An Act To Implement Recommendations of the Department of Environmental Protection Regarding the State's Mercury-added Lamp Law
Maine Legislature, Session 129, LD 1668
Committee Amendment CA_A_H389 (House)
Amends: 38 MRSA §1672

COMMITTEE AMENDMENT "A " to H.P. 1194, L.D. 1668, Bill, "An Act To 
Implement Recommendations of the Department of Environmental Protection Regarding 
the State's Mercury-added Lamp Law" 
Amend the bill by striking out all of section 1 and inserting the following: 
'Sec. 1. 38 MRSA §1672, sub-§1, 1A-1 is enacted to read: 
A-1. "Covered entity" means a person who at any one time presents for drop off at a 
collection location participating in a department-approved program for the recycling 
of mercury-added lamps under this subsection: 
(1) Any number of compact fluorescent mercury-added lamps; or 
(2) Ten or fewer mercury-added lamps that are not compact fluorescent mercmy-
added lamps.' 
Amend the bill in section 2 in paragraph C in the first line (page 1, line 13 in L.D.) by 
striking out the following: "site" and inserting the following: 'site location' 
Amend the bill in section 2 in paragraph C in the 3rd line (page 1, line 15 in L.D.) by 
striking out the following: "covered entities" and inserting the following: 'a covered 
entity' 
Amend the bill by striking out all of section 4 and inserting the following: 
'Sec. 4. 38 MRSA §1672, sub-§4, as amended by PL 2013, c. 315, §2, is further 
amended to read: 
4. 
Manufacturer recycling programs for mercury-added lamps. 
Effeotivs 
January 1, 2011, eaoh Each manufacturer of mercury-added lamps sold or distributed fel' 
household use in the State for use by a covered entity on or after January 1, 2001 shall 
individually or collectively implement a department-approved program for the recycling 
of mercury-added lamps from households a covered entity. 
A. The recycling program required under this subsection must include, but is not 
limited to: 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT ·A "to H.P. 1194, L.D. 1668 
(1) 
Convenient collection locations located adequate to serve the needs of 
covered entities in rural and urban areas throughout the State where residents g 
covered entity can drop off their household mercruy-added lamps without cost, 
including but not limited to municipal collection site& locations and participating 
retail establishmentst. The program must include a method of determining the 
adequate number and geographic distribution of collection locations based on 
geographic information system modeling. 
No later than January 1. 2020. the collection system implemented under the 
program must provide at least 90% of the residents of the State with a permanent 
collection location or a nonpermanent collection location available on a periodic 
basis within 15 miles of their residence unless the commissioner determines that 
this requirement is not practicable due to geographic constraints, in which case 
the commissioner may approve an alternative collection system that includes a 
geographic distribution of collection locations but that does not otherwise meet 
this requirement. 
Unless otherwise approved by the dommissioner, the collection system 
implemented under the program: 
(a) Must provide at least 2 collection locations within a population center of 
at least 30,000 residents and an additional collection location for each 
additional 30,000 residents within the population center; and 
(b) Must ensure that the collection locations required under division (a) are 
located in a manner that provides residents of the population center with 
convenient and reasonably equitable access to the collection locations; 
(2) Handling and recycling equipment and practices in compliance with the 
universal waste rules adopted pursuant to section 1319-0, subsection 1, 
paragraph F, with subsection 6 if a crushing device is used and with all other 
applicable requirements; 
(3) Effeetive Provision of education and outreach efforts by a manufacturer to 
promote the program, which must include, but are not limited to, strategies for 
education of and outreach to covered entities in all areas of the State and ensuring 
understanding of collection options by covered entities. 
The education and 
outreach, ineludiag, but not limited to must, at a minimum, include posters, 
window clings and point-of-purchase signs and other materials provided that are 
made available to retail establishmoots collection locations without cost, that can 
be prominently displayed and that will be easily visible to covered entities; and 
outreach to the general public, including annual Internet-based media campaigns 
and print and radio media campaigns conducted in rural and urban areas in the 
State; an4 
(4) An annual report to the department on the number of mereuzy added lamps 
reoyeled under the manufaeturer's program, the estimated pel'6entage of 
mereury added lamps available for reeyoling that were reeyoled under the 
program and the methodology for estimating the number ofmereuzy added lamps 
available for rse-volin2=. an evaluation of the effuoti::r.roHoRs of tho roevelim• 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
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COMMITTEE AMENDMENT "A" to H.P. 1194, L.D. 1668 
program, recommendations for increasing the number of lamps recycled under 
the recycling program and an accounting of the costs associated ,vith 
administering and implementing the recycling program. 
