Minnesota Session Laws - 1995, Regular Session

                             CHAPTER 111-H.F.No. 47 
                  An act relating to solid waste; merging two 
                  conflicting amendments to the solid waste generator 
                  assessment statute that were enacted in 1994; 
                  correcting and clarifying terminology; amending 
                  Minnesota Statutes 1994, section 116.07, subdivision 
                  10; repealing Laws 1994, chapter 510, article 6, 
                  section 1. 
        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
           Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 1994, section 116.07, 
        subdivision 10, is amended to read: 
           Subd. 10.  [SOLID WASTE GENERATOR ASSESSMENTS.] (a) For the 
        purposes of this subdivision,: 
           (1) "assessed waste" means mixed municipal solid waste as 
        defined in section 115A.03, subdivision 21, infectious waste as 
        defined in section 116.76, subdivision 12, pathological waste as 
        defined in section 116.76, subdivision 14, industrial waste as 
        defined in section 115A.03, subdivision 13a, and construction 
        debris as defined in section 115A.03, subdivision 7.; provided 
        that all types of assessed waste listed in this clause do not 
        include materials that are separated for recycling by the 
        generator and that are collected separately from other waste and 
        delivered to a waste facility for the purpose of recycling and 
        recycled, and it also does not include waste generated outside 
        of Minnesota; 
           (2) "noncompacted cubic yard" means a loose cubic yard of 
        assessed waste; 
           (3) "nonresidential customer" means: 
           (i) an owner or operator of a business, including a home 
        operated business, industry, church, nursing home, nonprofit 
        organization, school, or any other commercial or institutional 
        enterprise; 
           (ii) an owner of a building or site containing multiple 
        residences, including a townhome or manufactured home park, 
        where no resident has separate trash pickup, and no resident is 
        separately assessed for such service; and 
           (iii) any other generator of assessed waste that is not a 
        residential customer as defined in clause (6); 
           (4) "periodic waste collection" means each time a waste 
        container is emptied by the person that collects the assessed 
        waste; 
           (5) "person that collects assessed waste" means each person 
        that is required to pay sales tax on solid waste collection 
        services under section 297A.45, or would pay sales tax under 
        that section if the assessed waste was mixed municipal solid 
        waste; and 
           (6) "residential customer" means: 
           (i) a detached single family residence that generates only 
        household mixed municipal solid waste; and 
           (ii) a person residing in a building or at a site 
        containing multiple residences, including a townhome or a 
        manufactured home park, where each resident either (A) is 
        separately assessed for waste collection or (B) has separate 
        waste collection for each resident, even if the resident pays to 
        the owner or an association a monthly maintenance fee which 
        includes the expense of waste collection, and the owner or 
        association pays the waste collector for waste collection in one 
        lump sum. 
           (b) A person that collects assessed waste shall collect and 
        remit to the commissioner of revenue a solid waste generator 
        assessment from each of the person's customers as provided in 
        paragraphs (c) and (d).  A waste management facility that 
        accepts assessed waste shall collect and remit to the 
        commissioner of revenue the solid waste assessment as provided 
        in paragraph (e). 
           (c) Except as provided in paragraph (f), the amount of the 
        assessment for each residential customer is $2 per year.  
        Each waste collector person that collects assessed waste shall 
        collect the assessment annually from each residential customer 
        that is receiving mixed municipal solid waste collection service 
        on July 1 of each year and shall remit the amount actually 
        collected along with the collector's person's first remittance 
        of the sales tax on solid waste collection services, described 
        in section 297A.45, made after October 1 of each year.  For 
        buildings or sites that contain multiple residences that are not 
        separately billed for collection services, the person who 
        collects assessed waste shall collect the assessment for all the 
        residences from the person who is billed for the collection 
        service.  Any amount of the assessment that is received by 
        the waste collector person that collects assessed waste after 
        October 1 of each year must be remitted along with 
        the collector's person's next remittance of sales tax after 
        receipt of the assessment. 
           (d) The amount of the assessment for each nonresidential 
        customer is 60 cents per noncompacted cubic yard of periodic 
        waste collection capacity purchased by the customer., based on 
        the size of the container for the assessed waste.  For a 
        residential customer that generates assessed waste that is not 
        mixed municipal solid waste, the amount of the assessment is 60 
        cents per noncompacted cubic yard of collection capacity 
        purchased for the waste that is not mixed municipal solid waste, 
        based on the size of the container for the waste.  If the 
        capacity purchased is for compacted cubic yards of mixed 
        municipal solid waste, the noncompacted capacity purchased is 
        based on the compaction ratio of 3:1.  The commissioner of 
        revenue, after consultation with the commissioner of the 
        pollution control agency, shall determine, and may publish by 
        notice, compaction rates for other types of waste where they 
        exist and conversion schedules for waste that is managed by 
        measurements other than cubic yards.  Each waste collector 
        person that collects assessed waste shall collect the assessment 
        from each nonresidential customer as part of each statement for 
        payment of waste collection charges and shall remit the 
        amount actually collected along with the next remittance of 
        sales tax after receipt of the assessment. 
