Amends TCA Title 4; Title 5; Title 6; Title 39; Title 57; Title 62; Title 68; Title 69 and Title 70.

This bill creates a new commission and enacts other provisions with the stated legislative intent of developing and implementing a comprehensive approach to addressing litter in this state. Prior to the development of programs by the commission and the submission of reports by the commission (as discussed below), the Tennessee advisory commission on intergovernmental relations (TACIR) will research, evaluate, and develop recommendations in order to determine the most effective methods and actions necessary to effectuate the purposes of this bill. COMMISSION This bill creates the Tennessee CLEAN commission to consist of 13 state residents, as follows: (1) Four persons appointed by the governor to include: one representative of county governments; one representative of the agriculture industry; one representative of the solid waste industry; and one representative of the conservation community; (2) Three persons appointed by the speaker of the senate to include: one representative of retailers who sell or give away deposit beverage containers or carryout bags; one representative of manufacturers or distributors of deposit beverage containers or carryout bags; and one representative of businesses that utilize recycled glass, aluminum, or plastic in their manufacturing operations; (3) Three persons appointed by the speaker of the house to include: one representative of retailers who sell or give away deposit beverage containers or carryout bags; one representative of manufacturers or distributors of deposit beverage containers or carryout bags; and one representative of businesses that utilize recycled glass, aluminum, or plastic in their manufacturing operations; and (4) The commissioners of environment and conservation, transportation, and agriculture, or the commissioners' designees, who will serve as a voting ex officio members. Except for staggered, initial appointments, the terms of the members of the commission appointed by the speakers will be four years and the terms of the members of the commission appointed by the governor will be six years. The commission will meet at least quarterly. Commission members will not receive compensation for their services but will receive reimbursement for expenses incurred in attending meetings of the commission and for travel incident thereto. This bill schedules the commission for sunset on June 30, 2024. BILL PURPOSES and COMMISSION'S DUTIES This bill states that it has the following purposes, and that such purposes must be completed and implemented by June 30, 2023: (1) Create and implement a program for plastic, glass, and aluminum beverage containers which utilizes a redemption deposit value to incentivize consumers to collect and deliver beverage containers to redemption centers in order to collect the redemption deposit value; (2) Reduce a key constituent of litter on the landscape, source of contamination to recycling systems, source of injury to wildlife and livestock, and threat to this state's agricultural industry by developing a carryout bag reduction program to address the proliferation of carryout bags; and (3) Develop and implement a statewide litter program to comprehensively address litter prevention and reduction. This bill establishes the following duties of the commission in developing the programs described above: (1) Determine the numerical monetary amount of the redemption deposit value for individual beverage containers in order to meet the purposes of this chapter. This amount must be at least 5 cents per individual beverage container and must be an amount sufficient to set and meet an 85-percent minimum annual beverage container redemption goal by the third full year of the program being implemented, and must maintain that level thereafter; (2) Determine how unclaimed monies generated from a beverage container program is utilized to meet the purposes of this bill; (3) Develop and implement a system to prevent fraud and abuse of programs; (4) Establish civil penalties to deter fraud; and (5) Take any other action directly related to the development of such programs and to effectuate the purposes of this bill generally. This bill requires the commission to prepare and submit a report to the governor and the general assembly upon its implementation of the programs that details the operational framework of the programs, and thereafter to prepare and submit a financial report on the program to the governor and the general assembly between July 1 and July 15 of each year.