AB 444

Current law imposes on generators of solid waste several fees based on the

tonnage of solid waste disposed of at solid waste disposal facilities (landfills). The

fees are collected by operators of landfills and paid by those operators to the

Department of Natural Resources (DNR). Currently there are some exemptions

from these fees. This kind of fee is often referred to as a tipping fee. This bill creates

new exemptions from the groundwater, well compensation, solid waste facility siting

board, recycling, and environmental repair tipping fees (the tipping fees).

The bill exempts from the tipping fees soil removed during the cleanup of a

contaminated site that is listed in DNR's database of contaminated properties. The

bill also exempts from the tipping fees materials discarded as residue from a

recycling facility, subject to a cap that equals, for a construction and demolition

material recycling facility, 30 percent of the total weight of material accepted by the

facility and, for any other recycling facility, 10 percent of the total weight of material

accepted by the facility.

Under the bill, if a person who disposes of solid waste at a landfill fails to pay

the tipping fees and the disposal charges imposed by the landfill operator within 120

days after the date of disposal, the landfill operator may submit an affidavit to DNR

that explains the situation and includes a commitment from the operator not to

accept any more solid waste from the person until the overdue tipping fees are paid.

When it receives such an affidavit, DNR must refund any amount of the overdue

tipping fees that the operator paid to DNR for the person and the operator is not

required to pay to DNR any more of the overdue tipping fees owed by the person. If

the person later pays the overdue tipping fees to the operator, the operator must pay

the tipping fees to DNR.