Whereas, Maine hospitals presently dispose of biomedical waste either by incineration at their own facilities or by shipping the waste out of state; and

Whereas, the 5 hospitals that presently dispose of their biomedical waste by incineration face imminent shutdown of their incinerators due to requirements of the federal Clean Air Act; and

Whereas, these hospitals must seek other methods to dispose of their biomedical waste since they are unable to bring their incinerators into compliance with the federal Clean Air Act without the expenditure of substantial sums of money, and compliance still is not guaranteed; and

Whereas, the other Maine hospitals face increasing costs to dispose of their biomedical waste at out-of-state facilities; and

Whereas, increasing disposal costs for biomedical waste will further increase hospital costs, thereby contributing to the cost of health care in the State; and

Whereas, present law needs to be amended to allow commercial biomedical waste treatment facilities that do not meet present limited exemptions to operate; and

Whereas, in the judgment of the Legislature, these facts create an emergency within the meaning of the Constitution of Maine and require the following legislation as immediately necessary for the preservation of the public peace, health and safety; now, therefore,

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:

Sec. 1. 38 MRSA §1310-X, sub-§4, ¶¶A and B, as enacted by PL 1995, c. 588, §1, are amended to read:

A. A commercial biomedical waste disposal or treatment facility, if at least 51% of the facility is owned by a hospital or hospitals as defined in Title 22, section 382, subsection 7, or an affiliated interest or interests as defined in Title 22, section 396-L, subsection 1, paragraph A; and

B. Expansion of a commercial solid waste disposal facility, if the expansion will not result in an increase in the