Environment and Transportation Committee clears beverage-container stewardship, fisheries monitoring and six local bills in fast voting session

The House Environment and Transportation Committee approved six bills during a short, two-part voting session, advancing measures on beverage-container recycling, fisheries monitoring, local land use reviews, water-system development charge exemptions, property appraisals and community-association registration.

The largest policy change was House Bill 232, which the committee approved as amended. The bill establishes a Maryland beverage container recycling fund and a litter reduction program within the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE). It creates a framework for a beverage container stewardship organization to develop and implement a stewardship plan on behalf of producers, requires that stewardship plans provide compensation to material recovery facilities for handling unredeemed containers, clarifies that local jurisdictions may not be required to host or operate redemption facilities, delays statewide implementation by three years, and directs MDE to report back to the General Assembly. Delegate Morgan said he supports recycling in general but expressed continuing concerns about the legislation’s details: "I'm totally a big recycling fan, but I still got some issues with the bill for the time being. That's just my 2¢ worth." The committee recorded six delegates in opposition to HB232: Delegates…