103D CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4683

AN ACT

To amend the Solid Waste Disposal Act to provide congressional authorization of State control over transportation

of municipal solid waste, and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. CONGRESSIONAL AUTHORIZATION OF STATE

4 CONTROL OVER TRANSPORTATION, MANAGE5 MENT, AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL SOLID

6 WASTE.

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle D of the Solid Waste Dis8 posal Act (42 U.S.C. 6941 et seq.) is amended by adding

9 at the end the following new section:
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1 ‘‘SEC. 4011. CONGRESSIONAL AUTHORIZATION OF STATE

2 CONTROL OVER TRANSPORTATION, MANAGE3 MENT, AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL SOLID

4 WASTE.

5 ‘‘(a) AUTHORITY.—Each State and each qualified po6 litical subdivision may, in accordance with this section, ex7 ercise flow control authority within the boundaries of such

8 State or political subdivision, as the case may be, for each

9 of the following:

10 ‘‘(1) Municipal solid waste generated from

11 household sources within the boundaries of the State

12 or qualified political subdivision.

13 ‘‘(2) Municipal solid waste generated within the

14 boundaries of the State or qualified political subdivi15 sion, if, before May 15, 1994, the State or qualified

16 political subdivision adopted a law, ordinance, regu17 lation, solid waste management plan or legally bind18 ing provision that—

19 ‘‘(A) exercised flow control authority over

20 such solid waste with respect to a proposed or

21 existing waste management facility designated

22 before May 15, 1994, or

23 ‘‘(B) identified the use of 1 or more waste

24 management methods that will be necessary for

25 the transportation, management, or disposal of

26 municipal solid waste generated within its
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1 boundaries, and committed to the designation

2 of 1 or more waste management facilities for

3 that method or methods.

4 ‘‘(3) Recyclable materials generated within the

5 boundaries of the State or subdivision.

6 Any State or qualified political subdivision meeting the re7 quirements of subparagraph (A) or (B) of paragraph (2)

8 may also, after the effective date of this section, direct,

9 limit, regulate or prohibit the transportation, manage10 ment, and disposal of such solid waste from any existing

11 or future waste management facility to any other existing

12 or future waste management facility, and may do so with13 out regard to subsection (b)(2).

14 ‘‘(b) LIMITATIONS.—(1) A State or qualified political

15 subdivision may exercise the authority described in para16 graph (3) of subsection (a) with respect to recyclable ma17 terials only if—

18 ‘‘(A) the generator or owner of the materials

19 voluntarily made the materials available to the State

20 or qualified political subdivision, or the designee of

21 the State or qualified political subdivision, and relin22 quished any rights to, or ownership of, such mate23 rials; and

24 ‘‘(B) the State or qualified political subdivision,

25 or the designee of the State or qualified political
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1 subdivision, assumes such rights to, or ownership of,

2 such materials.

3 ‘‘(2) A State or qualified political subdivision may ex4 ercise the authority provided by subsection (a)(1) or (a)(3)

5 only if the State or qualified political subdivision—

6 ‘‘(A) before exercising the authority described

7 in subsection (a)(1), establishes a program to sepa8 rate, or divert at the point of generation, recyclable

9 materials from the municipal solid waste, for pur10 poses of recycling, reclamation, or reuse, in accord11 ance with any Federal or State law or municipal

12 solid waste planning requirements in effect; and

13 ‘‘(B) after conducting 1 or more public hear14 ings—

15 ‘‘(i) finds, on the basis of the record devel16 oped at the hearing or hearings that it is nec17 essary to exercise the authority to meet the cur18 rent solid waste management needs (as of the

19 date of the record) or the anticipated solid

20 waste management needs of the State or quali21 fied political subdivision for management of

22 municipal solid waste or recyclable materials;

23 and

24 ‘‘(ii) provides a written explanation of the

25 reasons of the finding described in clause (i).
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1 ‘‘(3) The authority to direct, limit, regulate, or pro2 hibit the transportation, management, or disposal of solid

3 waste pursuant to subsection (a)(2) shall apply only to the

4 specific classes or categories of solid waste to which the

5 authority under subsection (a)(2)(A) was applied by the

6 State or qualified political subdivision before May 15,

7 1994, and/or to the specific classes or categories of solid

8 waste for which the State or qualified political subdivision

9 committed to designate a waste management facility under

10 subsection (a)(2)(B).

