Massachusetts voters may get chance to decide whether to expand bottle bill

The Republican ^

[matt04]

Calling it “too late” for a legislative solution, proponents of expanding the state’s 5-cent bottle deposit law to more types of beverage containers said they are taking their decade-long fight to the people, filing a ballot petition with the attorney general Wednesday afternoon.

Referencing unsuccessful attempts to push the proposal through the Legislature, Janet Domenitz, executive director of MassPIRG, said people who favor adding the deposit to sports drinks, water and other juice drinks have been patient for long enough.

“It is time for the citizens’ voices to be heard,” she said standing in front of the state office tower where the attorney general’s office was accepting ballot question proposals in light of Wednesday’s filing deadline.

Environmentalists say an expanded redemption law will help increase recycling and reduce litter, but opponents argue is it another tax on consumers and will burden retailers who will have to collect additional containers. Since it went into effect in 1983, the 5-cent deposit has only applied to beer and carbonated beverages.

A perennial proposal on Beacon Hill, it won support in the Senate twice – once this year in the fiscal 2014 budget and last year in an economic development bill. Both times it was dropped from the bills during conference committee talks when lawmakers privately work out differences between House and Senate bills.

In October 2011, advocates for expanding the deposit law abandoned a ballot push. At the time, Domenitz said backers of the ballot measure had been girding for a clash with "well-heeled" opponents of the bottle recycling bill, from "the liquor lobby" to Coca Cola. "We had reason to believe that they were already amassing dollars to spend against us," Domenitz said at the time. "They're very well-heeled. They're very well-financed."

[matt04]

Liberal love make work work. Instead just tossing a empty bottle or can in a recycling bin, I have to carry it around when done, drive to a redemption center, feed it to a machine, get a receipt, give the receipt to a clerk, get my money back.

Did is ever occur to the idiots at MassPIRG, that maybe, just maybe they haven't passed anything because the citizens don't like the deposit?

[ClearCase_guy]

The state legisalture in MA isn't Liberal enough? They won't pass this crazy bottle bill expansion?
Take it to the people!
Get the community organizers involved!
If you want stupid, radical, extremist stuff worked into the legal code, the community organizers are the ones who can ram that down everyone's throat!

[TheRhinelander]

It won’t get approved. The repeal of the gas tax will get approved but the legislature will ignore it unless it’s binding.

[NonValueAdded]

IIRC the Massachusetts bottle bill has killed. I believe the first fatality came when someone was collecting cans for their deposit value along the railroad tracks near Framingham.

[camle]

the key thing that doesn’t seem to be in the story is that if you pay the nickle deposit, then don’t return the bottle for whatever the reason, the state gets to keep your nickle. the state ends up getting thousands of free money, and the people get more hassles and more government ripoffs.

[JoanneSD]

Califorinia even collects 10 cents on the gallon container for water..plus a variety of other liquids

[massgopguy]

And how much money does MasPiG want as a kickback? Is this vote going to be a “Negative Check Off” like the scam they ran at UMASS where they got a $7 fee from each unsuspecting student? They also only form councils on campus’ where the hidden fee is allowed. MassPig only cares about MassPig.

[matt04]

At my school in MA the student council voted to make the MassPIRG fee mandatory IIRC.

Several times a month they had some table set up in a building lobby with MassPIRG literature advocating for high speed rail in western MA (my favorite), carbon taxes, text book costs, etc. Once in early Nov. they were supposed to be outside talking about global warming. They were forced inside due to snow. They were not amused when I pointed out the irony and told me to get lost.

[Ray76]

All these Public Interest Research Groups are left wing fronts. They scoop up college kids to serve as volunteers/foot soldiers.

[Oatka]

Somebody should file a ballot petition to repeal the entire deposit law just to give these libs heart failure. They’d be so busy denouncing the anti provision, they wouldn’t have time to promote their own.

[nascarnation]

Like Baraq’s bank tellers replacing ATMs, and gas pumpers replacing self serve, this sounds like a perfect way to create more “career” positions in the “new normal”.

I think we need federal recycling cadets as a branch of the TSA.