Published: March 23, 2009 09:43 pm      

Bottle bill faces uphill climb in last 3 weeks

CHARLESTON — Time is running out in this legislative session, and that is becoming a major factor in an effort to get a “bottle bill” enacted.

A House judiciary subcommittee wrangled over the proposal more than an hour Monday but reached no decision.

For the seventh year now, the West Virginia Citizen Action Group has attempted to impose a refundable deposit on all beverage containers.

The intent is to provide an incentive to halt the spread of highway litter and encourage others to pick up such refuse along roads.

“I think it would be a great goal to get the bill to the full judiciary committee and looked at by even more members,” Linda Frame, program director for WV-CAG, said afterward.

For nearly 45 minutes, Delegate Patti Schoen, R-Putnam, peppered the subcommittee counsel with a variety of questions.

Delegate Barbara Fleischauer, D-Monongalia, the committee chair, stopped the meeting once Schoen’s line of questioning ended, but gave no indication when the panel would meet again.

One of Schoen’s major concerns was that the bill might leave open the prospect of city and county governments imposing a deposit on their own.

The committee attorney, however, didn’t think this is possible, telling her, “This isn’t enabling legislation.”

If the bill reaches the full judiciary panel, it would mean that one-fourth of the House could pass judgment on it.

Even if it clears that one, the bill yet must pass muster before the finance committee, and Monday marked the start of the last three weeks.

The original draft has been altered by reducing the deposit from 10 to 5 cents. Not since the deposit has been proposed has such a bill ever reached a floor for a vote.

“I think we’ve got some support up there,” Frame said of the full judiciary committee. “You have a broader group of folks that will have a chance to look at the bill before the session is over.”

Asked about her chances with the finance panel, Frame added, “Getting it through judiciary would be a big achievement at this point.

“But our days are running out, as it is with all the bills.”

— E-mail: mannix@register-herald.com