Agenda - 06-23-2005-6b - Laserfiche WebLink

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Senate Bill 951 - A Local Government Perspective .June 20, 2005 We wish to offer a few comments, questions, and suggestions regarding SB -951, Public- Private Solid Waste Collection. This bill has already been adopted by the State Senate and has been referred to the House Commerce Committee, which is poised to address the bill very soon. The bill is a focus of increasing concern among local government's, as they are becoming more aware of the potential consequences should it become law. Many fine waste management companies operate in North Carolina, providing valuable waste and recyclables collection services throughout the state. These contributions to overall waste management cannot be ignored or underestimated.. Many local governments, based on their own rationale and situations, do not wish to provide governmental operated waste or recycling collection services and rely solely on private waste companies. Others wish to provide comprehensive government operated services. Most governments operate in a zone between these extremes, offering some level of services (usually residential) in conjunction with varying arrays of private hauler services. This is policymaking flexibility that governments need and should have in assessing local waste and recycling service levels. Whether and how these services are provided should be left to the citizens and their elected officials. Private hauling companies should not be acting as gatekeepers or otherwise interfering with how local governments' address waste /recycling collection issues. Private waste companies should and do have a role for substantive input into local waste management issues, just as any other citizen or business. However, local governments certainly should not be paying private hauling companies for the privilege of serving their own citizens.. The notification provisions of Section 3 will be particularly onerous for local governments. The bill requires a public notice of an "intent to consider" be provided that includes advertisement in local newspapers, a declaration at an official business meeting of the local government and written notice to all waste companies. We advise that this is unreasonable and almost certain to be frequently and unintentionally violated. In various local government work sessions and meetings issues regularly arise that are not on an agenda. Issues are often discussed intermittently (off and on) over a long period of time, meaning months and even years. Additionally, issues are referred to task forces' and advisory boards who return periodically for discussion and to receive additional guidance from the governing board. This is to say that many issues are subject to stops and starts in the real world of public discourse. This is the way many local government public bodies operate, with no intention to stifle or otherwise avoid public input. This bill constrains this free flowing public discourse by subjecting local governments to potentially endless cycles of notification and providing opportunities for inadvertent notification mistakes. It assumes that topics are addressed in an orderly and systematic fashion over a limited period of time. With few exceptions, local issues are not addressed in this manner. We have also discovered that no one seems to know what the potential financial impact on local governments might be; there was no financial note attached to the bill. Perhaps the private haulers have estimated the potential revenue they'll receive should the bill be adopted, but to our knowledge the supporters of this legislation haven't openly discussed the potential financial impact on local governments. One preliminary analysis of the potential financial impact