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An Act To Implement Recommendations of the Department of Environmental Protection Regarding the State's Mercury-added Lamp Law
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  38 MRSA §1672, sub-§1, ¶A-1  is enacted to read:
 
A-1.  "Covered entity" means:
 
(1) A household that is located in the State;
 
(2) An elementary school or a secondary school that is located in the State;
 
(3) A business that is located in the State and employs 100 or fewer individuals; or
 
(4) A nonprofit organization that is located in the State, is exempt from taxation under the United States Internal Revenue Code of 1986, Section 501(c)(3) and employs 100 or fewer individuals.
Sec. 2. 38 MRSA §1672, sub-§1, ¶C, as enacted by PL 2009, c. 272, §1, is amended to read:
 
C. "Municipal collection site" means a solid waste disposal facility, transfer station, storage facility or recycling facility at which mercury-added lamps from householdscovered entities are collected for recycling that is municipally owned or operated or operated by a regional association.
Sec. 3.  38 MRSA §1672, sub-§1, ¶¶E and F  are enacted to read:
 
E.  "Population center" means an urbanized area or urban cluster, as defined by the United States Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census to identify areas of high population density and urban land use with a population of 2,500 or greater.
 
F.  "Proprietary information" means information that is a trade secret or production, commercial or financial information the disclosure of which would impair the competitive position of the submittor and which is not otherwise publicly available.
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.  Effective January 1, 2011, eachEach manufacturer of mercury-added lamps sold or distributed for household use in the State for use by covered entities on or after January 1, 2001 shall individually or collectively implement a department-approved program for the recycling of mercury-added lamps from householdscovered entities.
 
A. The recycling program required under this subsection must include, but is not limited to:
 
(1) Convenient collection locations locatedsites adequate to serve the needs of covered entities in rural and urban areas throughout the State where residentscovered entities can drop off their householdmercury-added lamps without cost, including but not limited to municipal collection sites and participating retail establishments;. The program must include a method of determining the adequate number and geographic distribution of collection sites 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 site 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 sites but that does not otherwise meet this requirement.
 
Unless otherwise approved by the commissioner, the collection system implemented under the program:
 
(a) Must provide at least 2 collection sites within a population center of at least 30,000 residents and an additional collection site for each additional 30,000 residents within the population center; and
 
(b) Must ensure that the collection sites 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 sites;
 
(2) Handling and recycling equipment and practices in compliance with the universal waste rules adopted pursuant to section 1319-O, subsection 1, paragraph F, with subsection 6 if a crushing device is used and with all other applicable requirements;
 
(3) EffectiveProvision 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, including, but not limited to,must, at a minimum, include posters, window clings and point-of-purchase signs and other materialsthat are provided to retail establishmentscollection sites 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; and
 
(4) An annual report to the department on the number of mercury-added lamps recycled under the manufacturer's program, the estimated percentage of mercury-added lamps available for recycling that were recycled under the program and the methodology for estimating the number of mercury-added lamps available for recycling, an evaluation of the effectiveness of the recycling program, recommendations for increasing the number of lamps recycled under the recycling program and an accounting of the costs associated with administering and implementing the recycling program.
 
(5) A goal of 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 sites implemented under the program to 50% by the end of the 2020 program year and to 80% by the end of the 2023 program year;
 
(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;
 
(8) At a minimum, a half-time employee of one or more manufacturers whose job duties are dedicated to implementing the program in the State; and
 
(9) 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 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 and every 2 years thereafter, 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 site 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.
 
B. A manufacturer required to implement a recycling program under this subsection shall submit its proposed recycling program for department review and approval. The department 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 department 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 householdscovered 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 mercury-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 determine that a manufacturer's recycling program is in compliance with paragraph A, subparagraphs (1), (2) and (4) for the collection of compact fluorescent lamps from households if the manufacturer 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.
 
SUMMARY
This bill, which is reported out by the Joint Standing Committee on Environment and Natural Resources pursuant to Joint Order 2019, H.P. 883, implements the Department of Environmental Protection's recommendations regarding the State's mercury-added lamp law as included in the department's annual report on the State's product stewardship programs.
The bill makes a number of changes to the State's mercury-added lamp law, including the following.
1. It amends the scope of mercury-added lamp recycling programs to require acceptance by such programs of mercury-added lamps from covered entities, which are defined in the bill as households, elementary schools or secondary schools located in the State; businesses located in the State that employ 100 or fewer individuals; and nonprofit organizations located in the State that are exempt from taxation under the United States Internal Revenue Code of 1986, Section 501(c)(3) and employ 100 or fewer individuals. Under current law, such recycling programs are required to accept mercury-added lamps only from households.
2. It revises the requirements for mercury-added lamp recycling programs, including provisions regarding collection sites and education and outreach efforts, and adds program performance goals.
3. It clarifies the information required to be reported annually to the department by manufacturers of mercury-added lamps.
The committee has not taken a position on the substance of the bill and by reporting this bill out, the committee is not suggesting and does not intend to suggest that it agrees or disagrees with any aspect of this bill. The committee is reporting the bill out for the sole purpose of obtaining a printed bill that can be referred to the committee for a public hearing and subsequent committee action in the normal course.