2012 -- H 7634

=======

LC01699

=======

STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2012

____________

A N A C T

RELATING TO HEALTH AND SAFETY - RHODE ISLAND RESOURCE RECOVERY

CORPORATION

     

     

     Introduced By: Representatives Ucci, Carnevale, Fellela, and Petrarca

     Date Introduced: February 16, 2012

     Referred To: House Finance

It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:

1-1

     SECTION 1. Section 23-19-13 of the General Laws in Chapter 23-19 entitled "Rhode

1-2

Island Resource Recovery Corporation" is hereby amended to read as follows:

1-3

     23-19-13. Municipal participation in state program. -- (a) (1) Any person or

1-4

municipality which intends to transfer, treat, or dispose of solid waste originating or collected

1-5

within the state, or which intends to make arrangements to do so, shall utilize, exclusively, a

1-6

system or facility designated by the corporation as provided under this chapter. All transfer

1-7

stations in existence as of December 1, 1986 are empowered so long as they maintain the

1-8

appropriate license to continue their operations, and the corporation shall not exercise its powers

1-9

under this chapter to compete with their operation and activity. No municipality shall have power

1-10

to engage in, grant any license, or permit for or enter into any contract for the collection,

1-11

treatment, transportation, storage, or disposal of solid waste, and no municipality or any person

1-12

shall engage in any activities within the state, including disposal of solid waste, which would

1-13

impair the ability of the corporation to meet its contractual obligations to its bondholders and

1-14

others, or which would be in competition with the purposes of the corporation as provided in this

1-15

chapter. The corporation shall not be empowered to engage in the transportation, transfer, or

1-16

storage of solid waste, except in temporary situations where a municipality has defaulted in its

1-17

obligation under this section, or in conjunction with its activities at its disposal sites. Provided,

1-18

however, that municipal contracts which were in existence on March 1, 1985, are excepted from

1-19

this requirement until expiration of the original term of the contract or the expiration of any

2-1

extension approved by the corporation, or sooner termination of the contracts, and provided,

2-2

further, that municipalities operating their own landfills on December 1, 1986 shall be free to

2-3

continue to use the landfills until closure of the landfills. Without limiting the generality of the

2-4

preceding, municipalities and persons are expressly empowered to contract with the corporation

2-5

and/or, subject to the approval of the corporation, with a duly licensed private disposal facility for

2-6

the disposal of solid wastes. The approval shall be conditioned upon a finding by the board of

2-7

commissioners of the corporation that any proposed contract with a Rhode Island municipality or

2-8

person is in conformity with the statewide resource recovery system development plan and this

2-9

chapter, and that the proposed contract will not impair the ability of the corporation to meet its

2-10

contractual obligations to its bondholders and others. The contracts may have a maximum total

2-11

term, including all renewals, of up to fifty (50) years.

2-12

      (2) The corporation shall charge fees for its solid waste management services that,

2-13

together with other revenues available to the corporation, will, at a minimum, be sufficient to

2-14

provide for the support of the corporation and its operations on a self-sustaining basis, including

2-15

debt service on its bonds and other obligations.

2-16

      (b) Insofar as the provisions of this chapter are inconsistent with the provisions of any

2-17

other laws of this state, general, special, or local, restricting the power of any municipality to

2-18

enter into long term contracts with the corporation, the provisions of this chapter shall be

2-19

controlling. The corporation shall provide suitable and appropriate assistance to communities

2-20

under these circumstances. Notwithstanding the preceding, if the corporation deems it desirable,

2-21

it may from time to time permit municipalities to contract among themselves for the disposal of

2-22

their wastes.

2-23

      (c) Municipalities, along with private producers of waste which contract with the

2-24

corporation for disposal of their wastes, shall continue to be free to make their own arrangements

2-25

for collection of wastes at the source and/or the hauling of wastes to the designated processing

2-26

and/or transfer stations, so long as those arrangements are in compliance with the provisions of

2-27

chapter 18.9 of this title and with this chapter, and any municipal license relating thereto.

2-28

      (d) All municipalities and state agencies which are participants in the state waste

2-29

disposal program shall initiate a separation and recycling program within one year after the date

2-30

on which the resource recovery facility utilized by that municipality or agency is operational and

2-31

accepting waste for incineration.

2-32

      (e) (1) The corporation and any municipality may enter into a contract or contracts

2-33

providing for or relating to the disposal of solid waste originating in the municipality and the cost

2-34

and expense of the disposal.

