SENATE BILL REPORT

ESHB 1705

As of March 27, 2003

Title: An act relating to tire recycling.

Brief Description: Funding tire recycling.

Sponsors: House Committee on Fisheries, Ecology & Parks (originally sponsored by Representatives Simpson, Chandler, Cooper, Newhouse, Skinner, Romero, Hankins, Hatfield, Mastin, Delvin, Lovick, Campbell, Wood, Sump, Grant, Hudgins, Dunshee, Rockefeller, Moeller and Linville).

Brief History:

Committee Activity: Natural Resources, Energy & Water: 3/28/03.

SENATE COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES, ENERGY & WATER

Staff: Genevieve Pisarski (786-7488)

Background: Between October 1989 and September 1995, the state imposed a $1 fee on the retail sale of each new replacement tire. The seller collected the fee and could retain 10 percent. The fee funded state and local efforts to remove tires from unauthorized dump sites, local enforcement, local pilot projects for on-site tire shredding, a public education program, marketing studies on tire recycling, and a tire study. In 2002, the Legislature required the Department of Ecology to track and report the state's tire recycling rates.

Summary of Bill: The fee imposed on the retail sale of replacement tires is reinstated, made applicable to used tires, and reduced to 75 cents. The seller must collect the fee and remit 90 percent to the Department of Revenue. Of the 75 cents collected, 25 cents must be distributed to the Department of Transportation for road maintenance. Revenue is authorized to deduct 2 percent of the funds collected for administration costs. The remaining amount is deposited into the Vehicle Tire Recycling Account, which is created within the state treasury, and is available to the Department of Ecology, which must concentrate expenditure of the funds in the account on communities that have the most severe problems with waste tires.

Ecology may use the funds in the account for state and local removal of illegal tire piles, a public education program, marketing studies for recycled tires, scrap tire demonstration projects, local scrap tire amnesty events, and tracking, reporting, and enforcement of the movement of tires within the state. Prior to using funds in the account for the cleanup of illegal tire piles, all legal efforts available to recover cleanup costs from the owner of the tires must be exhausted.

Local governments receiving grants from the account must submit annual reports to Ecology. Ecology must report annually to the Legislature on the use of the account and submit a report by September 1, 2003, on the status of illegal tire piles in the state. Ecology must also conduct a one-year public education campaign on tire disposal regulations.

Appropriation: None.

Fiscal Note: Available.

Effective Date: The bill contains an emergency clause and takes effect immediately.