AB 2253, Assembly Member Boerner’s recycled content claims bill, was
read a third time and passed by the Senate on August 28, 2026, by 27 ayes to 10 noes, and the
Assembly concurred in the Senate amendments on August 30, 2026. The bill was
enrolled on September 3, 2026 and has not been signed. The Governor has until September 30, 2026 to act, and a bill he does not return by then becomes law without his signature. (Corrected October 12, 2026.)
The operative text is the
August 21, 2026 Senate floor amendment. It amends, repeals, and adds Section 42357.6 of the Public Resources Code. A recycled content claim must be based on actual recycled content determined using any of five chain of custody models named in the bill: identity-preserved, segregated, controlled blending, and rolling average percentage as described in ISO 22095:2020(E), or proportional attribution as defined in ISO 22095-2:2026. Two limits ride on the last of these: no recycling credits may be provided to any form of fuel use or fuel production, and there may be no credit transfers between unrelated processes. The claim may not exceed the third-party certified recycled content introduced into the manufacturer’s or supplier’s overall supply stream for that product line, and it must conform to the FTC Green Guides at 16 C.F.R. Part 260 as they read on January 1, 2026. The August 21 amendment also broadened the deemed-compliance route, which had reached only plastic beverage containers subject to Section 14549.3 and now reaches any product meeting those reporting requirements.
What this means for you: nothing today, and nothing for three years. The substantive duties are operative
January 1, 2030. If you make a voluntary recycled content claim on a label in California, this is the rule you will eventually be substantiating it against, and the practical answer is that credit-based accounting is permitted under a named ISO method rather than banned. Watch for the Governor’s signature or veto. Source:
California Legislature, AB 2253 bill history (accessed August 30, 2026).
Update, September 24, 2026: the Governor need not act. The bill was presented to him September 10, 2026, and a bill he does not return by September 30, 2026 becomes a statute without his signature (Cal. Const. art. IV, sec. 10(b)(2)).
Update, September 30, 2026: Governor Newsom vetoed AB 2253 on September 27, 2026, so the bill does not become law. Source:
Office of the Governor of California, legislative update (September 27, 2026).
(Corrected October 7, 2026: the August 21 text caps the claim at the third-party certified recycled content introduced into the manufacturer’s or supplier’s overall supply stream for that product line, not the producer’s.)