Committee sends producer-responsibility recycling bill to Energy after amendments and industry testimony

Senator Sutherland introduced Senate Bill 0269 as a vehicle to address recycling and producer responsibility. He said the goal is to convene stakeholders and allow groups that want to fund recycling efforts to do so voluntarily under department oversight.

Senator Rose offered and the committee adopted a verbal amendment to change a sunrise/sunrise provision for an advisory board from three years to two, and the Office of Legal Services confirmed those amendments will be rolled into a new draft.

Andy Hackman of AmeriPen, representing the packaging supply chain, testified that the current amendment appeared mandatory to producers and that similar producer-responsibility programs in other states have required substantial start-up costs (he cited Colorado and California estimates) that are often passed to consumers. "These are significant structures and programs ... start up costs are a $188,000,000" in Colorado, he said, and warned the committee about implementation complexity.

After clarifications from the sponsor that mandatory items could be removed and that the program is intended to be voluntary for participants, the committee voted to move SB 0269 to the Energy committee with a positive recommendation.

What it means: The committee adopted amendments to shorten the advisory board’s sunrise timeline and signaled willingness to refine mandatory provisions before Energy; industry representatives urged caution about mandatory designs and high implementation costs, and the bill will receive additional hearings in Energy and Environment.