Metropolitan News-Enterprise

 

Monday, January 11, 2010

 

Page 3

 

Governor Appoints Attorney as CalRecycle Counsel

 

By a MetNews Staff Writer

 

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has named Sacramento attorney Elliot Block chief counsel for CalRecycle.

The governor’s office on Thursday announced the appointment of Block, 49, as head attorney for the new home of California’s recycling and waste reduction efforts.

The position does not require Senate confirmation.

Officially known as the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, CalRecycle is a new department within the California Natural Resources Agency that was created Jan. 1 as the result of legislation signed by the governor last year.

The department was established through the elimination of the California Integrated Waste Management Board and the merger of its duties with those of the Department of Conservation’s Recycling Division “to more effectively manage the disposal of state waste and recycling efforts to protect public health and the environment,” the governor’s office said.

According to the governor’s office, California generates 93 million tons of waste each year.

Block has served the Integrated Waste Management Board as chief counsel since 2006 and served as staff counsel for three years before that.

A Democrat, he was staff counsel for the Fair Political Practices Commission’s Enforcement Division from 1989 to 1992 and managing attorney for the Fair Housing Council of Orange County from 1984 to 1989.

Block joined the State Bar in 1984 after graduating from UCLA and UC Davis School of Law.

Compensation for the post is $123,564.

Schwarzenegger yesterday also named Margo Reid Brown—the former chair of the Integrated Waste Management Board and his former director of scheduling—as chief deputy director and acting director of the new department.

The new department was created when the governor signed SB 63 by Sen. Tony Strickland, R-Thousand Oaks. Housed in the California Natural Resources Agency, it is made up of two divisions: the Division of Waste Recovery and Division of Recycling.

 

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