O.C.G.A. § 12-8-27.1 (2019)
(Effective July 1, 2022.) Solid Waste Trust Fund
(a)(1) The state treasurer shall establish a separate trust fund in the state treasury that shall be known as the Solid Waste Trust Fund to which all funds within the solid waste trust fund previously established by this subsection shall be transferred. The director shall serve as trustee of the Solid Waste Trust Fund.
(2) The state treasurer shall invest the money held in the Solid Waste Trust Fund in the same manner in which state funds are invested as authorized by the State Depository Board pursuant to Article 3 of Chapter 17 of Title 50. Interest earned by the money held in the trust fund shall be accounted for separately and shall be credited to the trust fund to be disbursed as other moneys in the trust fund.
(b) Under the authority granted and subject to the conditions imposed by Article III, Section IX, Paragraph VI(r) of the Constitution of Georgia, for the period beginning on July 1, 2022, and ending on June 30, 2032, all of the money collected pursuant to subsection (h) of Code Section 12-8-40.1 shall be annually appropriated to the Solid Waste Trust Fund established by subsection (a) of this Code section and such funds shall not lapse as otherwise required by Article III, Section IX, Paragraph IV(c) of the Constitution of Georgia. Each annual appropriation shall be made through the General Appropriations Act and shall include all of the money collected from such source during the most recently completed fiscal year.
(c) All of the money appropriated to the Solid Waste Trust Fund pursuant to subsection (b) of this Code section shall be dedicated for use only for the following purposes: (1) To take whatever emergency action is necessary or appropriate to assure that the public health or safety is not threatened whenever there is a release or substantial threat of a release of contaminants from a disposal facility; (2) To take preventive or corrective actions where the release of contaminants presents an actual or potential threat to human health or the environment and where the owner or operator has not been
CONSERVATION & NATURAL RES.
identified or is unable or unwilling to perform corrective action, including but not limited to closure and postclosure care of a disposal facility and provisions for providing alternative water supplies; (3) To take such actions as may be necessary to monitor and provide postclosure care of any disposal facility, including preventive and corrective actions, without regard to the identity or solvency of the owner thereof, commencing five years after the date of completing closure; (4) To take such actions as may be necessary to implement the provisions of a scrap tire management program in this state, particularly as may be related to the cleanup of scrap tire disposal piles and facilities, regulation of tire carriers and other handlers, and disbursement of grants and loans to cities, counties, and other persons as may be necessary to implement fully the provisions of this part; and (5) To fulfill any purpose provided in subsection (c) of Code Section
(d) The director shall prepare an accounting of the funds expended pursuant to this Code section during the most recently completed fiscal year to be provided to the Office of Planning and Budget, the House Budget and Research Office, and the Senate Budget and Evaluation Office by January 1 of each year.
(e)(1) If the director determines that a solid waste or special solid waste handling facility has been abandoned, that the owner or operator thereof has become insolvent, or that for any other reason there is a demonstrated unwillingness or inability of the owner or operator to maintain, operate, or close the facility, to carry out postclosure care of the facility, or to carry out corrective action required as a condition of a permit to the satisfaction of the director, the director may implement the applicable financial responsibility mechanisms. The proceeds from any applicable financial responsibility mechanisms shall be deposited into the Solid Waste Trust fund.
(2) The determination of whether there has been an abandonment, default, or other refusal or inability to perform and comply with closure, postclosure, or corrective action requirements shall be made by the director.
History
Code 1981, § 12-8-27.1, enacted by Ga. L. 1990, p. 412, § 1; Ga. L. 1992, p. 3259, § 5; Ga. L. 1992, p. 3276, § 9; Ga. L. 2013, p. 171, § 2/HB 320; Ga. L. 2013, p. 274, § 3/HB 226; Ga. L. 2021, p. 761, § 2/HB 511. Delayed effective date. - Code Section 12-8-27.1 is set out twice in this Code. This version is effective July 1, 2022. For
version effective until July 1, 2022, see the preceding version. The 2021 amendment, effective July 1, 2022, substituted the present provisions of subsection (a) for the former provisions, which read: ‘‘There shall be established the solid waste trust fund. The director shall serve as trustee of the solid waste trust fund. The moneys deposited in
such fund pursuant to this Code section, Code Section 12-8-30.6, and Code Section 12-8-40.1 may be expended by the director, with the approval of the board, for the following purposes:’’; added subsections (b) and (c); redesignated former paragraphs (a)(1) through (a)(4) as present paragraphs (c)(1) through (c)(4), respectively; deleted ‘‘and’’ from the end of paragraph (c)(3), added ‘‘; and’’ at the end of paragraph (c)(4), and added paragraph (c)(5); added subsection (d); redesignated former subsections (b) and (c) as present paragraphs (e)(1) and (e)(2), respectively; substituted ‘‘into the Solid Waste Trust fund’’ for ‘‘in the solid waste trust fund’’ in the second sentence of paragraph (e)(1); and deleted former subsection (d), which read: ‘‘Any interest earned upon the corpus of the solid waste trust fund shall not become a part thereof but shall be paid over to the division to be utilized by the division for administration of the state solid waste management program. Any funds not expended for this purpose in the fiscal year in which they are generated shall be deposited into the state treasury. Nothing in this Code section shall be construed so as to allow the division to retain any funds required by the Constitution of
Georgia to be paid into the state treasury. The division shall comply with all provisions of Part 1 of Article 4 of Chapter 12 of Title 45, known as the ‘Budget Act’; provided, however, that the division shall be exempt from the provisions of Code Section 45-12-92, which requires payment into the state treasury of moneys collected by state agencies.’’
Annotations
Code Commission notes. - The amendment of subsection (a) of this Code section by Ga. L. 2013, p. 171, § 2, irreconcilably conflicted with and was treated as superseded by Ga. L. 2013, p. 274, § 3. See County of Butts v. Strahan, 151 Ga. 417 (1921); Keener v. McDougall, 232 Ga. 273 (1974) and Ga. L. 2013, p. 141, § 54(d)/HB 79. Editor’s notes. - Ga. L. 2021, p. 761, § 23/HB511, not codified by the General Assembly, provides: ‘‘In accordance with the requirements of Article III, Section IX, Paragraph VI(r) of the Constitution of Georgia, this Act shall not become law unless it receives the requisite two thirds’ majority vote in both the Senate and the House of Representatives and the amount of the funds dedicated by this Act do not equal or exceed 1 percent of the previous fiscal year’s state revenues subject to appropriations.’’