Chapter 218 |
2025 -- H 6351 Enacted 06/26/2025 |
A N A C T |
RELATING TO HEALTH AND SAFETY -- RHODE ISLAND RESOURCE RECOVERY CORPORATION |
Introduced By: Representatives Fellela, Costantino, Fascia, and Perez |
Date Introduced: May 16, 2025 |
It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows: |
SECTION 1. Section 23-19-13 of the General Laws in Chapter 23-19 entitled "Rhode |
Island Resource Recovery Corporation" is hereby amended to read as follows: |
23-19-13. Municipal participation in state program. |
(a)(1) Any person or municipality which intends to transfer, treat, or dispose of solid waste |
originating or collected within the state, or which intends to make arrangements to do so, shall |
utilize, exclusively, a system or facility designated by the corporation as provided under this |
chapter. All transfer stations in existence as of December 1, 1986, are empowered so long as they |
maintain the appropriate license to continue their operations, and the corporation shall not exercise |
its powers under this chapter to compete with their operation and activity. No municipality shall |
have power to engage in, grant any license, or permit for or enter into any contract for the collection, |
treatment, transportation, storage, or disposal of solid waste, and no municipality or any person |
shall engage in any activities within the state, including disposal of solid waste, which would impair |
the ability of the corporation to meet its contractual obligations to its bondholders and others, or |
which would be in competition with the purposes of the corporation as provided in this chapter. |
The corporation shall not be empowered to engage in the transportation, transfer, or storage of solid |
waste, except in temporary situations where a municipality has defaulted in its obligation under this |
section, or in conjunction with its activities at its disposal sites. Provided, however, that municipal |
contracts which were in existence on March 1, 1985, are excepted from this requirement until |
expiration of the original term of the contract or the expiration of any extension approved by the |
corporation, or sooner termination of the contracts, and provided, further, that municipalities |
operating their own landfills on December 1, 1986, shall be free to continue to use the landfills |
until closure of the landfills. Without limiting the generality of the preceding, municipalities and |
persons are expressly empowered to contract with the corporation and/or, subject to the approval |
of the corporation, with a duly licensed private disposal facility for the disposal of solid wastes. |
The approval shall be conditioned upon a finding by the board of commissioners of the corporation |
that any proposed contract with a Rhode Island municipality or person is in conformity with the |
statewide resource recovery system development plan and this chapter, and that the proposed |
contract will not impair the ability of the corporation to meet its contractual obligations to its |
bondholders and others. The contracts may have a maximum total term, including all renewals, of |
up to fifty (50) years. |
(2) The corporation shall charge fees for its solid waste management services that, together |
with other revenues available to the corporation, will, at a minimum, be sufficient to provide for |
the support of the corporation and its operations on a self-sustaining basis, including debt service |
on its bonds and other obligations. |
(b) Insofar as the provisions of this chapter are inconsistent with the provisions of any other |
laws of this state, general, special, or local, restricting the power of any municipality to enter into |
long-term contracts with the corporation, the provisions of this chapter shall be controlling. The |
corporation shall provide suitable and appropriate assistance to communities under these |
circumstances. Notwithstanding the preceding, if the corporation deems it desirable, it may from |
time to time permit municipalities to contract among themselves for the disposal of their wastes. |
(c) Municipalities, along with private producers of waste which contract with the |
corporation for disposal of their wastes, shall continue to be free to make their own arrangements |
for collection of wastes at the source and/or the hauling of wastes to the designated processing |
and/or transfer stations, so long as those arrangements are in compliance with the provisions of |
chapter 18.9 of this title and with this chapter, and any municipal license relating thereto. |
(d) All municipalities and state agencies which are participants in the state waste disposal |
program shall initiate a separation and recycling program within one year after the date on which |
the resource recovery facility utilized by that municipality or agency is operational and accepting |
waste for incineration. |
(e)(1) The corporation and any municipality may enter into a contract or contracts |
providing for or relating to the disposal of solid waste originating in the municipality and the cost |
and expense of the disposal. |
(2) The contract may be made with or without consideration and for a specified or |
unspecified time not to exceed fifty (50) years, and on any terms and conditions which may be |
