AJR39: Joint Resolution Text

LRB-2564/1

RCT:kaf:kat

1997 - 1998 LEGISLATURE

1997 Assembly JOINT RESOLUTION 39

March 20, 1997 - Introduced by Representatives Robson, Black, Bock, Hanson, R. Young, Musser, Plouff, J. Lehman, Notestein, Turner, Ward, Boyle, Ryba and Baldwin, cosponsored by Senator Clausing. Referred to Committee on State-Federal Relations.

AJR39,1,2 Relating to: requesting Congress to enact legislation to allow states to control the interstate shipment of solid waste.

AJR39,1,4 Whereas, the amount of solid waste generated in the United States more than doubled from 1960 to 1990; and

AJR39,1,6 Whereas, in the next 15 years, 80% of the landfills that were operating in 1989 will be filled; and

AJR39,1,8 Whereas, Congress, to date, has refused to address nonhazardous solid waste regulation on a national level; and

AJR39,1,12 Whereas, in 1989 this state passed a recycling law that prohibited the disposal of recyclable material in Wisconsin landfills unless the municipality generating the waste had a mandatory recycling program in place; and this applied to municipalities both in Wisconsin and outside of Wisconsin; and

AJR39,1,14 Whereas, the recycling law also required states that ship waste to Wisconsin to have effective landfill siting programs in place; and

AJR39,1,16 Whereas, the U.S. district court for the western district of Wisconsin ruled that both of those provisions violated the U.S. Constitution's commerce clause; and

AJR39,2,3 Whereas, Wisconsin did not appeal the ruling regarding the landfill siting requirement, but did appeal the ruling regarding the provision mandating out-of-state communities to have mandatory recycling programs; and

AJR39,2,5 Whereas, in 1995, the 7th circuit court of appeals upheld the lower court's ruling; and

AJR39,2,8 Whereas, currently, Wisconsin residents are required to recycle to conserve landfill space but the landfills continue to be filled up by nonrecycled waste from neighboring states; and

AJR39,2,11 Whereas, disposal of solid waste is an environmental issue more than a commercial issue and a state should have control over the amount and types of solid waste that enter the landfills in that state; now, therefore, be it

AJR39,2,15 Resolved by the assembly, the senate concurring, That the members of the Wisconsin legislature request Congress to pass legislation allowing a state to mandate recycling programs in all communities -- both inside and outside that state -- that ship solid waste to landfills in that state; and, be it further

AJR39,2,19 Resolved, That the members of the Wisconsin legislature request Congress to pass legislation allowing a state to require another state to have an effective landfill siting program in place if the 2nd state intends to ship solid waste to landfills in the first state; and, be it further

AJR39,2,21 Resolved, That the assembly chief clerk shall provide a copy of this joint resolution to all members of this state's congressional delegation.

AJR39,2,22 (End)