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2003 SESSION

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SB 965 Waste tire piles and tire recycling fee.

Introduced by: John C. Watkins | all patrons    ...    notes | add to my profiles

SUMMARY AS PASSED: (all summaries)

Waste tire piles and tire recycling fee. Strengthens the ability of the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to clean up the 339 remaining tire piles throughout the state. The civil and criminal liability provisions of the bill are conformed to the penalties of other environmental statutes. The bill authorizes the establishment of tire convenience centers, which are collection points for the temporary storage of tires. To be classified as a convenience center, the collection point cannot receive waste tires from collection vehicles that have collected waste from more than one real property owner. The bill exempts (i) Department of Motor Vehicle licensed salvage yards that are holding fewer than 300 waste tires and (ii) convenience centers having up to 1,500 tires from having to obtain a permit from DEQ.

The bill also establishes a strict liability standard for damages incurred by neighboring property owners and other third parties when a tire pile burns. Strict liability would apply in the case of an unpermitted tire pile of more than 100 tires. Currently, strict liability applies when there are more than 50,000 tires. The strict liability would apply to the pile owner when he knows about the pile or if the property owner consented to the disposal of the tires on his property. The bill grants the agency the authority to enter property and remove a tire pile if the owner refuses an order to remove the tires. Under the legislation, the agency would be able to obtain a lien against the property for the amount expended from the Waste Tire Fund to clean up the tire pile. To expedite the cleanup of these tire piles, a three-year increase in the tire recycling fee from $.50 per new tire sold to $1.00 is proposed. The revenue generated by the increased fee is required to be used solely for the removal of tire piles.


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