Re: [greenyes] Hawaii Bottle Bill Fight

[lkingeco2@no.address]

GreenYes Colleagues,

The last ditch effort to stall the bottle bill is a transparent attempt to 
thwart the will of the people and the Legislature.  Implementing regulations are 
long overdue.

What we are seeing is a quiet end-run by the executive, which is being 
manipulated by the beverage industry as an excuse to delay implementation.  No state 
given more time to implement a bottle bill, as far as I know.

Hawaii's bottle bill is the first beverage deposit system breakthrough since 
1986.  Local government and state legislators were the driving force, with a 
supportive executive branch.

Environmental and community groups helped get the bill through the conference 
committee in the second year of the Legislature.  The beverage and grocery 
industry were caught in a unique set of circumstances, having promised many 
years earlier to set up an effective voluntary system and failing to follow 
through.

Gov. Lingle initially promised repeal of the legislation, but quit when it 
became clear that the law enjoys broad bipartisan support in the Legislature and 
strong public backing.

Perhaps supporters of the bottle bill in the 10 states with deposit programs 
should send letters of support to Rep. Hermina Morita, the author of the 
bottle bill, addressing the unnecessarily slow pace of action by the executive 
branch in developing implementing regulation.


                                                                              
      Lance King
                                                                              
      Chairman
                                                                              
      Community Solutions
                                                                              
      Tel: 703/536-7282