CAA published the 2026 California Early Fee Schedule on July 20, 2026 and
issued California Early Fee invoices the week of August 17, 2026, with payment due within 45 days of the invoice date. On that timing the first payments fall due
around September 25 to October 1, 2026. Late payment carries CAA’s Late Payment Charge of 1 percent compounded monthly.
Two things that are easy to confuse. California Early Fees are
separate from California 2027 EPR Fees, even though both are calculated from your 2025 California Supply Report. And the California Illustrative Fees published in May 2026 are, in CAA’s own words, “good-faith, non-binding estimates” of 2027 rates, not the rates you will be invoiced.
CAA will publish final 2027 California EPR fee rates on or before October 1, 2026 and issue standard 2027 invoices in January 2027.
What this means for you: if you are a registered California producer, confirm your finance team has the invoice and that CAA is set up as a payee, because the payment clock started in August and the due date lands this month for most invoices. If you are budgeting 2027, the number you need is not published yet and arrives by October 1. Source:
CAA, Producer Actions and Key Dates, August 2026.
Update, September 24, 2026: the due window above was miscalculated. Forty-five days from invoices issued the week of August 17, 2026 (Monday August 17 to Friday August 21) falls on October 1 to October 5, 2026, not September 25 to October 1. The due date printed on your invoice controls (CAA, Producer Actions and Key Dates, August 2026: invoices the week of Aug. 17, 2026, “with payment due within 45 days of the invoice date”).
Update, September 25, 2026: the week of August 17 is the invoice date CAA scheduled, not a confirmed issue date. CAA’s August 2026 bulletin says it “will issue California Early Fee invoices the week of Aug. 17, 2026”, and its Producer Report Planning table lists “Aug 2026 (one installment)” as the estimated invoice date. No later CAA document confirms when the invoices went out, so treat the dates in this entry as CAA’s schedule. The due date printed on your invoice controls.
Correction, October 1, 2026: the schedule was published on July 20, 2026, not July 21. This entry first gave July 21, the date in CAA’s August bulletin; the schedule document itself reads “Originally published July 20, 2026” (CAA, 2026 California Early Fee Schedule).
Update, October 1, 2026: CAA’s September 29, 2026 newsletter lists “paying California Early Fee invoices” among this month’s producer actions, so the invoices have been issued. CAA has not published the date they went out, so the due date printed on your invoice still controls (
CAA newsletter, September 2026).
Update, October 2, 2026: CAA published the 2027 California rates on October 1, 2026 as preliminary rates, non-binding until CalRecycle approves the program plan, rather than as final rates (
CAA, 2027 California Producer Fees Schedule).