Amends TCA Title 68, Chapter 211.

This bill makes changes to the Solid Waste Management Act of 1991, as described below.<br /> <br /> Present law requires each municipal solid waste region to submit its plan for a 10-year disposal capacity and for achieving compliance with the waste reduction and recycling goal, to the department of environment and conservation by July 1, 1994. Present law requires the plan to be formulated in strict compliance with provisions for such plans contained in the Solid Waste Management Act (SWMA). Present law requires the department to approve the plan if it adequately addresses each element required by the SWMA. If a plan is disapproved, present law requires the department to state in detail the reasons for such disapproval. The region must review any disapproved plan and resubmit a plan that corrects all deficiencies to the department within 60 days of receiving the letter of disapproval.<br /> <br /> Under present law, if the commissioner of environment and conservation approves the plan, the municipal solid waste region or solid waste authority, if one has been formed, may also regulate the flow of collected municipal solid waste generated within the region. Prior to the adoption of any resolution declaring the necessity of requiring mandatory flow of municipal solid waste, present law requires the region or authority, following one or more public hearings, to demonstrate in writing to the commissioner that it has considered the utilization of any municipal solid waste management facility in existence within the region on July 1, 1991, which meets the proposed or final federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). Present law requires the region or authority to show that its decision not to use the existing facility is based on certain factors.<br /> <br /> This bill requires the department to exercise general supervision over:<br /> <br /> (1) The operation and maintenance of solid waste processing facilities and disposal facilities or sites in this state, pursuant to the Tennessee Solid Waste Disposal Act; and<br /> <br /> (2) All the features of operation and maintenance of a processing or disposal facility that affect or may affect the:<br /> <br /> (A) Public health or safety of the area in which the facility operates;<br /> <br /> (B) Quality of the environment of the area in which the facility operates;<br /> <br /> (C) Proper processing and disposal of solid waste; or<br /> <br /> (D) Enforcement of state law or actions authorized by state law.<br /> <br /> This bill authorizes the commissioner to investigate a solid waste processing or disposal facility as often as the commissioner deems necessary.<br /> <br /> This bill authorizes the board for a municipal solid waste management region to adopt and enforce rules governing the operation and maintenance of solid waste processing and solid waste disposal facilities, operations, and sites. This bill authorizes a municipality, city, town, or local board of health to adopt and enforce rules or ordinances that are equally as stringent or more stringent than those adopted by the commissioner, as long as the rules or ordinances are consistent with the purposes of the SWMA.<br /> <br /> This bill subjects a person who violates or fails to comply with a region's or authority's restriction on out-of-region solid waste to a civil penalty of at least $5,000 per violation. Each vehicle that is accepted with solid waste material from out of region is a separate violation and each day that a violation continues is a separate violation. Additionally, a person is liable for any damages to the state, county, or city resulting from a violation.<br /> <br /> This bill requires all funds:<br /> <br /> (1) From the civil penalty to be allocated to the solid waste department of the county in which the violation occurred, or the county solid waste authority of the county in which the violation occurred; and also requires the funds to be placed in a special fund and used only for solid waste diversion; and<br /> <br /> (2) From assessed damages to be allocated to the state, county, or city damaged by the violation; and also requires the funds to be placed in a special fund for identified damage repair. This bill requires any funds remaining after damage repair is completed to be used for solid waste diversion.<br /> <br /> All civil penalties or damages under this bill must be assessed as follows:<br /> <br /> (1) The commissioner must issue an assessment against a person responsible for a violation of the SWMA upon discovery of the violation, including an assessment of the damage caused by the violation. The commissioner is required to provide notice of the assessment by certified mail, return receipt requested;<br /> <br /> (2) A person against which an assessment has been issued may petition the commissioner for a review of the assessment and hearing within 30 days after the date the assessment is served;<br /> <br /> (3) If a petition for review of the assessment is not timely filed, then the violator is deemed to have consented to the assessment and the assessment becomes final;<br /> <br /> (4) If an assessment becomes final because of a person's failure to appeal either the commissioner's assessment or the board's order, then the commissioner is required to apply to the appropriate court for a judgment and to seek execution of the judgment. The court is required to treat the failure to appeal the assessment or order as a confession of judgment in the amount of the assessment; and<br /> <br /> (5) The commissioner is required to institute proceedings for an assessment in the chancery court of the county in which the violation or failure to comply occurred. Pursuant to this bill, the court is an appropriate venue for the proceeding.<br /> <br /> This bill authorizes the following factors to be considered in the assessment of damages:<br /> <br /> (1) The harm done to public health or the environment;<br /> <br /> (2) The economic benefit gained by the violator;<br /> <br /> (3) The amount of effort put forth by the violator to attain compliance; and<br /> <br /> (4) Any unusual or extraordinary enforcement costs incurred by the commissioner.<br /> <br /> This bill authorizes damages to this state to include any reasonable expenses incurred in investigating and enforcing violations of the SWMA, and in restoring the air, water, land, and other property, including animal, plant, and aquatic life, of this state to their former condition.<br />