Establishes the bottle redemption fraud task force to provide the governor and the legislature with information on the fraud, enforcement, and reporting requirements related to the New York state returnable container act.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
2603
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 26, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. HYNDMAN -- read once and referred to the Commit-
tee on Environmental Conservation
AN ACT to establish the bottle redemption fraud task force; and provid-
ing for the repeal of such provisions upon the expiration thereof
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The legislature hereby establishes the bottle redemption
2 fraud task force (referred to hereinafter as the "task force") to
3 conduct a comprehensive study of the fraud, enforcement, and reporting
4 requirements related to the New York state returnable container act.
5 § 2. (a) Such task force shall consist of fifteen members that shall
6 be appointed as follows: the state attorney general or his/her desig-
7 nee; the commissioner of the department of taxation and finance or
8 his/her designee; the commissioner of the department of environmental
9 conservation or his/her designee; the state comptroller or his/her
10 designee; the chairman of the state liquor authority or his/her desig-
11 nee; the commissioner of the department of agriculture and markets or
12 his/her designee; one member shall be appointed by the district attor-
13 neys association of the state of New York; two members shall be
14 appointed by the temporary president of the senate and two members shall
15 be appointed by the speaker of the assembly, one shall be an individual
16 who represents a municipality, one shall be an individual who represents
17 a deposit initiator, one shall be an individual who represents a redemp-
18 tion center, and one shall be an individual who represents a wholesale
19 distributor; and four members shall be appointed by the governor, one
20 shall be an individual who represents a deposit initiator and one shall
21 be an individual who represents a retailer.
22 (b) The task force shall be chaired by the attorney general or his/her
23 designee thereof.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD07104-01-3
A. 2603 2
1 (c) Members of the task force shall receive no compensation for their
2 services but shall be reimbursed for their actual expenses incurred in
3 the performance of their duties in the work of the task force.
4 (d) Appointed members shall, to the greatest extent practicable have
5 by education or experience, knowledge of organized retail theft.
6 (e) The task force is authorized to audit any reverse vending machine.
7 § 3. Appointments shall be made within 60 days of the effective date
8 of this act. Any vacancies in the membership of the task force shall be
9 filled in the same manner provided for in the initial appointment.
10 § 4. The task force may consult with any organization, government
11 entity, or person, in the development of its report required under
12 section five of this act.
13 § 5. On or before one year after the effective date of this act, the
14 task force shall submit to the governor, the temporary president of the
15 senate and the speaker of the assembly a report containing, but not
16 limited to, the following information based on available data:
17 (a) A review of laws and regulations regarding the New York state
18 returnable container act and relevant civil and criminal penalties
19 related to the act;
20 (b) The need for interagency coordination of public education,
21 outreach, and prevention programs for retail stores, redemption centers,
22 municipalities, agents acting on behalf of the deposit initiators that
23 provide pickup services, and any other identified entities;
24 (c) The fiscal impact of fraudulent bottle redemptions and deposits in
25 the state of New York;
26 (d) The status of current enforcement efforts and recommendations on
27 what could be done to improve enforcement, including the addition of
28 more employees;
29 (e) A review of inter-state bottle redemption fraud, including, to the
30 extent practicable, information on the number of containers that origi-
31 nate from out-of-state shipments and a review of the practice of redeem-
32 ing beverage containers purchased out-of-state; and
33 (f) Recommended legislative, regulatory and enforcement solutions to
34 address fraudulent bottle redemptions and deposits, including, but not
35 limited to, inter-state initiatives.
36 § 6. This act shall take effect immediately and shall expire 24 months
37 after it shall have become a law when upon such date the provisions of
38 this act shall be deemed repealed.