approved by the municipality and which may be agreed to by the corporation in conformity with |
its contracts with the holders of any bonds or other obligations. Subject to the contracts with the |
holders of bonds, the municipality is authorized and directed to do and perform any and all acts or |
things necessary, convenient, or desirable to carry out and perform the contract and to provide for |
the payment or discharge of any obligation under the contract in the same manner as other |
obligations of the municipality. |
(3) All municipalities that contract with the corporation for the disposal of solid waste shall |
prepare as an addendum to its fiscal year 2010 contract with the corporation and any contracts with |
the corporation for the subsequent years a plan that includes a description of the process by which |
thirty-five percent (35%) of its solid waste will be recycled and fifty percent (50%) of its solid |
waste will be diverted beginning July 1, 2012. This addendum shall include a residential and |
municipal waste stream evaluation, a plan for the reduction of solid waste and recyclables generated |
and the process by which recyclable materials are to be segregated. The corporation shall have the |
right to execute or deny execution of the municipal solid waste and recycling services contract |
pending approval of the addendum. Once the corporation approves this addendum, the municipality |
must implement the plan and report on the results annually to the corporation. The corporation shall |
enforce the provisions of this section pursuant to subdivision (g)(3). |
(4) The corporation shall notify every city or town that it contracts with as to the addendum |
requirements that must be included in contracts to recycle thirty-five percent (35%) and divert fifty |
percent (50%) of solid waste beginning July 1, 2012. |
(f) The municipalities and the state have shared responsibility for the payment of the cost |
of municipal solid waste disposal. The state will pay its share of the cost of the solid waste disposal |
services to be provided by the corporation to the municipalities at its solid waste management |
facilities and its central landfill in the town of Johnston, and at any back-up facility which the |
corporation is required to provide, by providing solid waste disposal operating subsidies as |
provided in subsections (i) and (j). |
(g)(1) The corporation shall charge each municipality with which it has a long-term |
contract for solid waste disposal services a tipping fee per ton of source separated solid waste |
excluding separated recyclable materials, sludge, and demolition debris delivered to any |
corporation facility computed in accordance with this subsection. For purposes of this chapter, |
“fiscal year” shall mean the twelve-month period, July 1 to June 30. The municipal tipping fee shall |
be equal to one hundred seven and one-half percent (107.5%) of the prior fiscal year’s municipal |
tipping fee through the end of the 2009 fiscal year. One dollar and ten cents ($1.10) per ton on all |
garbage, including recycled garbage, collected by the corporation as tipping fee shall be paid to the |
town of Johnston. In addition to any other fees the corporation shall also charge a three (six) dollar |
($3.00) ($6.00) tipping fee per vehicle. Any vehicle carrying municipal solid waste shall be exempt |
from this three (six) dollar ($3.00) ($6.00) tipping fee. All fees collected shall be paid to the town |
of Johnston on a an biannual annual basis. No tipping fee shall be charged for recyclable materials |
delivered to a recycling facility provided by or through the corporation. |
(2) Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision (g)(1), the municipal tipping fee may be |
increased, if, due to the commencement of operation of a new resource recovery facility during the |
previous fiscal year, the state subsidy as calculated pursuant to subsection (i), not considering |
landfill revenues and losses, is projected to be greater than the state subsidy projected by the |
corporation and the department of administration when the projections were officially accepted by |
the corporation on the basis of contracts entered into for the initial resource recovery facility. The |
amount by which the projected state subsidy exceeds the original projections will be apportioned |
between the state and the municipalities in the same ratio as the state subsidy for the previous year |
divided by the number of tons of municipal solid waste processed by the corporation bears to the |
municipal tipping fee for that year. The increased municipal tipping fee herein provided shall be |
subject to the same escalation factor as the municipal tipping fee set forth above. |
(3) The corporation shall establish in the contract, the maximum amount of municipal solid |
waste that each municipality will be entitled to deliver to the corporation at the municipal tipping |
fee. Solid waste in excess of the contract amount will be charged to the municipality at the non- |
municipal rate. In determining the maximum amount of municipal solid waste which will qualify |
