As we begin the new legislative biennium, solid waste related legislation is already attracting attention. Following the election last fall, the new Legislature was inaugurated in January and over 100 bills have been introduced as of mid February, including two on solid waste issues. The Budget Bill – not yet released by the time that this article was put together – may include other solid waste issues, especially in follow up to the recommendations of the Governor’s Task Force on Waste Materials Recovery and Disposal.

Also of interest are two reports from the Legislative Fiscal Bureau on segregated fund that cover recycling, Clean Sweeps and clean up of agricultural chemical contaminated sites.

Current Legislation
The two bills that have been introduced – AB 40 and SB 29 – revive issues that were the subjects of legislative activity last session.

AB 40 prohibits the operator of a solid waste disposal facility from accepting dredged materials for disposal if the dredged materials contain PCBs. The prohibition takes effect on Jan. 1, 2009, or on the date on which local approvals have been issued for a facility for the vitrification of sediments in Brown County, Outagamie County, or Winnebago County if that date is before Jan. 1, 2009. (Vitrification is the conversion of something into glass or a glassy substance using heat.) With 4 Assembly and 2 Senate sponsors, it was introduced on Jan. 30 and referred to the Committee on Natural Resources. Five groups report lobbying on this bill – Outagamie County registers support, while four business and environmental groups are in opposition.

SB 29 has 7 Senate and 18 Assembly sponsors and increases the recycling fee at landfills to $10 per ton on April 1, 2008. The bill also increases financial assistance to responsible units (RUs) by $48,000,000 in fiscal year 2008−09. Under this bill, in 2009, each local governmental unit receives at least a 75 percent increase in financial assistance, even if the increased amount exceeds the eligible costs of its recycling program. It was introduced on Feb. 7 and referred to the Committee on Environment and Natural Resources. Six organizations are registered as lobbying on this bill – an environmental group has registered its support, while five businesses or business groups are either opposed or have not yet disclosed their positions.

Budget Bill
The state budget bill is to be released on the evening of Feb. 13. I believe that it will contain modifications to the DNR budget as it relates to recycling; in addition, it may contain measures related to recommendations of the Governor’s Task Force, which completed its work last December. The report of the Task Force is on the Internet at http://www.wasteresources.wi.gov, and then clicking on the “Final Report” button near the top of the page.

Fiscal Bureau Reports
In January of each odd-numbered year, the Legislative Fiscal Bureau issues reports on the status of various funds. Two reports of special interest in the solid waste field are Solid Waste Recycling and Waste Reduction (Paper 67) and Agriculture Chemical Fees and Programs (Paper 68). The first report describes the income and expenditures for the state’s recycling program, while the second report describes the program that places fees on agricultural and household chemicals. The Legislature set up this second program to help fund clean ups of contaminated sites as well as for Clean Sweeps, but later transferred funding of the agricultural Clean Sweeps to the recycling fund. These reports are available on the web at http://www.legis.state.wi.us/lfb/Informationalpapers/info.html.

State legislation can be found on the Internet at http://www.legis.state.wi.us; information on the lobbying efforts is reported at http://ethics.state.wi.us/LobbyingRegistrationReports/LobbyingOverview.htm.

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

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