Posted on 05/14/2003 9:02:00 AM PDT by CounterCounterCulture
SACRAMENTO -- A coalition of taxpayer groups said Tuesday that an East Bay senator's much-touted diaper-tax bill stinks politically because it would benefit a single disposable diaper recycling firm that has contributed to the lawmaker's campaign coffers. Though Sen. Don Perata, D-Oakland, is delaying and recasting the measure to shift the proposed tax from consumers to diaper makers, the coalition said it believes buyers would still ultimately pay the cost of creating an unproven recycling program.
"This is a bad bill, plain and simple," said Greg Turner of Californians Allied Against Regressive Taxation.
Aides to Perata, who serves as Senate majority leader, defended the bill as both environmentally important and fair.
Perata's aides acknowledged that a Southern California diaper recycling firm originally brought the idea to the senator.
But the aides said the proposal was not engineered for the benefit of one company and that the recycling program would be open to other firms wanting to get into the business.
"He's not doing it for a single company," said Erin Niemela, Perata's chief of staff. "And it would not apply to a single company."
When Perata unveiled the bill in February, it would have placed a quarter-cent fee on each disposable diaper sold in stores -- for a total annual cost of perhaps $12 to $15 per child.
The measure called for the money -- potentially millions a year -- to pass through the California Integrated Waste Board as grants to cities and counties to create recycling programs.
The senator has since amended the bill to require manufacturers, not consumers, to pay the recycling fee. Aides cited the need to go easy on consumers' pocketbooks as the reason for the change.
Knowaste, the company backing Perata's bill, launched a government-subsidized disposable diaper recycling program last year in Santa Clarita, using its exclusive process.
With critics still questioning its success, a Democratic Southern California lawmaker authored a bill last year that could have promoted the Knowaste system statewide.
Democratic Gov. Gray Davis vetoed the bill.
But Perata, who received a $2,500 campaign donation from Knowaste in October 2002, introduced a similar measure, SB204, this year.
Calls to Knowaste requesting comment were not immediately returned.
Knowaste made campaign contributions to about a dozen Democratic and Republican lawmakers last year, state campaign finance records show.
The firm has spent more than $30,000 lobbying in favor of Perata's bill so far this year. It spent more than $133,000 lobbying on last year's version of the measure.
The bill -- which can be passed solely by Democrats because the diaper levies have been classified as fees and not taxes -- is now before the Senate Environmental Quality Committee.
California FReepers, have your own version of the Boston Tea Party on this one. Send your used disposable diapers to the office of Sen. Don Perata for recycling.
I was not aware that the voting constituents of Senator Don Perata, (D-Oakland) were literate enough to need a newspaper. I thought Perata had taken the necessary steps to keep the population as ignorant as he politically could.
Can you imagine the "aroma" from all the neighbors setting these bundles out for recycling each week?? Can you imagine the poor slob who has to... uh... recycle these?? EEEEE YUCK!!!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.