July 17, 2007
Bottle bill doesn't gain ground
By Matthew Eisley
A bill to charge a dime's deposit on beverage bottles to help fight litter got a hearing today, but went quickly back on the shelf.
The bill was uncapped today in the Senate Commerce Committee, where supporters and detractors debated its merits. But no vote was taken or contemplated.
"It will not be heard anymore this session, because in my opinion it would not pass," said committee Chairman R.C. Soles, a Tabor City Democrat and lawyer. "It will still be here in the short session. If there's a groundswell of support for it, we'll consider it."
Facing opposition from more than two dozen corporations and powerful lobbying interests, nowhere near a majority of the committee's 26 members would vote for the bill, said its main sponsor, Sen. Doug Berger, a Youngsville Democrat and lawyer.
"I have touched no bill since I have been in the legislature that was more popular with the people -- or more despised by the opposition," he said. "The impetus has got to come from people putting pressure on their legislators."
Despite the lack of a vote, some senators expressed frustration with North Carolina's growing litter problem. Last year the state spent $16.6 million to remove 10.1 million pounds of roadside litter.
"What we're doing now is not working," Sen. Bill Purcell, a Laurinburg Democrat and retired doctor, told his colleagues.
http://www.newsobserver.com/politics/story/640258.html
