Amendment #802 to H4100
Update the Bottle Bill
Mr. Stanley of Waltham moves to amend the bill in Section 2 by adding at the end the following additional section:-
“SECTION XX. Section 321 of Chapter 94 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2006 Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking out the definition for “beverage”, and inserting in place thereof the following definition:—
“Beverage”, flavored and unflavored water, spring water, vitamin water, and other non-carbonated water beverages, soda water or similar carbonated soft drinks; mineral water, and beer and other malt beverages; but shall not include alcoholic beverages other than beer and malt beverages as defined in chapter 138, dairy products, natural fruit juices or wine.
SECTION XX. Section 321 of Chapter 94 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2008 Official Edition is hereby amended by striking out the words “sixteen fluid ounces or more, but less than five gallons”, beginning in line 30, and inserting in place thereof the following the words:- “equal to or greater than four ounces but less than or equal to one hundred and twenty-eight ounces.”
SECTION XX. Section 321 of Chapter 94 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2008 Official Edition is hereby amended by striking the words “eight ounces or more but less than five gallons”, in line 35, and inserting in place thereof the following words:- “equal to or greater than four ounces but less than or equal to one hundred and twenty-eight ounces.”
SECTION XX. Section 323 of Chapter 94 of the General Laws as appearing in the 2006 Official Edition is hereby amended by striking out subsection (h) and adding in place thereof the following:- (h) Any bottler or distributor who is subject to the provisions of paragraphs (c), (d) or (e) shall maintain a separate account to be known as the Deposit Transaction Fund. Said fund shall be kept separate from all other revenues and accounts. Each bottler or distributor shall place in said fund the refund value for all non-reusable beverage containers excluding those beverage containers containing flavored and unflavored water, spring water, vitamin water, and other non-carbonated water beverages it sells subject to the provisions of this chapter. Any bottler or distributor who is subject to the provisions of paragraphs (c), (d) or (e) shall also maintain a separate account to be known as the Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Fund. Said fund shall be kept separate from all other revenues and accounts. Each bottler or distributor shall place in said fund the refund value for all non-reusable beverage containers containing flavored and unflavored water, spring water, vitamin water, and other non-carbonated water beverages.
Except as specified in section three hundred and twenty-three D, amounts in such fund may only be expended to pay refund values paid after December thirty-first, nineteen hundred and eighty-nine for returned non-reusable beverage containers pursuant to paragraphs (c), (d) and (e). Amounts in such fund shall not be used to pay the handling fees required by paragraphs (c), (d) and (e). Each such fund shall be maintained by said bottlers and distributors on behalf of consumers who have purchased refundable nonreusable beverage containers and on behalf of the commonwealth; except as specified in section three hundred and twenty-three C, for no purpose are amounts in such fund to be regarded as income of said bottlers or distributors.
SECTION XX. Section 323C of Chapter 94 of the General Laws as appearing in the 2008 Official Edition is hereby amended in line 1 after the word “fund” by adding the following:- and Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Fund
SECTION XX. Section 323D of Chapter 94 of the General Laws as appearing in the 2008 Official Edition is hereby amended by striking the section in its entirety and replacing it with the following new language:- Section 323D. By the tenth day of each month, each bottler or distributor shall turn over to the commissioner of revenue any deposit amounts deemed to be abandoned at the close of the preceding month, pursuant to section three hundred and twenty-three C. Such amounts shall be paid from the Deposit Transaction Fund and Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Fund respectively. Amounts collected from the Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Fund shall be used by entities that maintain and replace water and wastewater infrastructure. Said funds shall be administered and distributed by the Department of Revenue, Division of Local Services. All other Amounts collected by the commissioner of revenue pursuant to this section shall be deposited in the Clean Environment Fund, established pursuant to section three hundred and twenty-three F.
SECTION XX: This act shall take effect on December thirty-first, two thousand and twleve.”