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Committee reviews bottle bill edits, handling-fee rise and PRO implementation timeline
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Summary
Lawmakers reviewed edits to the state bottle bill that raise the handling fee from 3.5¢ to 4.5¢, shift many obligations to a Producer Responsibility Organization (PRO), delay some registration deadlines and remove transition grants while preserving producer-implementation funding; ANR warned statutory fee-setting could blunt incentives for modernization.
The Natural Resources & Energy Committee spent much of its April 24 meeting examining a revised bottle bill that increases the handling fee for redemption from 3.5¢ to 4.5¢ and expands the role of a Producer Responsibility Organization (PRO) in handling redemption and registration.
Staff introduced page-by-page edits and said the draft moves several clauses to align compensation and implementation dates. "Beginning on 03/01/2029 a retailer operating with that consent or settlement shall be reimbursed … according to the fair compensation requirements of the plan," staff said while outlining effective dates in the bill. The draft also repeals manufacturer registration once the PRO is established and requires producers and the PRO to list covered beverages on the PRO website.
The change to a higher handling fee and the shift of duties to the PRO were the focus of sustained questioning. Matt Chapman, director of the Waste Management Prevention Division at the Agency of Natural Resources, told the committee ANR has “significant concerns” about statutorily setting handling-fee rates. Chapman said a fixed floor could remove incentives for the PRO to negotiate lower rates or invest in equipment and modernization: "If there's no opportunity to negotiate a handling fee ... there's no incentive to purchase equipment and make the structural improvements to the operation of the system," he said.
Staff said the draft also creates a small-retailer exception: a retail building under 5,000 square feet may refuse to accept redemptions after stewardship plans are approved and implemented, and manufacturers who sell directly at small retail locations may be exempt until the PRO is functioning. The draft language also clarifies point-of-redemption refusals for damaged, unregistered or already-redeemed containers to prevent double-counting.
On budget matters, drafters removed transition grants for redemption centers tied to implementation while leaving longer-term producer-responsibility implementation grants; committee counsel and ANR staff recommended reducing transfer authority by $350,000 to reflect the deleted transition-grant line.
The draft delays household hazardous-products registration from July 2026 to 2028 and allows groups of manufacturers to register stewardship organizations by product class starting 07/01/2027 (one plan per class rather than a single umbrella plan). The bill's tiered dates read in committee included an act effective date of 07/01/2026, UPC label requirements beginning 07/01/2027, PRO implementation and acceptance on 03/01/2029 and capital implementation grants on 07/01/2029.
Committee members asked staff to continue drafting and to confer with stakeholders next week to reconcile policy choices about floor rates, negotiation mechanics and trust-building between existing redemption centers and an incoming PRO. The committee scheduled follow-up discussion and drafting for the next meeting.
The committee did not take a vote on the bill during this session; staff said additional stakeholder conversations and technical edits will continue before the committee reconvenes.
