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1997 SESSION


HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 580
Requesting the Department of Environmental Quality to study its policies regarding reimbursements made from the Waste Tire Trust Fund.

Agreed to by the House of Delegates, January 31, 1997
Agreed to by the Senate, February 19, 1997

WHEREAS, the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) administers and manages the Waste Tire Trust Fund; and

WHEREAS, the Tire Fund is capitalized through a tax of 50 cents imposed on the sale of each new tire; and

WHEREAS, the purpose of the Waste Tire Trust Fund is to promote the use of waste tires by enhancing markets for waste tires; and

WHEREAS, it is the intent of the DEQ tire recycling program to ensure waste tire processing within reasonable reach of waste tire generators; and

WHEREAS, some localities had previously developed waste tire recycling or reuse alternatives within their community which were cost-effective and provided employment opportunities; and

WHEREAS, the regionally administered recycling by DEQ may require participation in a structured program operated by public procurement of private vendor services, which may be external to the locality and exclude local vendor participation; and

WHEREAS, participation in the DEQ tire recycling program by a locality may therefore contribute to degeneration or delay in creation of a local tire recycling infrastructure, and may provide temporary as opposed to long-term solutions to tire cleanups and recycling; and

WHEREAS, rural localities of Virginia have been the target of tire dumping, which threatens rural land uses; and

WHEREAS, the costs of the cleanup of tire piles far exceeds the amount available; and

WHEREAS, to receive any tire fund assistance, localities must participate in the DEQ recycling programs; and

WHEREAS, the alternative of grants tailored to their tire recycling needs is not available; and

WHEREAS, localities wish to access the Waste Tire Trust Fund as a source of financing their local tire recycling efforts and tire dump clean-up activities; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That the Department of Environmental Quality be requested to study its policies regarding reimbursements made from the Waste Tire Trust Fund. As part of its review the Department shall determine: (i) whether its resources are readily accessible to provide for localities' recycling and clean-up needs; (ii) whether long-term funding is secure to continue the present tire recycling and clean-up program through the Waste Tire Trust Fund beyond a two-year horizon; (iii) whether the programming alternatives are sufficiently flexible and inclusive to ensure that the Tire Fund programs encourage local infrastructure and jobs devoted to tire recycling and cleanups, given the uncertain future of DEQ's Tire Fund programming; and (iv) whether DEQ's programs should be continued or redesigned.

All agencies of the Commonwealth shall provide assistance to DEQ for this study, upon request.

The Department of Environmental Quality shall complete its work in time to submit its findings and recommendations to the Governor and the 1998 Session of the General Assembly as provided in the procedures of the Division of Legislative Automated Systems for the processing of legislative documents.