(5) A goal of annually increasing the percentage of the residents of the State that 
are aware of the requirement to recycle mercury-added lamps and the availability 
of mercury-added lamp recycling at collection locations implemented under the 
program: 
(6) Provisions for routinely evaluating the effectiveness of the education and 
outreach under subparagraph (3): 
(7) Procedures for improving the education and outreach under subparagraph (3) 
if the goal under subparagraph (5) is not achieved; and 
(8) An annual report to the department, which must include, at a minimum: 
(a) The number of mercury-added lamps recycled under the program; 
\ 
(b) The estimated percentage of mercury-added lamps available for recycling 
that were recycled under the program and, if the percentage of lamps 
recycled in the prior calendar year did not represent an increase from the 
percentage of lamps recycled in the calendar year prior to the prior calendar 
year, recommendations for program modifications to increase the percentage 
of lamps recycled under the program: 
(c) The methodology for estimating the number of mercury-added lamps 
available for recycling, which must include an assumption of the average 
lifespan of a lamp by type of lamp and number of lamps sold by type in the 
years on which the percentage under division (b) is calculated. Proprietary 
information submitted to the department pursuant to this division that is 
identified by the manufacturer as proprietary information is confidential and 
must be handled by the department in the same manner as confidential 
information is handled under section 1310-B: 
(d) A description of the education and outreach under subparagraph (3) and 
an evaluation of the effectiveness of that education and outreach, including a 
description of the methods used to measure consumer awareness of the 
requirement to recycle mercury-added lamps and, beginning with the annual 
report for 2020, the results of an assessment of consumer awareness of the 
program as completed by an independent 3rd-party assessor: 
(e) The location of and contact information for each collection location 
established under the program and an assessment of the convenience of the 
collection system established under the program: 
(f) 
An accounting of the costs associated with implementing and 
administering the program: and 
(g) 
Any recommendations for changes to the program to improve the 
convenience of the collection system, consumer education or program 
evaluation. 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT ·A "to H.P. 1194, L.D. 1668 
B. A manufacturer required to implement a recycling program under this subsection 
shall submit its proposed recycling program for deparhnent review and approval. 
The deparhnent shall solicit public comment on the proposed program before 
approving or denying the program. 
C. Beginning April 1, 2011, a manufacturer not in compliance with this section is 
prohibited from offering any mercury-added lamp for final sale in the State or 
distributing any mercury-added lamp in the State. A manufacturer not in compliance 
with this section shall provide support to retailers to ensure the manufacturer's 
mercury-added lamps are not offered for sale, sold at final sale or distributed in the 
State. 
D. Beginning April 1, 2011, a retailer may not offer for final sale a mercury-added 
lamp produced by a manufacturer not in compliance with this section. 
The 
deparhnent shall notify retailers of the manufacturers of mercury-added lamps not in 
compliance with this section. 
E. Beginning in 2013, and biennially thereafter, the department shall calculate the 
percentage of mercury-added lamps recycled from households covered entities and 
report to the joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over 
natural resources matters on any modifications to the manufacturer recycling 
programs it intends to make to improve mercmy-added lamp recycling rates and any 
recommendations for statutory changes needed to facilitate mercury-added lamp 
collection and recycling. The report may be included in the report required pursuant 
to section 1772, subsection 1. 
F. The department may determme that a manufacturer's recycling program is m 
compliance with paragraph A, subparagraphs (1), (2) and (4) for the collection of 
compact fluornscoo.t lamps from households if the manafacturer provides adequate 
financial support for the collection and recycling of such lamps to municipalities and 
a conservation program established pursuant to Title 35 A, section 10110 and 
implemented by the Efficiency Maine Trust. 
G. 
A deparhnent-approved recycling program under this subsection that is 
collectively implemented by manufacturers of mercury-added lamps must require the 
payment of a flat program participation fee, in lieu of payment of any other fees or 
costs associated with the program's operation, by a manufacturer participating in the 
program that previously offered for sale or distributed in the State any type of 
mercury-added lamps but that no longer offers for final sale or distributes in the State 
any type of mercury-added lamps; except that a manufacturer that previously offered 
for sale or distributed in the State only compact :fluorescent mercury-added lamps but 
that no longer offers for fmal sale or distributes in the State compact :fluorescent 
mercury-added lamps may be required to pay the flat program participation fee only 
for a period beginning on the date the manufacturer stops offering for fmal sale or 
distributing in the State compact :fluorescent mercury-added lamps and ending 5 years 
after that date, after which time the manufacturer must be allowed to continue to 
participate in the program without being required to pay any fees or other costs 
associated with the program's operation. 
