SENATE DOCKET, NO. 1891        FILED ON: 1/16/2015

SENATE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 1777

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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PRESENTED BY:

John F. Keenan

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To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:

The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:

An Act relative to conditional expansion of the bottle bill.

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PETITION OF:

SENATE DOCKET, NO. 1891        FILED ON: 1/16/2015

SENATE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 1777

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the One Hundred and Eighty-Ninth General Court
(2015-2016)

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An Act relative to conditional expansion of the bottle bill.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
 

SECTION 1.  Section 326 of chapter 94 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2012 Official Edition, shall be amended by adding the following paragraph:-

The Department of Environmental Protection shall publish a report on November 1 of each calendar year which shall include reporting on municipal recycling rates and a statewide recycling rate as of the end of the preceding calendar year. For the purpose of this section “recycling rate” shall be defined as total tons diverted divided by total tons generated. The department shall make this report available to the public, and shall file a copy of each annual report with the chairs of the Joint Committee on the Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture.

SECTION 2. Section 321 of chapter 94 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2012 Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking out the definition of “Beverage” and inserting in place thereof the following definition:-

“Beverage”, soda water or similar carbonated soft drinks; beer and other malt beverages; noncarbonated soft drinks including, but not limited to, mineral water, flavored and unflavored water, spring water, fruit drinks that contain less than 10 per cent juice, sports drinks and other water beverages; coffee and coffee-based drinks; and all other nonalcoholic carbonated and noncarbonated drinks in liquid form intended for human consumption; provided, however, that “beverage” shall not include milk and beverages that are primarily derived from dairy products, beverages containing a minimum of 10 per cent juice, infant formula and medicines approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration; and provided further, that “beverage” shall not include wine or alcoholic beverages other than beer and malt beverages as defined in section 1 of chapter 138.

SECTION 3. The definition of “Beverage container” in said section 321 of said chapter 94, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking out the last sentence and inserting in place thereof the following sentence:- “Beverage container” shall not include containers made of paper-based biodegradable material and aseptic multi-material packaging.

SECTION 4. Said section 321 of said chapter 94, as so appearing, is hereby further amended by inserting after the definition of “Plastic bottle” the following 2 definitions:-

“Redemption center”, a business, the primary purpose of which is the redemption of beverage containers and which is not ancillary to any other business.

“Redemption facility”, a person or business who engages in the refund of deposits for beverage containers as described in this section.

SECTION 5. Said section 321 of said chapter 94, as so appearing, is hereby further amended by adding the following definition:-

“Small dealer”, a person or business, including an operator of a vending machine who engages in the sale of beverages in beverage containers to consumers, with a contiguous retail space of 3,000 square feet or less, exclusive of office and stockroom space, and fewer than 4 locations under the same ownership within the commonwealth.

SECTION 6. Section 322 of said chapter 94, as so appearing, is hereby amended by adding the following 2 sentences:- The secretary of energy and environmental affairs shall review the refund value every 5 years and may increase that amount to reflect the consumer price index as reported by the United States Department of Labor, but the refund value shall not be less than 5 cents. The secretary shall promulgate regulations which establish the maximum acceptable container size.

SECTION 7. Section 323 of said chapter 94, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking out, in lines 11 and 12, and in line 19, the words “one cent” and inserting in place thereof, in each instance, the following words:- 3 and 1/2 cents.

SECTION 8. Paragraph (c) of said section 323 of said chapter 94, as so appearing, is hereby amended by adding the following sentence:- The handling fee shall be reviewed and may be adjusted every 5 years by the secretary of energy and environmental affairs to reflect the consumer price index as reported by the United States Department of Labor and industry-specific increases or decreases in costs incurred by redemption facilities.

SECTION 9. Paragraph (d) of said section 323 of said chapter 94, as so appearing, is hereby amended by adding the following sentence:- The handling fee shall be reviewed and may be adjusted every 5 years by the secretary of energy and environmental affairs to reflect the consumer price index as reported by the United States Department of Labor and industry-specific increases in costs incurred by redemption facilities.

SECTION 10. Paragraph (e) of said section 323 of chapter 94, as so appearing, is hereby amended by adding the following sentence:- The executive office of energy and environmental affairs shall promulgate rules and regulations for the licensure of redemption centers and may set fees for such licensing.

SECTION 11. Said section 323 of said chapter 94, as so appearing, is hereby further amended by inserting after the word “civil”, in line 73, the following words:- or administrative.

SECTION 12. Paragraph (i) of said section 323 of said chapter 94, as so appearing, is hereby amended by adding the following sentence:- At each location where persons tender containers for redemption, dealers and redemption centers shall conspicuously display a sign in letters that are at least 1 inch in height with the following information: “WARNING: Any person who tenders to a dealer, distributor, redemption center or bottler more than 10 cases of 24 empty beverage containers each, which such person knows or has reason to know were not originally sold in the commonwealth as filled beverage containers, for the purpose of obtaining a refund value or handling fee shall be subject to a civil penalty of the greater of $100 for each container or $25,000 for each tender of containers, under Massachusetts General Laws, chapter 94”.

SECTION 13. Section 323D of said chapter 94, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking out, in lines 7 and 8, the words “Clean Environment Fund, established pursuant to section three hundred and twenty-three F” and inserting in place thereof the following words:- General Fund.

SECTION 14. Said section 323D of said chapter 94, as so appearing, is hereby further amended by adding the following paragraph:-

Notwithstanding the first paragraph, 100 per cent of amounts collected by the commissioner of revenue under this section that result from the sale of noncarbonated soft drinks including, but not limited to, mineral water, flavored and unflavored water, spring water, fruit drinks that contain less than 10 per cent juice, sports drinks and other water beverages, coffee and coffee-based drinks shall be deposited as follows: (i) 50 per cent to the Massachusetts Community Preservation Trust Fund established in section 9 of chapter 44B and (ii) 50 per cent to the Brownfields Redevelopment Fund established in section 29A of chapter 23G.

SECTION 15. Section 326 of said chapter 94, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking out, in lines 2 to 5, inclusive, the words “three hundred and twenty-one, three hundred and twenty-two, paragraphs (a) to (f), inclusive, of section three hundred and twenty-three, three hundred and twenty-three F, three hundred and twenty-four and three hundred and twenty-five” and inserting in place thereof the following figures:- 321, 322, 324 and 325.

SECTION 16. Section 327 of said chapter 94, as so appearing, is hereby amended by inserting after the word “civil”, in line 14, the words “or administrative”.

SECTION 17. Said section 327 of said chapter 94, as so appearing, is hereby further amended by inserting after the first paragraph the following 2 paragraphs:-

The department of environmental protection may enforce section 323, section 323A, section 324 and section 325. A bottler, distributer, redemption center or dealer who violates any of the foregoing sections shall be subject to an administrative penalty for each violation of not more than $1,000. The department of revenue may enforce paragraphs (g) and (h) of section 323 and sections 323B to 323E, inclusive. A bottler, distributor, redemption center or dealer who violates any of the foregoing sections shall be subject to an administrative penalty for each violation of not more than $1,000.

SECTION 18. If the reported statewide recycling rate falls below the rate for the preceding calendar year, then The Department of Environmental Protection shall give notice to the Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs.

SECTION 19. Sections 2 through 17 of this Act shall become effective on June 30th of the subsequent calendar year after a notice is given pursuant to section 18, and shall remain effective each year thereafter.