The effort to bring a vote on the Updated Bottle Bill to the floor of the Massachusetts state Legislature has been delayed once again by the Joint Committee on Telecom, Utilities and Energy. On March 20 the committee extended a review period for the bill (H890 in the House, S1650 in the Senate) until June 15.
The Updated Bottle Bill would expand the deposit on cans and glass and plastic bottles, which currently is limited to carbonated beverages, to include nearly all beverages, with the exception of milk and other dairy beverages and FDA-approved medicines.
According to James McCaffrey, director of the Massachusetts Sierra Club, the committee, currently chaired by Rep. John Keenan of Salem and Sen. Ben Downing of Pittsfield, has been “extending” deliberation on the bill for 14 years now, despite extensive study and overwhelming public support for passing it (a July, 2011 poll by the nonpartisan MassINC research group showed 77 percent support).
Said McCaffrey, “Corporate special interests have repeatedly derailed the democratic process on Beacon Hill.”
His feelings were echoed by Mass. League of Women Voters president Eva Valentine, who said, “Our membership is profoundly disappointed by a process which is dragging out and deferring action on such an important bill.”
MassPIRG executive director Janet Domenitz called the delay “March Madness,” in a March 21 blog post that also cited the bill’s 80 cosponsors in the legislature—both Democrats and Republicans—and the 270 Massachusetts cities and towns and 370 small businesses that have endorsed its passage.
Governor Deval Patrick has supported the bill, ostensibly to encourage recycling, though he also proposed in his budget that its implementation be used to offset $20 million a year in water and sewer costs. The “extra” revenues created would theoretically be sourced from unclaimed deposits that are transferred to the Department of Revenue each month and support government programs. Bottlers and distributors are required to maintain these funds under a 1989 reform to the original 1982 law.
The proposal was rejected in late January of 2011 by House Speaker Robert DeLeo, who called it “another form of taxation.” DeLeo has continued his refusal to back the bill.
To contact your Mass. representatives in support of the bottle bill, follow this link:
https://secure.sierraclub.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=8167
