Trash bill fails to make it to vote

Democrats charge state Republicans blocked the legislation in violation of the state constitution.

Associated Press - June 24, 2005

Lansing - Democrats in the state House failed Thursday to get a vote on their legislation aimed at curbing the amount of out-of-state trash coming into Michigan. It is the second time, Democrats say, that Republicans have blocked the legislation.

House Democrats argued that the Republican majority violated the state constitution by not allowing a vote to add their five-bill package to a bill that would allow counties to increase their surcharge on households for waste reduction programs. (more...)

“Republicans have now had nine chances to do what’s right for Michigan, and for the ninth time, they’ve refused to take a stand on fighting Canadian and out-of-state trash,” said Rep. Herb Kehrl, D-Monroe. “Republicans have turned their backs on the people of Michigan. And because they’re so afraid of the trash industry, they’ve also trampled our constitution.”

Rep. Kehrl is the primary sponsor of one of the bills - a measure that would extend the moratorium on new landfills from 2006 to 2010.

House Democrats said there should have been a vote Thursday because they submitted signatures from 22 Democratic representatives. But House Clerk Gary Randall said the Democrats never officially asked for a vote on their legislation.

The effort ended in shouts from a few Democrats, including Stephen Adamini of Marquette, who yelled to Republican leaders, “Play by the rules.”

It’s the second time in two months Democrats have tried to force a vote on their legislation aimed at curbing out-of-state trash coming into Michigan. The main bill in the package would raise the fee to dump trash in a Michigan landfill from 21 cents a ton to $7.50.

Democrats have argued that Michigan’s low dumping fee is a big reason the state is one of the nation’s top importers of trash from other states and Canada.

Canada, which sends some of its garbage to the Carleton Farms landfill in Wayne County’s Sumpter Township, reported dumping 11.5 million cubic yards of trash in Michigan in the 2003-04 budget year, about 2 million cubic yards more than previously reported by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality. Waste generated in Michigan during the same period dropped by 1 million cubic yards, or about 2 percent, to 46 million cubic yards, the DEQ report said.

Last month, Democrats tried unsuccessfully to discharge their bills to the full House after the Republican chairman of the House Natural Resources, Great Lakes, Land Use and Environment Committee refused to take up the bill that would increase the dumping fee.

Committee Chairman David Palsrok, R-Manistee, has said the higher fee would be passed on to business and residential customers in Michigan. He said Thursday’s effort to add the bills to another piece of legislation does not change his mind on the issue.

Rep. Palsrok said he will monitor efforts by Congress to limit Canadian trash coming into the United States and will check the progress of new laws requiring inspection of out-of-state waste in the coming months.

The bills to further curb the flow of Canadian trash are House Bills 4758-62.

Democratic Caucus - Michigan House of Representatives