Arkansas 2007 bill text

HB2771

Bill title

The following text was found at http://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/2007/scripts/ablr/bills/bills.asp?billno=HB2771

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By: Representatives J. Roebuck, Cook, Webb, Stewart, D. Johnson, D. Evans, Powers, L. Smith, House,
Hardwick, Blount, E. Brown, Cash, Cheatham, Edwards, Hardy, J. Johnson, Lamoureux, Pennartz, 6
Rainey, Wagner, Woods, Gaskill, S. Prater 7
By: Senators Madison, Trusty 8
9
10
For An Act To Be Entitled 11
AN ACT TO CREATE THE BEVERAGE CONTAINER LITTER 12
REDUCTION FEE PROGRAM; TO REDUCE LITTER, 13
FACILITATE BEVERAGE CONTAINER RECYCLING AND 14
REQUIRE LABELING OF BEVERAGE CONTAINERS; TO 15
PERMIT REDEMPTION CENTERS AND ADOPT REGULATIONS; 16
AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES. 17
18
Subtitle 19
20
21
TO CREATE THE BEVERAGE CONTAINER LITTER 22
REDUCTION FEE PROGRAM AND TO REDUCE 23
LITTER, FACILITATE BEVERAGE CONTAINER 24
RECYCLING, AND REQUIRE LABELING OF 25
BEVERAGE CONTAINERS. 26
27
28
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ARKANSAS: 29
30
SECTION 1. Arkansas Code Title 8, Chapter 9 is amended to add an 31
additional subchapter to read as follows: 32
33
SUBCHAPTER 7. BEVERAGE CONTAINER LITTER REDUCTION. 34
35
8-9-701. Title. 36
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This subchapter shall be known and may be cited as the “Beverage 1
Container Litter Reduction Act”. 2
3
8-9-702. Legislative findings and purpose. 4
(a) The General Assembly declares that in order for the State of 5
Arkansas to meet the municipal waste reduction goal established by § 8-9-101, 6
it is imperative that new opportunities for recycling, particularly in rural 7
areas of the state, be developed. 8
(b) The General Assembly finds that containers, especially beverage 9
containers, are the most valuable and recyclable commodity in the waste 10
stream and that the discarding of these containers is an unnecessary addition 11
to the state's litter problem and its already overburdened solid waste 12
disposal system. 13
(c) The General Assembly further finds that it is in the public 14
interest to establish a program for the recycling of containers that: 15
(1) Reduces the volume of waste and litter; 16
(2) Increases opportunities for recycling and provides financial 17
incentives to recycle and reuse; 18
(3) Builds upon existing recycling infrastructure; 19
(4) Stimulates statewide creation of new jobs and wider 20
employment in the recycling industry; and 21
(5) Helps fund the construction of buildings within the 22
education system of Arkansas that have environmentally beneficial features. 23
24
8-9-703. Definitions. 25
As used in this subchapter: 26
(1)(A) "Beverage" means a liquid suitable for drinking such as 27
beer, ale, or other drinks produced by fermenting malt, spirits, mixed 28
spirits, wine, mixed wine, tea and coffee drinks, soda, carbonated and 29
noncarbonated water, dairy products, and all other nonalcoholic drinks in 30
liquid form and intended for human consumption. 31
(B) "Beverage" does not include medicines, products 32
intended for use by infants only, frozen juices, and powders intended to be 33
mixed with other liquids to produce a drinkable product. 34
(C) "Beverage" also does not include in liquid food 35
products not intended to be consumed by drinking including, without 36
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limitation, such products as sauces, flavorings, and syrups; 1
(2) “Beverage container” means a nonrefillable bottle, jar, or 2
other container made of glass, aluminum, metal, or plastic that is sealed by 3
a manufacturer and that at the time of sale contains no more than four 4
gallons (4 gal.) of a beverage; 5
(3) “Consumer” means a person that purchases a beverage in a 6
beverage container for final use or consumption; 7
(4) “Dealer” means a person in this state that engages in the 8
sale of beverages in beverage containers to a consumer in this state whether 9
or not the product is sold in a vending machine; 10
(5) “Empty returnable containers” means beverage containers that 11
contain nothing except the residue of the original contents and are labeled 12
according to the requirements of this subchapter; 13
(6) “Handling fee” means a per beverage container payment to the 14
Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality; 15
(7) “In this state” means within the exterior limits of the 16
State of Arkansas and includes all territory within these limits owned by or 17
ceded to the United States; 18
(8) “Manufacturer” means a person that bottles or otherwise 19
fills containers for sale to distributors or dealers in this state; 20
(9) “Nonrefillable” means a beverage container that, after being 21
used by a consumer, is not to be reused as a beverage container by a 22