H. If, based on the information annually reported to the department under paragraph 
A, subparagraph (8), the department determines that fewer than 25,000 total 
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COMMITTEE AMENDMENT "A" to H.P. 1194, L.D. 1668 
mercury-added lamps were collected in the prior calendar year in the State under all 
recycling programs implemented under this subsection and that the combined 
mercury-added lamp recycling rate in the prior calendar year under all recycling 
programs implemented under this subsection was 10% or greater, the department 
shall develop a process for reducing the scope of the manufacturer recycling program 
required under this subsection and for terminating all program requirements within 
the 3-year period subsequent to that determination. 
(1) In developing the program reduction and termination process under this 
paragraph, the department shall invite the participation of manufacturers that 
have implemented a recycling program under this section. 
(2) 
The program reduction and termination process developed under this 
paragraph must be based on the best available data regarding the collection of 
mercury-added lamps in the State, including, but not limited to: 
(a) The collection activity at each collection location; 
(b) The estimated number of mercury-added lamps in the State still available 
for collection; and 
(c) The total number of mercury-added lamps collected in the prior program 
years. 
(3) Following completion of the development of the program reduction and 
termination process under this paragraph, the department shall submit a report to 
the joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over 
environment and natural resources matters regarding its findings and 
recommendations for implementing that process, including any proposed 
legislation. The rep01t under this subparagraph may be included in the report 
required under section 1772, subsection 1. 
After reviewing the report the 
committee may report out a bill to implement the recommendations contained in 
the report or to otherwise facilitate a reduction and termination of the 
manufacturer recycling program required under this subsection.' 
Amend the bill by relettering or renumbering any nonconsecutive Part letter or 
section number to read consecutively. 
SUMMARY 
This amendment, which is the majority report of the committee, amends the bill as 
follows. 
1. It amends the definition in the bill for the term "covered entity" to mean a person 
who at any one time presents for drop off at a collection location participating in a 
depa1tment-approved program for the recycling of mercury-added lamps any number of 
compact fluorescent mercury-added lamps or 10 or fewer mercury-added lamps that are 
not compact fluorescent mercury-added lamps. 
2. It amends the collection system requirements under the bill to require that no later 
than January 1, 2020, the collection system must provide at least 90% ofresidents with a 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 'A" to H.P. 1194, L.D. 1668 
permanent collection location or nonpermanent collection location available on a periodic 
basis within 15 miles of their residence. 
3. It removes specific consumer awareness requirements in the bill and instead 
requires that a mercury-lamp recycling program annually increase consumer awareness. 
4. It removes from the bill the requirement for a mercury-lamp recycling program to 
provide a minimum half-time employee dedicated to implementing the program. 
5. It provides for payment of a flat program participation fee by manufacturers that 
have stopped offering for sale or distributing in the State mercury-added lamps. 
6. It establishes a threshold for development by the Department of Environmental 
Protection, with input from manufacturers of mercury-added lamps, of a process to 
reduce the scope of the manufacturer recycling program and to terminate all program 
requirements. 
The department is required to submit a repo1t to the joint standing 
committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over environment and natural resources 
matters regarding its findings and recommendations for reducing and terminating the 
program, and the committee is authorized to report out a bill to implement those 
recommendations. 
The amendment makes other technical corrections to the bill. 
FISCAL NOTE REQUIRED 
(See attached) 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
Approved: 05/19/19 :wae. 
LD 1668 
LR2467(02) 
An Act To Implement Recommendations of the Department of Environmental Protection Regarding 
the State's Mercury-added Lamp Law 
Fiscal Note for Bill as Amended by Committee Amendment ~· { J-{ ..-:fl 7) 
Committee: Environment and Natural Resources 
Fiscal Note Required: Yes 
Fiscal Note 
Minor cost increase - General Fund 
Fiscal Detail and Notes 
Any additional costs to the Department of Environmental Protection as a result of changes to rules regarding the 
mercury-added lamp law are anticipated to be minor and can be absorbed within existing budgeted resources. 
LR2467(02) - Fiscal Note - Page 1 of 1