Florida Senate - 2015 CS for SB 912 By the Committee on Environmental Preservation and Conservation; and Senator Bean 592-03277-15 2015912c1 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 hazardous substances released or threatened to be 7 released from the receiving facility or site under 8 certain 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, a person who sells, transfers, or arranges for the 49 transfer of recycled and recovered materials to a facility owned 50 or operated by another person for the purpose of reclamation, 51 recycling, manufacturing, or reuse of such materials is relieved 52 from liability for hazardous substances released or threatened 53 to be released from the receiving facility. This relief from 54 liability does not apply if the person fails to exercise 55 reasonable care with respect to the management and handling of 56 the recycled and recovered materials, or if the arrangement for 57 reclamation, recycling, manufacturing, or reuse of such 58 materials was not reasonably expected to be legitimate based on 59 information generally available to the person at the time of the 60 arrangement. For the purpose of this subsection, the term 61 “recycled and recovered materials” means scrap paper; scrap 62 plastic; scrap glass; scrap textiles; scrap rubber, other than 63 whole tires; scrap metal; or spent lead-acid or nickel-cadmium 64 batteries or other spent batteries. The term includes minor 65 amounts of material incident to or adhering to the scrap 66 material as a result of its normal and customary use before 67 becoming scrap. The term does not include hazardous waste. This 68 subsection applies to causes of action accruing on or after July 69 1, 2015, and applies retroactively to causes of action accruing 70 before July 1, 2015, for which a lawsuit has not been filed. 71 Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2015.