11 ‘‘(4) The authority granted under subsection (a)(2)

12 shall expire if a State or qualified political subdivision has

13 not designated, by law, ordinance, regulation, solid waste

14 management plan, or other legally binding provision, 1 or

15 more proposed or existing waste management facilities

16 within 5 years of the date of enactment of this section.

17 ‘‘(c) COMPETITIVE DESIGNATION PROCESS.—A

18 State or qualified political subdivision may exercise the au19 thority provided by subsection (a) only if the State or

20 qualified political subdivision develops and implements a

21 competitive designation process with respect to waste

22 management facilities or facilities for recyclable materials

23 which—

24 ‘‘(1) ensures that the designation process is

25 based on, or is part of, a municipal solid waste man-
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1 agement plan that is adopted by the State or quali2 fied political subdivision and that is designed to en3 sure long-term management capacity for municipal

4 solid waste or recyclable materials generated within

5 the boundaries of the State or subdivision;

6 ‘‘(2) sets forth the goals of the designation

7 process, including at a minimum—

8 ‘‘(A) capacity assurance;

9 ‘‘(B) the establishment of provisions to

10 provide that protection of human health and the

11 environment will be achieved; and

12 ‘‘(C) any other goals determined to be rel13 evant by the State or qualified political subdivi14 sion;

15 ‘‘(3) identifies and compares reasonable and

16 available alternatives and options for designation of

17 the facilities;

18 ‘‘(4) provides for public participation and com19 ment;

20 ‘‘(5) ensures that the designation of the facili21 ties is accomplished through an open competitive

22 process during which the State or qualified political

23 subdivision—

24 ‘‘(A) identifies in writing the criteria to be

25 utilized for selection of the facilities;
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1 ‘‘(B) provides an opportunity for interested

2 public persons and private persons to offer their

3 existing (as of the date of the process) or pro4 posed facilities for designation; and

5 ‘‘(C) evaluates and selects the facilities for

6 designation based on the merits of the facilities

7 in meeting the criteria identified; and

8 ‘‘(6) bases the designation of each such facility

9 on reasons that shall be stated in a public record.

10 ‘‘(d) CERTIFICATION.—(1) A Governor of any State

11 may certify that the laws and regulations of the State in

12 effect on May 15, 1994, satisfy the requirements for a

13 competitive designation process under subsection (c).

14 ‘‘(2) In making a certification under paragraph (1),

15 a Governor shall—

16 ‘‘(A) publish notice of the proposed certification

17 in a newspaper of general circulation and provide

18 such additional notice of the proposed certification

19 as may be required by State law;

20 ‘‘(B) include in the notice of the proposed cer21 tification or otherwise make readily available a state22 ment of the laws and regulations subject to the cer23 tification and an explanation of the basis for a con24 clusion that they satisfy the requirements of sub25 section (c);
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1 ‘‘(C) provide interested persons an opportunity

2 to comment on the proposed certification, for a pe3 riod of time not less than 60 days after publication

4 of the notice; and

5 ‘‘(D) public notice of the final certification, to6 gether with an explanation of the basis for the final

7 certification, in a newspaper of general circulation

8 and provide such additional notice of the final cer9 tification as may be required by State law.

10 ‘‘(e) OWNERSHIP OF RECYCLABLE MATERIALS.—

11 ‘‘(1) PROHIBITION ON REQUIRED TRANS12 FERS.—Nothing in this section shall authorize any

13 State or qualified political subdivision (or any des14 ignee thereof) to require any generator or owner of

15 recyclable materials to transfer any recyclable mate16 rials to such State or qualified political subdivision,

17 unless the generator or owner voluntarily made the

18 materials available to the State or qualified political

19 subdivision (or any designee thereof) and relin20 quished any rights to, or ownership of, such mate21 rials.

