State legislation like the bills below can and will change how your business operates, but you can use ISRI's State Legislative Tracking System to keep up to date on what's being considered and let your voice be heard! You can view bills by state or issue, perform custom searches, receive updates on bills you select, or contact ReMA directly with your concerns; just contact Danielle Waterfield or Justin Short if you have any questions about the system or the bills below.

Following on the heels of last year's surprise trend, California and Virginia have already proposed new restrictions on synthetic turf for 2016. Virginia HB 495 would impose a three-year moratorium on schools or local government bodies contracting for or installing synthetic turf fields or playground surfaces containing recycled crumb rubber from tires and mandate a one year study of potential adverse health effects before submitting a report to the Assembly (in comparison, the current California study is expected to take almost three years). In California, SB 47 was changed to attempt to force schools and local governments to consider alternatives to crumb rubber infill by requiring such to gather info on other products and hold public hearings to discuss which to use; formerly, it had proposed a moratorium until 2018. In addition to these, bills from 2015 in Minnesota and New York are automatically carried over to this year's session.

Indiana SB 386 would create an extremely broad Extended Producer Responsibility program for packaging and printed paper from households; this "take back" bill would interfere with the free market flow of many recyclable commodities by giving manufacturers responsibility and control of where and how those materials are recycled. The scope includes various paper products as well as beverage containers, bags and film, metals, and plastics as "packaging," and only directly mentions recyclers once, as one of the stakeholders that producers should solicit input from before submitting a plan.

Vehicle dismantlers and recyclers in Missouri may recognize the text of SB 901, which seeks to repeal the exemption allowing scrap metal operators to purchase an inoperable vehicle or its parts without a title or junking certificate if the vehicle is more than 20 years old, or more than 10 years old after certifying there is no recorded security interest or lien on the vehicle with the Dept. of Revenue. Florida SB 566 would impose metals theft-like requirements on salvage motor vehicle dealers, with electronic recordkeeping and reporting to a third party database.

And while metals theft legislation may be the last covered in this update, the states don't look to be slowing down in changing their laws anytime soon. Among the numerous bills already introduced are Indiana HB 1162, requiring daily electronic reporting to an electronic database to be created by the state police, and Florida HB 407, allowing law enforcement to appoint an agent to receive transaction reports or request the original transaction form with payment data. New Mexico SB 76 would add lead-containing materials to the list of regulated materials; in contrast, Vermont HB 549 would remove ferrous scrap from the state law's scope.

State Legislatures Thrive as Congressional Gridlock Continues: Recycling is on the Menu!

A recent Wall Street Journal (WSJ) article suggested that, as a result of Washington gridlock, industry lobbyists are seeking opportunities in state capitals. And we have already seen legislation introduced in some states that is adverse to recycling industry interests.  

For those of us already actively involved with our state and local governments, the notion that more trade groups, companies and issue advocates are becoming active in state capitals is about as surprising as being told the sun rises in the East and sets in the West. But when you see it on the front page of the Wall Street Journal, it is a nice reminder that recyclers need to be involved and know what is happening in Sacramento, Tallahassee, Albany, and other state capitals. For instance, ReMA members in Michigan would probably whole-heartedly agree with the Wall Street Journal article, which focuses almost exclusively on Lansing, Michigan.

As it turns out, the bulk of the WSJ article dealt with how state capital cities and their surrounding counties are, for the most part, doing better than the other counties in their states from an income perspective. The article serves to highlight that while “gridlock” appears to be the name of the game in DC, it is in the states where policy matters are being debated and voted upon.

State governments need to pass budgets and the requisite appropriations bills each year. And, for the most part, state legislators still work together to get that done. This is not to say there have not been strong policy debates between the parties or within parties and chambers in state capitols. There have been. But it is vital to appreciate that policy is being made every day in state capitals even if nothing is happening in DC.

As an ReMA member, your business is supported by a strong ReMA advocacy team that is monitoring legislation and will be able to assist with policy strategies to defend your industry.  For decades, ReMA has been the Voice of the Recycling Industry^TM in Washington, DC and through the hard work and dedication of ReMA members and the ReMA chapters, the recycling industry has a strong grassroots network and a state policy program designed to link members across the nation to assist with development of policy strategies and industry expertise for the industry’s various state lobbyists. 

As the states head into their 2016 legislative sessions, from the national perspective, we have a pretty good idea of what to expect their focus to be. Several states will focus primarily on their budgets, many will continue unfinished business from 2015, and most will work to wrap up early because of the 2016 elections. However, as we have already seen on matters such as artificial turf (crumb rubber from recycled tires) and manufacturer take-back or flow control, recycling is definitely on the target list this year.   

Recycling matters are often slipped into broader policy initiatives which make it all the more important to remain vigilant. As 2016 takes hold, we thought it would be interesting and instructive to look at what legislators have publicly stated as their priorities as a way of predicting the issues that will receive the most attention this year.

To do this, we utilized the ReMA MultiState service which searched for legislative leadership agendas in the 46 states that will convene this year and noted the top priority issues in each state (Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, and Texas do not meet in 2016). Issues cited by legislative leaders as priorities are very diverse. Some, like criminal justice reform, are broad and could encompass a variety of policy proposals. Others are very narrow, such as construction defects reform in Colorado and chemical manufacturing tax credits in Iowa, and by their nature are unlikely to be taken up in other states.

After the legislative priorities were compiled, we then categorized them into eight broader policy categories to obtain a sense of national trends. These policy categories are: Budget & Taxes; Business; Education; Employment; Energy & Environment; Health, Wellness, & Public Safety; Law & Legal; and Social Programs.

The chart below shows the breakdown of these policy categories, organized by the number of states that cited priority issues within them, in addition to the specific issue lawmakers said would be a focus in the upcoming session. (For example, the overall state budget was cited as a priority issue in 2016 by legislative leaders in 20 states, which is one of the issue areas in our “Budget & Taxes” category).

Indeed, in state politics 2016 is already shaping up to be a busy legislative session and it is already a good portion of the way done in some states. (see related article).  ReMA members cannot afford to sit back and wait for their lobbyist or ReMA to make introductions to their new legislators and rekindle old relationships.  ReMA can help but you are the constituents who vote and support the legislators making new law.  Contact Danielle Waterfield to learn how you can get involved and Brannan Meyers if you want to connect with your local ReMA chapter.  Together, we can make 2016 the year of the recycler.