Report to the People
By: State Senator Ernie Harris

STATEMENT BY SENATE AGRICULTURE AND NATURAL RESOURCES COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN ERNIE HARRIS

Harris Sponsored Senate Republican Proposal on Solid Waste Disposal

(Frankfort)-"I'm encouraged that the Governor is moving in the direction of the bill Senate Republicans introduced by providing funding and incentives for some counties to clean up open dumps. While this is a positive step, I support a more broad-based approach that would apply to all counties, not just those that presently have mandatory garbage pickup. The unfortunate thing is had the Governor shown this spirit of compromise three weeks ago, we could have had a more comprehensive program in place today that would have given all counties the necessary funding to clean up illegal dumps and roadside litter. With that said, today's action sets a good tone toward reaching common ground on this important issue."

The Republican solid waste proposal introduced by Harris included funding to help counties clean up illegal dumps and roadside litter. It created the Open Dumps Cleanup Fund, which would have provided $7 million a year for five years to assist counties, waste management districts, and cities in cleaning up illegal dumps. Also under the proposal, the KY-CLEAN Fund would have a $4 million appropriation from the Highway Contingency Account to remove litter and solid waste from public road right-of-ways. These funds would have been distributed on a matching basis to counties showing increased collection rates of household waste. The proposal also offered incentives to local law enforcement agencies to crack down on illegal dumping and littering by allowing them to share in the fines collected.

The Republican alternative to House Bill 237 was supported by the Kentucky Association of Counties, the Kentucky League of Cities, the Kentucky Farm Bureau, the Kentucky Magistrates and Commissioners Association, and the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce. It was defeated when Senate Democrats refused to provide the votes necessary to move the bill toward a joint House-Senate conference committee.