22 ‘‘(2) PROHIBITION ON PROHIBITED TRANS23 ACTIONS.—Nothing in this section shall prohibit any

24 person from selling, purchasing, or accepting, con25 veying, or transporting any recyclable materials for
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1 purposes of transformation or remanufacture into

2 usable or marketable materials, unless the generator

3 or owner voluntarily made the materials available to

4 the State or qualified political subdivision (or any

5 designee thereof) and relinquished any rights to, or

6 ownership of, such materials.

7 ‘‘(f) EXISTING LAWS AND CONTRACTS.—

8 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—This section shall not

9 supersede, abrogate, or otherwise modify any of the

10 following:

11 ‘‘(A) Any contract or other agreement (in12 cluding any contract containing an obligation to

13 repay the outstanding indebtedness on any pro14 posed or existing waste management facility)

15 entered into before May 15, 1994, by a State

16 or qualified political subdivision in which such

17 State or qualified political subdivision has des18 ignated a proposed or existing waste manage19 ment facility pursuant to a law, ordinance, reg20 ulation, solid waste management plan or legally

21 binding provision adopted by such State or

22 qualified political subdivision before May 15,

23 1994.
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1 ‘‘(B) Any other contract or agreement en2 tered into before May 15, 1994, for the man3 agement of solid waste.

4 ‘‘(C)(i) Any law, ordinance, regulation,

5 solid waste management plan or legally binding

6 provision—

7 ‘‘(I) that is adopted before May 15,

8 1994; and

9 ‘‘(II) that pertain to the transpor10 tation, management, or disposal of munici11 pal solid waste generated within the

12 boundaries of a State or qualified political

13 subdivision;

14 if the law, ordinance, regulation, solid waste

15 management plan or legally binding provision is

16 applied to the transportation, management, or

17 disposal of municipal solid waste, generated

18 from household sources within its boundaries,

19 to a proposed or existing waste management fa20 cility designated before May 15, 1994, under

21 such law, ordinance, regulation, solid waste

22 management plan or legally binding provision.

23 ‘‘(ii) Any law, ordinance, regulation, solid

24 waste management plan or legally binding pro25 vision—
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1 ‘‘(I) that is adopted before May 15,

2 1994;

3 ‘‘(II) that pertains to the transpor4 tation, management, or disposal or munici5 pal solid waste generated within the

6 boundaries of a State or qualified political

7 subdivision; and

8 ‘‘(III) under which a State or quali9 fied political subdivision, prior to May 15,

10 1994, directed, limited, regulated, or pro11 hibited the transportation, management, or

12 disposal of municipal solid waste that is

13 generated, or is commingled with munici14 pal solid waste that is generated, from

15 commercial, institutional, or industrial

16 sources within its boundaries, or construc17 tion debris or demolition debris, generated

18 within its boundaries;

19 provided that the law, ordinance, regulation,

20 solid waste management plan or legally binding

21 provision is applied to the transportation, man22 agement, or disposal of such solid waste de23 scribed in subclause (III), to a proposed or ex24 isting waste management facility designated be25 fore May 15, 1994, under such law, ordinance,
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1 regulation, solid waste management plan or le2 gally binding provision.

3 ‘‘(iii) Any law, ordinance, regulation, solid

4 waste management plan or legally binding pro5 vision—

6 ‘‘(I) that is adopted before May 15,

7 1994; and

8 ‘‘(II) that pertains to the transpor9 tation or management of recyclable mate10 rials generated within the boundaries of a

11 State or qualified political subdivision;

12 provided that the law, ordinance, regulation,

13 solid waste management plan or legally binding

14 provision is applied to the transportation or

15 management of recyclable materials, that are

16 generated within its boundaries and with re17 spect to which the generator or owner of the

18 materials, and the State or qualified political

19 subdivision, have met the appropriate conditions

20 described in subsection (b)(1), to a proposed or

21 existing facility for recyclable materials des22 ignated before May 15, 1994, under such law,

23 ordinance, regulation, solid waste management

24 plan or legally binding provision.
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1 ‘‘(2) CONTRACT INFORMATION.—A party to a

2 contract or other agreement that is described in sub3 paragraph (A) or (B) of paragraph (1) shall provide

4 a copy of the contract or agreement to the State or

5 qualified political subdivision on request. Any propri6 etary information contained in the contract or agree7 ment may be omitted in the copy, but the informa8 tion that appears in the copy shall include at least

9 the date that the contract or agreement was signed,

10 the volume of municipal solid waste covered by the

11 contract or agreement with respect to which the

12 State or qualified political subdivision could other13 wise exercise authority under subsection (a) or para14 graph (1)(C), the source of the waste or materials,

15 the destination of the waste or materials, the dura16 tion of the contract or agreement, and the parties to

17 the contract or agreement.

