A bill that would change the way Louisville’s Waste Management district is structured is scheduled to go before a Senate committee Wednesday. House Bill 246 — which the House approved last month — deals with a low-profile board called the 109 Board, which oversees waste in the city. The 109 Board is made up of five representatives, all appointed by the mayor.
The bill’s opponents — which include Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer — say its point is to overturn the city’s ban on plastic bags for yard waste. But supporters — among them the Jefferson County League of Cities — say the bag ban isn’t the force behind the legislation, and the measure is simply meant to increase transparency.
“What has taken up a lot of ink, unfortunately, has been a fixation among some people who think that this is all designed to throw out the plastic bag ban,” said bill sponsor Rep. Jerry Miller of Louisville. “That couldn’t be farther from the truth. The leader of the Jefferson County League of Cities is [Jeffersontown] Mayor [Bill] Dieruf. J-town was the first one to ban plastic bags.”
So, which is it? What does House Bill 246 actually do?
More Transparency
One thing everyone agrees on — the fact, not necessarily the merit of the action — is that HB 246 will change the makeup of the 109 Board.
The board currently has five members, all appointed by the Louisville mayor. If this bill is signed into law, it would abolish the current board and create a new seven-member board. That board would include a representative from the Jefferson County League of Cities and the waste haulers’ association.
The bill also sets term limits for the board. Attorney Schuyler Olt, who represents four small cities, said it is meant to increase transparency. “I don’t understand why the 109 Board has so long operated in the dark to where you can’t easily find out even who is on that board. And given the amount of power that it has, it’s not a good situation,” he said. “I think for what the 109 Board is charged to do, which is obviously very important to our well-being, our public health, we just have to have a more transparent, more involved, more engaged solid waste management board.”
‘The Politicians Want Power’
But longtime 109 Board member Joyce St. Clair had a different take. “What it’s about is power,” she said. “It’s simple. You can write paragraph after paragraph, but basically, the politicians want power.”
Even after remaking the 109 Board to include greater representation from small cities and waste haulers, the bill gives small cities another way out from following any of the board’s regulations.
It says the board has the power to adopt rules and regulations, but then adds: “These rules and regulations shall not be enforceable within the boundaries of the city until approved by the legislative body of the city or, if outside of an incorporated municipality, the legislative body of the consolidated local government, where the rule or regulation is intended to apply.”
Which would mean a regulation like the oft-mentioned plastic leaf bag ban, for example, couldn’t be enforced in Beuchel or Shively or Jeffersontown unless their city councils signed off on it, too.
To read the full story, visit https://wfpl.org/proponents-say-bill-isnt-against-plastic-bag-ban-so-what-does-it-do/.