3-1

      (2) The contract may be made with or without consideration and for a specified or

3-2

unspecified time not to exceed fifty (50) years, and on any terms and conditions which may be

3-3

approved by the municipality and which may be agreed to by the corporation in conformity with

3-4

its contracts with the holders of any bonds or other obligations. Subject to the contracts with the

3-5

holders of bonds, the municipality is authorized and directed to do and perform any and all acts or

3-6

things necessary, convenient, or desirable to carry out and perform the contract and to provide for

3-7

the payment or discharge of any obligation under the contract in the same manner as other

3-8

obligations of the municipality.

3-9

      (3) All municipalities that contract with the corporation for the disposal of solid waste

3-10

shall prepare as an addendum to its fiscal year 2010 contract with the corporation and any

3-11

contracts with the corporation for the subsequent years a plan that includes a description of the

3-12

process by which thirty-five percent (35%) of its solid waste will be recycled and fifty percent

3-13

(50%) of its solid waste will be diverted beginning July 1, 2012. This addendum shall include a

3-14

residential and municipal waste stream evaluation, a plan for the reduction of solid waste and

3-15

recyclables generated and the process by which recyclable materials are to be segregated. The

3-16

corporation shall have the right to execute or deny execution of the municipal solid waste and

3-17

recycling services contract pending approval of the addendum. Once the corporation approves

3-18

this addendum, the municipality must implement the plan and report on the results annually to the

3-19

corporation. The corporation shall enforce the provisions of this section pursuant to subdivision

3-20

23-19-13(g)(3).

3-21

      (4) The corporation shall notify every city or town that it contracts with as to the

3-22

addendum requirements that must be included in contracts to recycle thirty-five percent (35%)

3-23

and divert fifty percent (50%) of solid waste beginning July 1, 2012.

3-24

      (f) The municipalities and the state have shared responsibility for the payment of the cost

3-25

of municipal solid waste disposal. The state will pay its share of the cost of the solid waste

3-26

disposal services to be provided by the corporation to the municipalities at its solid waste

3-27

management facilities and its central landfill in the town of Johnston, and at any back-up facility

3-28

which the corporation is required to provide, by providing solid waste disposal operating

3-29

subsidies as provided in subsections (i) and (j).

3-30

      (g) (1) The corporation shall charge each municipality with which it has a long-term

3-31

contract for solid waste disposal services a tipping fee per ton of source separated solid waste

3-32

excluding separated recyclable materials, sludge, and demolition debris delivered to any

3-33

corporation facility computed in accordance with this subsection. For purposes of this chapter,

3-34

"fiscal year" shall mean the twelve-month period, July 1 to June 30. The municipal tipping fee

4-1

shall be equal to one hundred seven and one-half percent (107.5%) of the prior fiscal year's

4-2

municipal tipping fee through the end of the 2009 fiscal year. One dollar and ten cents ($1.10) per

4-3

ton on all garbage, including recycled garbage, collected by the corporation as tipping fee shall be

4-4

paid to the town of Johnston. In addition to any other fees the corporation shall also charge a

4-5

three dollar ($3.00) tipping fee per vehicle. Any vehicle carrying municipal solid waste shall be

4-6

exempt from this three dollar ($3.00) tipping fee. All fees collected shall be paid to the town of

4-7

Johnston on a biannual basis. The corporation shall annually pay to the town of Johnston an

4-8

additional six million dollars ($6,000,000). No tipping fee shall be charged for recyclable

4-9

materials delivered to a recycling facility provided by or through the corporation.

4-10

      (2) Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision (g)(1), the municipal tipping fee may

4-11

be increased, if, due to the commencement of operation of a new resource recovery facility during

4-12

the previous fiscal year, the state subsidy as calculated pursuant to subsection (i), not considering

4-13

landfill revenues and losses, is projected to be greater than the state subsidy projected by the

4-14

corporation and the department of administration when the projections were officially accepted

4-15

by the corporation on the basis of contracts entered into for the initial resource recovery facility.

4-16

The amount by which the projected state subsidy exceeds the original projections will be

4-17

apportioned between the state and the municipalities in the same ratio as the state subsidy for the

4-18

previous year divided by the number of tons of municipal solid waste processed by the

4-19

corporation bears to the municipal tipping fee for that year. The increased municipal tipping fee

4-20

herein provided shall be subject to the same escalation factor as the municipal tipping fee set forth

4-21

above.

4-22

      (3) The corporation shall establish in the contract, the maximum amount of municipal

4-23

solid waste that each municipality will be entitled to deliver to the corporation at the municipal

4-24

tipping fee. Solid waste in excess of the contract amount will be charged to the municipality at the

4-25

non-municipal rate. In determining the maximum amount of municipal solid waste which will

4-26

qualify for the municipal tipping fee, the corporation shall consider the municipality's solid waste

4-27

per capita average, the statewide solid waste per capita average, and any other factors that it shall

4-28

deem appropriate.