18 ‘‘(3) LIMITATION.—Any designation by a State

19 or qualified political subdivision of any waste man20 agement facility or facility for recyclable materials

21 after the date of enactment of this section shall com22 ply with subsection (c). Nothing in this paragraph

23 shall affect any designation made before the date of

24 enactment of this section, and any such designation
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1 shall be deemed to satisfy the requirements of sub2 section (c).

3 ‘‘(g) SAVINGS CLAUSE.—(1) Nothing in this section

4 is intended to supersede, amend, or otherwise modify Fed5 eral or State environmental laws and regulations that

6 apply to the disposal or management of solid waste at

7 waste management facilities or facilities for recyclable ma8 terials.

9 ‘‘(2) Nothing in this section shall be interpreted to

10 authorize a qualified political subdivision to exercise the

11 authority granted by this section in a manner inconsistent

12 with State law.

13 ‘‘(h) EFFECT ON INTERSTATE COMMERCE.—The ex14 ercise of flow control authority in compliance with this sec15 tion by a State or qualified political subdivision shall itself

16 be considered a reasonable regulation of commerce and

17 shall not itself be considered as imposing an undue burden

18 on or otherwise impairing, restraining, or discriminating

19 against interstate commerce.

20 ‘‘(i) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section:

21 ‘‘(1) FLOW CONTROL AUTHORITY.—The term

22 ‘flow control authority’ means the authority to con23 trol the movement of solid waste or recyclable mate24 rials and direct the transportation of such waste or

25 recyclable materials to one or more designated waste
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1 management facilities or facilities for recyclable ma2 terials.

3 ‘‘(2) INDUSTRIAL SOLID WASTE.—The term ‘in4 dustrial solid waste’ means solid waste generated by

5 manufacturing or industrial processes, including

6 waste generated during scrap processing and scrap

7 recycling, that is not hazardous waste regulated

8 under subtitle C.

9 ‘‘(3) MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE.—

10 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—(i) The term ‘munici11 pal solid waste’ means all waste materials dis12 carded for disposal by households, including

13 single and multifamily residences.

14 ‘‘(ii) The term also includes waste mate15 rials generated by commercial, institutional,

16 and industrial sources, to the extent such

17 wastes—

18 ‘‘(I) are essentially the same as waste

19 normally generated by households; or

20 ‘‘(II) were collected and disposed of

21 with other municipal solid waste as part of

22 normal municipal solid waste collection

23 services, and regardless of when generated,

24 would be considered conditionally exempt
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1 small quantity generator waste under sec2 tion 3001(d).

3 ‘‘(iii) The term includes residue remaining

4 after recyclable materials have been separated,

5 or diverted at the point of generation, from

6 waste materials described in clause (i) or (ii).

7 ‘‘(iv) The term also includes any waste ma8 terial or waste substance removed from a septic

9 tank, septic pit, or cesspool.

10 ‘‘(v) Examples of municipal solid waste in11 clude food and yard waste, paper, clothing, ap12 pliances, consumer product packaging, dispos13 able diapers, office supplies, cosmetics, glass

14 and metal food containers, elementary or sec15 ondary school science laboratory waste, and

16 household hazardous waste.

17 ‘‘(B) EXCLUSIONS.—The term does not in18 clude any of the following:

19 ‘‘(i) Any solid waste identified or list20 ed as a hazardous waste under section

21 3001.