manufacturer; 23
(10) “Person” means an individual, a partnership, corporation, 24
or other legal entity; 25
(11) “Recycling” means the systematic collection, sorting, 26
decontaminating, and returning of waste materials to commerce as commodities 27
for use or exchange; 28
(12) “Redemption center” means a place of business that: 29
(A) Accepts empty returnable beverage containers from any 30
person; and 31
(B) Is certified by the Arkansas Department of 32
Environmental Quality as a redemption center; 33
(13) “Return value” means the amount paid to any person that 34
returns an empty returnable beverage container to a redemption center; and 35
(14) “Green building” means a building designed to reduce both 36
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direct and indirect environmental consequences associated with construction, 1
occupancy, operation, and maintenance of the building, and whose design is 2
evaluated for cost, quality of life, future flexibility, ease of maintenance, 3
energy and resource efficiency, and overall environmental impact, with an 4
emphasis on life-cycle cost analysis. 5
6
8-9-704. Labeling required. 7
Beginning July 1, 2008, it is unlawful for any dealer to sell beverages 8
in a beverage container in this state that is not labeled as required in this 9
subchapter. 10
11
8-9-705. Beverage container litter reduction fee. 12
Beginning July 1, 2008, any person, whether located in this state or 13
outside the sate, selling beverages to a dealer or directly to a consumer in 14
this state for consumption in this state shall: 15
(1) Remit to the Department of Finance and Administration: 16
(A) A beverage container litter reduction fee of five 17
cents (5¢) per beverage container; and 18
(B) A handling fee of one and one half cents (1 1/2¢) per 19
beverage container; and 20
(2) Clearly label all beverage containers with the word 21
“Arkansas” or “AR” and with the return value of five cents (5¢) in clearly 22
visible type on the beverage container by embossing or imprinting or by using 23
a stamp on the normal product label. 24
25
8-9-706. Redemption centers. 26
(a)(1) Any person wishing to establish a redemption center shall 27
obtain the prior approval of the Arkansas Department of Environmental 28
Quality. 29
(2)(A) The department shall promulgate rules to establish the 30
criteria for approval of redemption centers. 31
(B) The rules shall be designed to establish as many 32
redemption centers as possible so as to: 33
(i) Make it easy for consumers to claim the return 34
value of beverage containers; and 35
(ii) Promote the other purposes of this subchapter. 36
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(b)(1) A consumer may donate recyclable beverage containers through 1
the community’s curbside recycling program instead of taking the containers 2
to a redemption center. 3
(2) If a beverage container is donated, the curbside recycling 4
program, instead of the consumer, will receive the return value for the 5
containers that are recovered from the waste stream and presented to a 6
redemption center. 7
8
8-9-707. Payment of return value. 9
(a)(1) A redemption center shall accept an empty returnable beverage 10
container from any person and shall pay to the person its full return value. 11
(2) The redemption center may refuse to pay the return value 12
for: 13
(A) Broken bottles; 14
(B) Any beverage container that is not empty or contains a 15
significant amount of foreign material; 16
(C) Any beverage container that is not labeled as provided 17
in this subchapter; or 18
(D) Any beverage container whose label or embossing cannot 19
be discerned. 20
(b) An operator of a redemption center may limit the total number of 21
beverage containers that the operator will accept from a person in a business 22
day, but the limit shall not be fewer than two hundred fifty (250) beverage 23
containers. 24
25
8-9-708. Beverage Container Litter Reduction Grant Fund. 26
(a) The Department of Finance and Administration shall deposit the 27
proceeds of the Beverage Container Litter Reduction Fee in the State Treasury 28
as special revenues and shall credit the proceeds to a special fund created 29
on the books of the Treasurer of State, the Auditor of State, and the Chief 30
Fiscal Officer of the State to be known as the “Beverage Container Litter 31
Reduction Grant Fund”. 32
(b) In addition to all moneys appropriated by the General Assembly to 33
the fund, there shall be deposited into the fund: 34
(1) Any federal government moneys designated to the fund; 35
(2) Any moneys received by the state as a gift or donation to 36
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the fund; 1
(3) Fines from violators; and 2
(4) All interest upon money deposited into the fund. 3
