GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 1999

H	1 

HOUSE BILL 1413

Short Title:  Beverage Container Deposit Study.	(Public)

─────────────────────────────────────── 
Sponsors: Representatives Luebke; and Insko.

─────────────────────────────────────── 
Referred to:  Rules, Calendar and Operations of the House.

─────────────────────────────────────── 

April 29, 1999

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT TO CREATE THE STUDY COMMISSION ON BEVERAGE CONTAINER DEPOSITS.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
Section 1.  The Study Commission on Beverage Container Deposits is created.  The Commission shall consist of 12 members as follows:
(1)	Six members of the Senate to be appointed by the President Pro Tempore of the Senate.
(2)	Six members of the House of Representatives to be appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
The President Pro Tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives shall each designate a cochair.  The Commission shall meet upon the call of the cochairs.  A majority of the Commission shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business.
Section 2.  The Commission shall consider the pros and cons of enacting legislation to require a mandatory deposit on beverage containers in North Carolina.  In considering this topic, the Commission shall review the effectiveness of beverage container deposit laws enacted in other states; shall consider the advisability and feasibility of banning the use of beverage containers, including cups and bottles, that are made of polystyrene or any other plastic for which there is no viable recycling market in North Carolina; shall evaluate whether a fixed deposit is preferable to a deposit based on the container's redemption value as was adopted in California; shall consider the impact that imposing a beverage container deposit is expected to have on roadside littering; and shall consider any other issue the Commission determines pertinent to its study and worthy of its consideration.
Section 3.  The Commission may contract for consultant services as provided by G.S. 120-32.02.  Upon approval of the Legislative Services Commission, the Legislative Services Officer shall assign professional and clerical staff to assist in the work of the Commission.  Clerical staff shall be furnished to the Commission through the offices of the House of Representatives and Senate Supervisors of Clerks.  The Commission may meet in the Legislative Building or the Legislative Office Building upon the approval of the Legislative Services Commission.  The Commission, while in discharge of official duties, may exercise all the powers provided under the provisions of G.S. 120-19 through G.S. 120-19.4, including the power to request all officers, agents, agencies, and departments of the State to provide any information, data, or documents within their possession, ascertainable from their records, or otherwise available to them, and the power to subpoena witnesses.  Members of the Commission shall receive per diem, subsistence, and travel allowances at the rate established in G.S. 120-3.1.
Section 4.  The Commission may submit a report to the 2000 Regular Session of the 1999 General Assembly that may contain recommendations and shall report the final results of its study and its recommendations to the 2001 General Assembly.  The Commission shall terminate upon filing its final report.
Section 5.  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the General Assembly the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) for the 1999-2000 fiscal year and the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) for the 2000-2001 fiscal year for the costs of the Study Commission on Beverage Container Deposits, created in Section 1 of this act, in performing its work.
Section 6.  This act becomes effective July 1, 1999.