for the municipal tipping fee, the corporation shall consider the municipality’s solid waste per |
capita average, the statewide solid waste per capita average, and any other factors that it shall deem |
appropriate. |
(4) Seaweed collected and removed by a municipality shall be deemed “yard waste” for |
purposes of this chapter and any rules, regulations and/or plans promulgated by the corporation |
pursuant to this chapter, and shall be accepted by the corporation at the same rate and cost as all |
other municipal yard waste. |
(h) The corporation, after the initial resource recovery facility becomes operational, shall |
charge each non-municipal user of its facilities a fee per ton equal to the projected annual resource |
recovery system cost less energy revenues and interest earnings on bond reserve funds, if any, |
divided by the projected tons to be processed by the corporation at its resource facilities for the |
year. Landfill costs shall not be considered in the calculation unless landfill costs exceed revenues |
generated at the landfills; in those cases, excess landfill costs will be added to the system costs. |
(i) The annual state subsidy for the cost of disposal of municipal solid waste shall be |
calculated for each fiscal year or portion of each fiscal year according to the following formula: |
The annual state subsidy shall equal the total projected annual resource recovery system costs |
(minus costs associated with the central landfill) for the next fiscal year less the sum of the |
following: (1) projectedProjected resource recovery system revenues for the year; and (2) |
projectedProjected landfill revenues; provided, however, that in the event that the landfill is |
projected to operate at a loss, the amount of the loss shall be added to the subsidy. |
(j)(1) On or before October 1 of each year, the corporation shall submit a budget to the |
director of administration for the succeeding fiscal year using actual resource recovery system |
revenues and costs, and the audit of the preceding fiscal year prepared by the corporation’s |
independent auditors and accepted by the auditor general. On or before December 1 of each year, |
the director of administration, in consultation with the corporation, shall review the budget of the |
corporation and shall determine and certify the annual state subsidy for the succeeding fiscal year |
to the governor who shall submit to the general assembly printed copies of a budget which shall |
include the state subsidy as previously determined in this subsection. The state subsidy |
appropriation shall be on a system basis but shall contain specific appropriations for each resource |
recovery facility. If the amount appropriated exceeds the amount needed for a specific facility, the |
corporation, with the approval of the director of administration, may reallocate the appropriated but |
unadvanced funds to other corporation facilities or costs. If the audit prepared by the corporation’s |
independent auditors indicates that the amounts appropriated and disbursed to the corporation as a |
subsidy were in excess of the amounts which would have been required for the year if actual |
resource recovery system revenues and costs had been used in the calculation of the subsidy, the |
excess shall be credited against the current fiscal year’s subsidy. |
(2) At any time, if the corporation determines that the state subsidy will be insufficient to |
discharge the corporation’s obligations for the current fiscal year, it shall request, in writing, to the |
director of administration for a supplemental appropriation. After review, the director of |
administration will recommend to the governor additional funding for the corporation, and the |
governor after further review, shall submit a supplemental appropriation bill request for the funds |
to the general assembly. |
(3) From the appropriations made by the general assembly, the state controller is authorized |
and directed to draw his or herthe controller’s orders upon the general treasurer every month for |
the payment of those sums that may be required upon receipt by him or herthe controller of |
properly authenticated vouchers. |
(k) If, in any fiscal year, the appropriation for the state subsidy is not made and if the |
corporation has insufficient other funds to discharge its obligations to holders of its bonds and notes |
as certified by the state auditor general, the corporation shall be empowered to charge both |
municipal and non-municipal users whatever fees are necessary to discharge its obligations to |
holders of its bonds and notes, and the municipal tipping fee set forth in subsection (g) shall not be |
applicable for the fiscal year. |
(l) On or after the date established for separation of recyclable solid waste in the statewide |
plan for separation of recyclables by the department of environmental management, only |
segregated solid waste shall be accepted at the corporation’s facilities. |
(m) Costs associated with participation in the state program shall not constitute state |
mandated costs under § 45-13-7. |
SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage. |
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LC002934 |
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