TITLE 12 CONSERVATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES

Section 8. Waste Management, 12-8-1 through 12-8-210.

ARTICLE 2 SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT

12-8-27.1. Solid waste trust fund.

1. 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:
   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 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; and
   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.
2. 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 in the solid waste trust fund.
3. 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.
4. 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.

(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.)

The 2013 amendments. The first 2013 amendment, effective July 1, 2013, substituted "this Code section and Code Sections 12-8-30.6 and 12-8-40.1" for "this Code section, Code Section 12-8-27, Code Section 12-8-30.6, and Code Section 12-8-40.1" in the third sentence of the introductory paragraph of subsection (a). See the Code Commission note regarding the effect of these amendments. The second 2013 amendment, effective April 30, 2013, deleted "Code Section 12-8-27," preceding "Code Section 12-8-30.6" in the third sentence of the introductory paragraph of subsection (a); and deleted "scrap" preceding "tire carriers" near the middle of paragraph (a)(4).