4-29

      (4) Seaweed collected and removed by a municipality shall be deemed "yard waste" for

4-30

purposes of this chapter and any rules, regulations and/or plans promulgated by the corporation

4-31

pursuant to this chapter, and shall be accepted by the corporation at the same rate and cost as all

4-32

other municipal yard waste.

4-33

      (h) The corporation, after the initial resource recovery facility becomes operational, shall

4-34

charge each non-municipal user of its facilities a fee per ton equal to the projected annual

5-1

resource recovery system cost less energy revenues and interest earnings on bond reserve funds,

5-2

if any, divided by the projected tons to be processed by the corporation at its resource facilities

5-3

for the year. Landfill costs shall not be considered in the calculation unless landfill costs exceed

5-4

revenues generated at the landfills; in those cases, excess landfill costs will be added to the

5-5

system costs.

5-6

      (i) The annual state subsidy for the cost of disposal of municipal solid waste shall be

5-7

calculated for each fiscal year or portion of each fiscal year according to the following formula:

5-8

The annual state subsidy shall equal the total projected annual resource recovery system costs

5-9

(minus costs associated with the central landfill) for the next fiscal year less the sum of the

5-10

following: (1) projected resource recovery system revenues for the year; and (2) projected landfill

5-11

revenues; provided, however, that in the event that the landfill is projected to operate at a loss, the

5-12

amount of the loss shall be added to the subsidy.

5-13

      (j) (1) On or before October 1 of each year, the corporation shall submit a budget to the

5-14

director of administration for the succeeding fiscal year using actual resource recovery system

5-15

revenues and costs, and the audit of the preceding fiscal year prepared by the corporation's

5-16

independent auditors and accepted by the auditor general. On or before December 1 of each year,

5-17

the director of administration, in consultation with the corporation, shall review the budget of the

5-18

corporation and shall determine and certify the annual state subsidy for the succeeding fiscal year

5-19

to the governor who shall submit to the general assembly printed copies of a budget which shall

5-20

include the state subsidy as previously determined in this subsection. The state subsidy

5-21

appropriation shall be on a system basis but shall contain specific appropriations for each

5-22

resource recovery facility. If the amount appropriated exceeds the amount needed for a specific

5-23

facility, the corporation, with the approval of the director of administration, may reallocate the

5-24

appropriated but unadvanced funds to other corporation facilities or costs. If the audit prepared by

5-25

the corporation's independent auditors indicates that the amounts appropriated and disbursed to

5-26

the corporation as a subsidy were in excess of the amounts which would have been required for

5-27

the year if actual resource recovery system revenues and costs had been used in the calculation of

5-28

the subsidy, the excess shall be credited against the current fiscal year's subsidy.

5-29

      (2) At any time, if the corporation determines that the state subsidy will be insufficient to

5-30

discharge the corporation's obligations for the current fiscal year, it shall request, in writing, to

5-31

the director of administration for a supplemental appropriation. After review, the director of

5-32

administration will recommend to the governor additional funding for the corporation, and the

5-33

governor after further review, shall submit a supplemental appropriation bill request for the funds

5-34

to the general assembly.

6-1

      (3) From the appropriations made by the general assembly, the state controller is

6-2

authorized and directed to draw his or her orders upon the general treasurer every month for the

6-3

payment of those sums that may be required upon receipt by him or her of properly authenticated

6-4

vouchers.

6-5

      (k) If, in any fiscal year, the appropriation for the state subsidy is not made and if the

6-6

corporation has insufficient other funds to discharge its obligations to holders of its bonds and

6-7

notes as certified by the state auditor general, the corporation shall be empowered to charge both

6-8

municipal and non-municipal users whatever fees are necessary to discharge its obligations to

6-9

holders of its bonds and notes, and the municipal tipping fee set forth in subsection (g) shall not

6-10

be applicable for the fiscal year.

6-11

      (l) On or after the date established for separation of recyclable solid waste in the

6-12

statewide plan for separation of recyclables by the department of environmental management,

6-13

only segregated solid waste shall be accepted at the corporation's facilities.

6-14

      (m) Costs associated with participation in the state program shall not constitute state

6-15

mandated costs under section 45-13-7.

6-16

     SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage.

     

=======

LC01699

========

EXPLANATION

BY THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL

OF

A N A C T

RELATING TO HEALTH AND SAFETY - RHODE ISLAND RESOURCE RECOVERY

CORPORATION

***

7-1

     This act would require the Rhode Island resource recovery corporation to annually pay

7-2

six million dollars ($6,000,000) to the town of Johnston in addition to any other monies paid to it

7-3

by the corporation.

7-4

     This act would take effect upon passage.

=======

LC01699

=======

H7634