Los Angeles reconsiders illegal waste dumping law

Los Angeles city officials may revive a 2002 law that could reward city residents for providing information on illegal waste dumping.

The law is being revived to stem illegal dumping in public areas, which increased 450 percent between 2016 and 2020, Los Angeles City Controller Ron Galperin says.  

“From January through September 2020, [the Los Angeles Sanitation Department] received an average of 2,494 requests per month, nearly three times the amount in 2017,” according to Galperin’s report. 

The Los Angeles Sanitation Department says the law would take effect once Los Angeles City Council approves it. 

This program would modify the city’s administrative code, creating a system with tiered reward payments for people who provide information leading to an illegal dumping conviction. It also would provide a public outreach campaign promoting the program. 

“[The] lack of publicity and the time that it takes from the submission of the information to the receipt of the reward [is why the law failed originally],” says Heather Johnson, the principal public relations officer for the city's sanitation department. 

After a city resident provides information to the department, the city would investigate the tip, and the city’s attorney would determine if the available evidence is adequate to prosecute the responsible companies or individuals for illegal dumping. Court action would follow.

If there is a conviction that originated with a tip, the resident who provided the information would receive a reward. The council is introducing a new tiered system for rewards that will be based on the type of conviction that follows a tip. 

The exact reward, capped at $1,000, would vary depending on how much money the city collects as a result of the enforcement action. The reward amount would range from $50 to $500 for an infraction citation leading to a conviction and would be $25 for an enforcement action resulting in an uncontested conviction, according to a report from the City News Service, a regional news provider based in California. 

There would be no reward offered if there is no conviction.