Georgia lawmakers are trying to rein in misappropriated tire fees and bring focus back to cleaning up illegal tire dumps.
Fees such as the $1 per new tire purchase that consumers pay to clean up tire dumps and recycle tires could no longer be spent on other programs under proposed legislation.
Recently introduced House Bill 811 would stop the state government's practice of collecting fees for one thing – such as scrap tire abatement – and then using the money to offset other budget shortfalls. A companion bill – Senate Resolution 704 – would change the state constitution to let legislators permanently determine where such fees would go.
Both bills are said to have received strong support from local governments, which find they have to make up for the shifted fee monies.
According to reports, some $37 million in scrap tire fees collected over the past decade have been redirected to other state programs. There are other fees collected that are supposed to support such things as hazardous waste cleanup, law enforcement training and even driver’s education, but the governor and state lawmakers have looted those budgets to offset other budget holes.