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Saturday, February 24, 2007

HB 259 (Gray Water) Passes the House! Other Legislative Updates

HB 259, a bill to allow gray water systems in Montana passed out of the house on 3rd reading today. Learn more about gray water from previous post on this blog and view the votes with the link to the bill.

HB 555, to create a public education program for recycling and electronic waste disposal passed 2nd reading in the house today with a 73 to 25 vote. The bill came out of House Natural Resources 15-1.

SB 449, setting fuel economy standards for state purchased vehicles, passed out of the Senate Transportation Committee 9-0 with amendments. The amendments require state vehicles to meet Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards (CAFE). The bill original looked at having state vehicles work on exceeding those standards. In the last biennium, the state motor pool went 1.33 million dollars over budget due to the increased cost of fuel and parts (due to fuel prices).


Revenue Bills (can be considered past transmittal deadline):
SB 530, to exempt personal production and use of biodiesel for the states road tax, has been assigned to the Senate Taxation Committee. Biodiesel that meets ASTM D6751, the quality standard that biodiesel must meet to be sold in the state,  is a proven fuel that performs well in diesel engines at any percentage. Back yard production has the potential to not meet these standards and give the spec fuel a bad name. By matching the federal exemption from road tax for biodiesel blends, personal use producers will not be deterred from reporting their use to the state. This will help us all make sure biodiesel is made safely and properly, as well as sparring grass-roots conservation measure extra paperwork.


HB 607, to create funds for recycling markets, innovations, and infrastructure from a tipping fee on solid waste, was intentionally tabled in House Natural Resources. S.A.V.E. is working with landfill operators, waste haulers, and other parties most affected by a tipping fee, to create a more palatable bill with another bill draft we had for recycling. The new bill will be presented soon and will create a special fund for recycling grants starting in 2008. A nickle (5 cents) for every ton (2,000lbs) of solid waste buried in Montana will contribute to the fund, coming our to around $65,000. The fund will be controlled by the Pollution Prevention section of Montana D.E.Q., a group that has a proven record of effectively finding innovative and market based solutions to meet the challenges of recycling solid waste in Montana. We see such a fund a vital to ensure effective, state-wide efforts on recycling, especially when dealing with the challenges of electronics waste recycling, helping community glass programs find markets, Household Hazardous Waste, and farm programs for recycling pesticide containers.

HB 258 remains tabled in House Taxation Committee. Given the extra busy schedule around transmittal for non-revenue bills, we have elected to wait a bit longer before bring the bill of for reconsideration. This gives us time to work on more outreach efforts to demonstrate the need to foster an incentive for the proper recycling of electronic waste. See earlier post for more information. Recent discussion of this bill includes "E-waste a growing problem (Helena IR), a S.A.V.E. hosted forum at the Capitol,  this weeks Queen City News, and some stories on local news stations.

- The S.A.V.E. Foundation, 501(c)(3) / Savemobile.org

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