22 ‘‘(ii) Solid waste containing a poly23 chlorinate biphenyl regulated under the

24 Toxic Substances Control Act (15 U.S.C.

25 2601 et seq.).
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1 ‘‘(iii) Any solid waste, including con2 taminated soil and debris, resulting from—

3 ‘‘(I) a response action taken

4 under section 104 or 106 of the Com5 prehensive Environmental Response,

6 Compensation, and Liability Act (42

7 U.S.C. 9604 or 9606),

8 ‘‘(II) a response action taken

9 under a State law with authorities

10 comparable to the authorities of sec11 tion 104 or 106, or

12 ‘‘(III) a corrective action taken

13 under this Act.

14 ‘‘(iv) Recyclable materials.

15 ‘‘(v) Materials and products returned

16 from a dispenser or distributor to the man17 ufacturer or an agent of the manufacturer

18 for credit, evaluation, and possible reuse.

19 ‘‘(vi) Industrial solid waste.

20 ‘‘(vii) Any solid waste that is—

21 ‘‘(I) generated by an industrial

22 facility; and

23 ‘‘(II) transported for the purpose

24 of treatment, storage, or disposal to a

25 facility that is owned or operated by
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1 the generator of the waste, or is lo2 cated on property owned by the gener3 ator or a company with which the

4 generator is affiliated.

5 ‘‘(viii) Any medical waste referred to

6 in section 11002 that is segregated from,

7 or not mixed with, solid waste.

8 ‘‘(4) QUALIFIED POLITICAL SUBDIVISION.—The

9 term ‘qualified political subdivision’ means a govern10 mental entity or political subdivision of a State, as

11 authorized by the State, to plan for, or determine

12 the methods to be utilized for, the collection, trans13 portation, disposal or other management of munici14 pal solid waste generated within the boundaries of

15 the governmental entity or political subdivision.

16 ‘‘(5) RECYCLABLE MATERIAL.—The term ‘recy17 clable material’ means any material (including any

18 metal, glass, plastic, textile, wood, paper, rubber, or

19 other material) that has been separated, or diverted

20 at the point of generation, from solid waste for the

21 purpose of recycling, reclamation, or reuse.

22 ‘‘(6) SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT PLAN.—The

23 term ‘solid waste management plan’ means a plan

24 for the transportation, treatment, processing,

25 composting, combustion, disposal or other manage-
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1 ment of municipal solid waste adopted by a State or

2 qualified political subdivision pursuant to and con3 forming with State law.

4 ‘‘(7) WASTE MANAGEMENT FACILITY.—The

5 term ‘waste management facility’ means any facility

6 or facilities in which solid waste is separated, stored,

7 transferred, treated, processed, combusted, deposited

8 or disposed.

9 ‘‘(8) COMMITTED TO THE DESIGNATION OF ONE

10 OR MORE WASTE MANAGEMENT FACILITIES.—The

11 phrase ‘Committed to the designation of one or more

12 waste management facilities’ as used in subsection

13 (a)(2)(B) means that the State or qualified political

14 subdivision, prior to May 15, 1994, was legally

15 bound to designate one or more existing or future

16 waste management facilities, or performed or caused

17 to be performed one or more of the following actions

18 for the purpose of designating one or more such fa19 cilities:

20 ‘‘(A) Solicitation of proposals for designa21 tion of a waste management facility.

22 ‘‘(B) Purchase of land on which the waste

23 management facility to be designated will be

24 located.
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1 ‘‘(C) Execution of a legally binding con2 tract or franchise agreement for waste collec3 tion services expressly for the delivery of waste

4 to a waste management facility to be des5 ignated.

6 ‘‘(D) Other action since January 1, 1993,

7 that evidences recent significant financial com8 mitment for the continuing development of a

9 waste management facility for which a designa10 tion will be made unless such action has been

11 halted by a court order based upon a ruling

12 under the Constitution of the United States.’’.

13 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for

14 such subtitle D is amended by adding at the end of the

15 items relating to such subtitle the following new item:

‘‘Sec. 4011. Congressional authorization of State control over transportation,

management, and disposal of municipal solid waste.’’.

Passed the House of Representatives September 29,

1994.

Attest:

Clerk.
103D CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4683

AN ACT

To amend the Solid Waste Disposal Act to provide

other purposes.transportation of municipal solid waste, and forcongressional authorization of State control over