Florida Senate - 2015                                     SB 912
       
       
        
       By Senator Bean
       
       
       
       
       
       4-00533A-15                                            2015912__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to recycled and recovered materials;
    3         amending s. 403.727, F.S.; exempting a person who
    4         sells, transfers, or arranges for the transfer of
    5         recycled and recovered materials from liability for
    6         solid waste released or threatened to be released from
    7         the receiving facility or site, under certain
    8         circumstances; defining the term “recycled and
    9         recovered materials”; providing retroactive
   10         application under certain circumstances; providing an
   11         effective date.
   12          
   13  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   14  
   15         Section 1. Subsection (4) of section 403.727, Florida
   16  Statues, is amended, present subsection (8) of that section is
   17  redesignated as subsection (9), and a new subsection (8) is
   18  added to that section, to read:
   19         403.727 Violations; defenses, penalties, and remedies.—
   20         (4) In addition to any other liability under this chapter,
   21  and subject only to the defenses set forth in subsections (5),
   22  (6), and (7), and (8):
   23         (a) The owner and operator of a facility;
   24         (b) Any person who at the time of disposal of any hazardous
   25  substance owned or operated any facility at which such hazardous
   26  substance was disposed of;
   27         (c) Any person who, by contract, agreement, or otherwise,
   28  arranged for disposal or treatment, or arranged with a
   29  transporter for transport for disposal or treatment, of
   30  hazardous substances owned or possessed by such person or by any
   31  other party or entity at any facility owned or operated by
   32  another party or entity and containing such hazardous
   33  substances; and
   34         (d) Any person who accepts or has accepted any hazardous
   35  substances for transport to disposal or treatment facilities or
   36  sites selected by such person,
   37  
   38  is liable for all costs of removal or remedial action incurred
   39  by the department under this section and damages for injury to,
   40  destruction of, or loss of natural resources, including the
   41  reasonable costs of assessing such injury, destruction, or loss
   42  resulting from the release or threatened release of a hazardous
   43  substance as defined in the Comprehensive Environmental
   44  Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980, Pub. L. No.
   45  96-510.
   46         (8) In order to promote the reuse and recycling of
   47  recovered materials and to remove potential impediments to
   48  recycling, notwithstanding ss. 376.308 and 403.727, a person who
   49  sells, transfers, or arranges for the transfer of recycled and
   50  recovered materials to a facility owned or operated by another
   51  person for the purpose of reclamation, recycling, manufacturing,
   52  or reuse of such materials is relieved from liability for solid
   53  waste released or threatened to be released from the receiving
   54  facility. This relief from liability does not apply if the
   55  person fails to exercise reasonable care with respect to the
   56  management and handling of the recycled and recovered materials,
   57  or if the arrangement for reclamation, recycling, manufacturing,
   58  or reuse of such materials was not reasonably expected to be
   59  legitimate based on information generally available to the
   60  person at the time of the arrangement. For the purpose of this
   61  subsection, the term “recycled and recovered materials” means
   62  scrap paper; scrap plastic; scrap glass; scrap textiles; scrap
   63  rubber, other than whole tires; scrap metal; or spent lead-acid
   64  or nickel-cadmium batteries or other spent batteries. The term
   65  includes minor amounts of material incident to or adhering to
   66  the scrap material as a result of its normal and customary use
   67  before becoming scrap. The term does not include hazardous
   68  waste. This subsection applies to causes of action accruing on
   69  or after July 1, 2015, and applies retroactively to causes of
   70  action accruing before July 1, 2015, for which a lawsuit has not
   71  been filed.
   72         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2015.