the benefits of recycling technology. They also spent $177,500 in the fourth quarter lobbying on Callecicle under SB 54 regulations.
Circular Action Alliances and other industry-friendly groups, such as the California Chamber of Commerce, have also been actively lobbying the governor’s office since mid-December, urging Nusam to delay finalisation.
In a December 15 letter to Newsom, the Chamber of Commerce argued that the new law costs California consumers more than $300 a year. However, a time review of that analysis shows the opposite.
The state economist said he expects an increase in personal income, starting with a $3 bump in 2024 and rising to $131 by 2032.
In 2020, Wagoner was chosen by Newsom to run Calrecycle. Prior to that, she worked in the governor’s office as a senior legislative strategist alongside Anne Patterson. Patterson resigned shortly after her husband, Nathan Barrankin, became the governor’s chief of staff.
Wagoner served as Calrex Director until March 2024. She became executive director of the Circular Action Alliance on December 4th after consulting Eastman Chemical for several months.
The Fair Political Practices Committee has not yet decided whether to conduct the investigation. According to a February 25 letter addressed to Wagoner, the former Callecicle director will need to provide the agency with information to support her case until March 11th.
“What happened may not be illegal and I’m not a lawyer, but I don’t think the public believes how this should work in California,” said Heidi Sanborn, founding director of the California Stewardship Council.
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