Amend the bill by striking out the title and substituting the following:

Amend the bill by striking out all of sections 3 to 7 and inserting the following:

Amend the bill by relettering or renumbering any nonconsecutive Part letter or section number to read consecutively.

summary

This amendment removes provisions in the bill proposing that distributors be required to pick up similar quantities of beverage containers as were sold to dealers or their redemption centers and provisions proposing to require that persons redeeming more than 1,000 empty containers sign a declaration indicating that those containers were collected in Maine.

The amendment clarifies provisions in the bill allowing distributors to refuse to accept beverage containers processed in a way that has reduced the container's value below current market recycling value. Distributors are still required, under existing law, to accept beverage containers that are empty, unbroken and reasonably clean. The Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Resources is directed to adopt routine technical rules establishing the method for determining the current market recycling value of beverage containers. Those rules may authorize the use of a 3rd-party vendor to make that determination and must prescribe how payment for those 3rd-party vendor costs will be allocated among the parties involved.

The amendment also clarifies that the Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Resources may revoke a dealer or redemption center license if the dealer or redemption center is adjudged to have committed a violation of the laws pertaining to the acceptance of empty beverage containers and the payment of refund values and handling fees.