Over 700 bills have been introduced into the State Legislature, with nine on solid waste-related topics. However, the majority of the Legislature’s attention is on the budget bill. Both the Senate and the Assembly have adopted versions of the bill, but they are very different from one another and the differences will need to be settled in a conference committee. The conference committee consists of eight members, four from each house. Reflecting their respective majorities, the Assembly has appointed three Republicans and one Democrat, while the Senate has appointed three Democrats and one Republican.

Both versions of the budget bill start with the Governor’s bill as amended by the Joint Finance Committee. As proposed by the Senate, the recycling fee at landfills would increase from $3 a ton to $10 a ton, with $21 million a year in additional funds going to the Responsible Units, $15 million a year going to renewable energy projects, $3 million a year for reimbursement of costs for the disposal of PCB contaminated sediments, $1 million a year for assistance to business waste reduction and recovery efforts, an increase in Clean Sweep funds to $1 million a year, and transfers to the general fund of $33 million. The name of the recycling fund would also change to the recycling and renewable energy fund. In addition to these recycling fee related changes, the state landfill fees would increase by $1.10 a ton to pay for environmental repair programs.

The Assembly version of the budget bill eliminates all the proposed landfill surcharge increases as proposed by the Governor and modified by Joint Finance, and eliminates the increase in the waste reduction and demonstration grant program. While it eliminates the proposed transfer from the recycling fund to the general fund, it also provides $4 million to the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) for grants for the construction of soybean crushing facilities and $2.5 million to DATCP for a grant to the first pulp and paper mill in Wisconsin to be free of natural gas and coal usage.

The time frame for the resolution of the budget bill is unknown, with some forecasting a mid to late fall schedule.

The budget bill can be found on the Internet in five parts: (1) Senate Substitute Amendment 1/Assembly Substitute Amendment 1 is the Joint Finance Committee version and is 1688 pages long, (2) Senate Amendment 1 to Senate Substitute Amendment 1 is 384 pages long, (3) Senate Amendment 1 to Senate Amendment 1 to Senate Substitute Amendment 1 is 7 pages long, (4) Senate Amendment 2 to Senate Substitute Amendment 1 is 11 pages long, and (5) Assembly Amendment 1 to Assembly Substitute Amendment 1 is 532 pages long. These parts can be found on the Internet at http://www.legis.state.wi.us/2007/data/SB40hst.html.

Turning to non-budget bills, the Legislature has unanimously adopted legislation (SB 122) to stop paper mills that use scrap paper as feedstock from claiming property tax exemptions as waste treatment facilities. The Governor signed this bill into law on August 8th as 2007 Act 19.

In addition, both the Assembly and the Senate (AB 429/SB 225) have introduced legislation relating to the sale and purchase of scrap metal. With prices increasing, there have been increasing numbers of thefts of metals such as copper wire and aluminum siding. Neither bill has had a hearing.

For questions regarding legislation, please contact John Reindl at Reindl@co.dane.wi.us

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