Container and Packaging
Recycling UPDATE
Summer/Fall 2001 Issue

FRANKFORT - Kentucky House Majority Floor Leader Gregory D. Stumbo said he will prefile legislation for the 2002 General Assembly placing a Constitutional Amendment on the ballot to permit a referendum on a beverage container deposit program in the Commonwealth.

Stumbo pointed out that Maine, Michigan and Columbia, Missouri adopted deposit programs by referendum. Kentucky voters changed state law at the ballot box last November, permitting annual meetings of the Legislature.

In a brief session, Stumbo brought House Bill 9 out of the House Elections and Constitutional Amendments Committee in 2001. HB 9 would have placed the question of beverage container deposits on a statewide ballot. The 45-45 tie vote on the house floor amounted to defeat.

The legislation, as written, does not outline a specific program. It essentially presents the following question to Kentucky voters: "Do you want a beverage container deposit system?" If the amendment were approved by voters, the legislature would convene to hammer out specific details of a beverage container deposit law.

Stumbo said he believes that in spite of the setbacks, Kentuckians want to clean up the environment and that a beverage container deposit law will be the most effective way to achieve this.