(c) The fund shall be administered by the Arkansas Department of 4
Environmental Quality. 5
(d) The collection of fees under this section shall be subject to the 6
Arkansas Tax Procedure Act, § 26-18-101 et seq. 7
8
8-9-709. Fee collection. 9
The Director of the Department of Finance and Administration shall 10
prescribe the content of the fee reporting form. 11
12
8-9-710. Distribution of funds. 13
(a)(1) By the twentieth day of each month, each redemption center 14
shall submit a report to the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality. 15
(2) The department may develop a form for this report. 16
(3) Upon receiving the monthly report, the Arkansas Department 17
of Environmental Quality shall distribute funds from the Beverage Container 18
Litter Reduction Grant Fund as follows: 19
(A) To each redemption center as reimbursement for return 20
value payments to the person returning the containers, six cents (6¢) per 21
beverage container returned at the redemption center; and 22
(B) To the department as reimbursement for other expenses 23
incurred in the administration and enforcement of this subchapter, one-half 24
cents (1/2¢) per beverage container returned at the redemption center. 25
(b) The Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality shall prepare the 26
forms necessary for appropriate reporting. 27
(c)(1) At the end of each fiscal year, the department shall deposit 28
any unallocated and unclaimed fund balances in the Beverage Container Litter 29
Reduction Grant Fund to the Department of Education Public School Fund 30
Account. 31
(2) The Department of Education shall provide grants from the 32
funds received under subdivision (b)(1) of this section to school districts 33
for the construction of sustainable buildings. 34
35
8-9-711. Violations. 36
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(a) Any person found to be in violation of this subchapter shall be 1
subject to a civil penalty of not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000) for 2
an initial offense and not more than five thousand dollars ($5,000) for a 3
second or each subsequent offense. 4
(b) Any person that pays to the Department of Finance and 5
Administration an amount less than the dollar amount required by this 6
subchapter shall be subject to a civil penalty of not more than five thousand 7
dollars ($5,000) for an initial offense and not more than ten thousand 8
dollars ($10,000) for a second or each subsequent offense. 9
(c) All civil penalties collected under this section shall be 10
deposited into the Beverage Container Litter Reduction Grant Fund. 11
12
8-9-712. Violations. 13
(a)(1) Any dealer, distributor, or manufacturer who violates this act 14
is subject to a fine of not less than one hundred dollars ($100) or more than 15
one thousand dollars ($1,000) and is liable for the costs of prosecution. 16
(2) Each day a violation occurs, a separate offense is 17
committed. 18
(b) A person shall not return or attempt to return to a redemption 19
center a beverage container that the person knows or should know was not 20
purchased in this state. 21
(c) A person who violates this subsection is subject to the following 22
penalties: 23
(1) If the person returns twenty-five (25) or more but not more 24
than one hundred (100) nonreturnable containers, the person is guilty of a 25
misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not more than one hundred dollars ($100). 26
(2) If the person returns more than one hundred (100) 27
nonreturnable containers or violates subdivision (a) for a second or 28
subsequent time, the person is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by 29
imprisonment for not more than ninety (90) days or a fine of not more than 30
five hundred dollars ($500), or both. 31
32
8-9-713. Rules and regulations. 33
(a) The Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality may promulgate 34
rules as necessary for the implementation of this subchapter. 35
(b) Any fees shall be set by regulation. 36
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1
SECTION 2. Arkansas Code Title 19, Chapter 6 is amended to add an 2
additional section to read as follows: 3
19-6-502. Beverage Container Litter Reduction Grant Fund. 4
(a) There is established on the books of the Treasurer of State, the 5
Auditor of State, and the Chief Fiscal Officer of the State a fund to be 6
known as the "Beverage Container Litter Reduction Grant Fund". 7
(b) The fund shall consist of those special revenues as generated from 8
Beverage Container Litter Reduction Act, § 8-9-701 et seq., along with other 9
revenues generated by appropriations or other laws or acts. 10
(c) The fund shall be used only for the purposes set out in the 11
Beverage Container Litter Reduction Act, § 8-9-701 et seq. 12
13
SECTION 3. This act is effective January 1, 2008. 14