           (e) A person who transports assessed waste generated by 
        that person or by another person without compensation shall pay 
        an assessment of 60 cents per noncompacted cubic yard or the 
        equivalent to the operator of the waste management facility to 
        which the waste is delivered.  The operator shall remit the 
        assessments actually collected under this paragraph to the 
        commissioner of revenue as though they were sales taxes under 
        chapter 297A.  This paragraph subdivision does not apply to a 
        person who transports industrial waste generated by that person 
        to a facility owned and operated by that person. 
           (f) The amount of the assessment for each residential 
        customer that is subject to a mixed municipal solid waste 
        collection service for which the customer pays, based on the 
        volume of waste collected, by purchasing specific collection 
        bags or stickers from the waste collector, municipality, or 
        other vendor is either: 
           (1) determined by a method developed by the waste collector 
        or municipality and approved by the commissioner of revenue, 
        which yields the equivalent of approximately a $2 annual 
        assessment per household; or 
           (2) three cents per each 35 gallon unit or less.  If the 
        per unit fee method under this clause is used, it is the 
        responsibility of the waste collector or the municipality who is 
        selling the bags or stickers to remit the amount of the 
        assessment to the department of revenue, according to a payment 
        schedule provided by the commissioner of revenue.  The 
        collection service and assessment under this clause shall be 
        included in the price of the bag or sticker.  
           (g)  The commissioner of revenue shall redesign sales tax 
        forms for solid persons that collect assessed waste collectors 
        to accommodate payment of the assessment.  The amounts remitted 
        under this subdivision must be deposited in the state treasury 
        and credited to the landfill cleanup account established in 
        section 115B.42. 
           (g) For the purposes of this subdivision, a "person that 
        collects mixed municipal solid waste" means each person that is 
        required to pay sales tax on solid waste collection services 
        under section 297A.45, or would pay sales tax under that section 
        if the assessed waste was mixed municipal solid waste.  
           (h) For persons that collect assessed waste and operators 
        of waste management facilities who are required to collect the 
        solid waste generator assessments under this subdivision, and 
        persons who are required to remit the assessment under paragraph 
        (f), and who do not collect and remit the sales tax on solid 
        waste collection services under section 297A.45, the 
        commissioner of revenue shall determine when and in what manner 
        the persons and operators must remit the assessment amounts 
        actually collected. 
           (i) For the purposes of this subdivision, the requirement 
        to "collect" the solid waste generator assessment under 
        paragraph (b) means that the person to whom the requirement 
        applies shall: 
           (i) include the amount of the assessment in the appropriate 
        statement of charges for waste collection services and in any 
        action to enforce payment on delinquent accounts; 
           (ii) accurately account for assessments received; 
           (iii) indicate to generators that payment of the assessment 
        by the waste generator is required by law and inform generators, 
        using information supplied by the commissioner of the agency, of 
        the purposes for which revenue from the assessment will be 
        spent; and 
           (iv) cooperate fully with the commissioner of revenue to 
        identify generators of assessed waste who fail to remit payment 
        of the assessment. 
           (j) The audit, penalty, enforcement, and administrative 
        provisions applicable to taxes imposed under chapter 297A apply 
        to the assessments imposed under this subdivision. 
           (i) (k) If less than $25,000,000 is projected to be 
        available for new encumbrances in any fiscal year after fiscal 
        year 1996 for expenditure from all existing dedicated revenue 
        sources for landfill cleanup and reimbursement costs under 
        sections 115B.39 to 115B.46, by April 1 before the next fiscal 
        year in which the shortfall is projected the commissioner of the 
        agency shall certify to the commissioner of revenue the amount 
        of the shortfall.  To provide for the shortfall, the 
        commissioner of revenue shall increase the assessment under 
        paragraphs (d) and (e) by an amount sufficient to generate 
        revenue equal to the amount of the shortfall effective the 
        following July 1 and shall provide notice of the increased 
        assessment to affected waste generators by May 1 following 
        certification to persons who are required to collect and remit 
        the solid waste generator assessments under this subdivision. 
           Sec. 2.  [REPEALER.] 
           Laws 1994, chapter 510, article 6, section 1, is repealed. 
           Sec. 3.  [EFFECTIVE DATE.] 
           Sections 1 and 2 are effective beginning January 1, 1995. 
           Presented to the governor May 2, 1995 
           Signed by the governor May 3, 1995, 10:52 a.m.