§2418. Waste tires; Waste Tire Management Dedicated Fund Account

            A. The owner or operator of a waste tire collection center shall provide the department with a notification of the site's location, size, and the approximate number of waste tires that are accumulated at the site.

            B. It is unlawful for any person to dispose knowingly and intentionally of waste tires in the state, unless the waste tires are disposed of for processing, or collected for processing, at a permitted solid waste disposal facility, a permitted waste tire processing facility, or a waste tire collection center.

            C. Waste tires that are not subjected to processing or recycling may not be deposited knowingly and intentionally in a landfill as a method of ultimate disposal. However, notwithstanding any other law or rule to the contrary, waste tires that have been prepared for disposal by cutting, separating, shredding, or other means in accordance with the rules or standards of the department may be disposed of in a landfill.

            D. The department shall by rule encourage the voluntary establishment of waste tire collection centers at all retail outlets that are engaged in the sale of tires. Such centers shall be open to the public and programs to encourage the return of waste tires to collection centers shall be undertaken by the department.

            E. Nothing herein shall be construed to prohibit the collection, transportation, or disposal of waste tires mixed or commingled with solid waste by any person engaged in the collection, transportation, or disposal of solid waste, unless it can be demonstrated that such person knew that such waste tires had been mixed or commingled with the solid waste collected, transported, and/or disposed and unless it can be demonstrated that it is economically and environmentally feasible to remove and recover such waste tires from the solid waste collected, transported, and/or disposed.

            F. An owner or operator of a waste tire collection center may store waste tires for up to one year provided that such storage is solely for the purpose of accumulation of such quantities of waste tires as are necessary to facilitate proper recovery, processing, or disposal.

            G. There is hereby established a statutorily dedicated fund account in the state treasury to be known as the "Waste Tire Management Dedicated Fund Account", hereafter referred to in this Section as the "account". Any fees collected, pursuant to the secretary's rules and regulations, on the sale of tires, and any other appropriations, gifts, grants, or other monies received by the Department of Environmental Quality for the credit of the account, shall be remitted to the state treasury and credited to the Bond Security and Redemption Fund, as provided by the laws of this state and the Constitution of Louisiana. After a sufficient amount is allocated from the Bond Security and Redemption Fund to pay all obligations secured by the full faith and credit of the state which become due and payable within any fiscal year, the treasurer shall pay into the account an amount equal to the total amount previously deposited into the treasury. All interest earned on money from the account and invested by the state treasurer shall be credited to the account. The monies in the account shall be administered by the secretary solely for the purposes of solving the state's waste tire problem. No monies from the account shall be used to provide payments to waste tire processors for processing tires that are generated in Louisiana when those tires are processed in any other state. Monies deposited into the account shall be categorized as fees and self-generated revenue for the sole purpose of reporting related to the executive budget, supporting documents, and general appropriation bills and shall be available for annual appropriation by the legislature.

            H. The secretary shall promulgate rules, regulations, and guidelines for the administration and enforcement of the waste tire program provided for in this Chapter, which shall be subject to legislative review and approval by the Senate Committee on Environmental Quality and the House Committee on Natural Resources and Environment. The rules, regulations, and guidelines shall provide for but not be limited to:

            (1) Establishing standards, requirements, and permitting procedures for waste tire transporters, collection sites, generators, and processors. The requirements for waste tire transporters, collection sites, and processors shall include proof of commercial liability insurance in a sufficient amount and other evidence of financial responsibility as determined by the secretary. For waste tire transporters, financial responsibility shall include a surety bond in a minimum amount of ten thousand dollars, as determined by the secretary.

            (2) Encouraging local governing authorities to establish advisory councils to advise the secretary regarding waste tire clean up.

            (3) Providing technical assistance and incentives to encourage market research and development projects.

            (4) Providing incentives and assistance for those persons who collect and remit the fee imposed on the sale of tires.

            (5) Providing incentives and assistance for collection and transportation of waste tires including, but not limited to, incentives and assistance for local governing authorities which shall be given the highest priority. Subject to Paragraph (7) of this Subsection, this Paragraph shall not prohibit local governing authorities from splitting, slicing, shredding, or baling tires as part of the disposal process or other beneficial use.

            (6) Establishing a procedure for accepting voluntary payments from tire retailers to defray the costs of transporting and recycling tires collected at those facilities.

            (7) Providing incentives and assistance to waste tire processing facilities, but only if such facilities use, consume, or process the tires so that they may be reused as a raw material, product, or fuel source. No incentives shall be provided to persons who transport waste tires generated in Louisiana and process those tires in any other state.

            (8) Remediating environmental and public health problems caused by such waste tires.

            (9) Establishing a procedure and criteria for local governing authorities to apply for and receive funds to remediate waste tire problems in their respective jurisdictions. Payment of funds to local governing authorities for waste remediation tire problems shall commence May 1, 1993.

            (10) Establishing standards and requirements for expedited approval of customary end-market uses including but are not limited to those recognized by the Environmental Protection Agency, the Rubber Manufacturers Association, or previously approved by the department. Such standards and requirements shall not include disposal as an end market use of eligible waste tire material. No such standard or requirement shall contravene Subsection C or E of this Section.

            I.(1)(a) The fee on tires authorized to be levied pursuant to R.S. 30:2413(A)(8) shall not exceed the following:

            (i) Two dollars and twenty-five cents per passenger/light truck/small farm service tire.

            (ii) Five dollars per medium truck tire.

            (iii) Ten dollars per off-road tire.

            (b) The secretary may provide for exemptions from the fees levied on the sale of tires pursuant to this Chapter in the regulations provided for in Subsection H of this Section for the sale of tires sold at wholesale and certain tires which are de minimis in nature, including but not limited to lawn mower tires, bicycle tires, and golf cart tires. After June 1, 2004, the secretary may provide for the exemption of certain tire sales from the fee which tires were not previously exempted only through the department's rulemaking authority, including legislative oversight as provided in R.S. 30:2413(A)(8).

            (2) A permitted waste tire processing facility shall be paid a minimum of seven and a half cents per pound of waste tire material that is recycled or that reaches end market uses or per pound of whole waste tires that are recycled or that reaches end market uses. This payment shall be made to the facility on or before the twelfth day of the month following the submission of the request for payment and shall be conditioned on the facility providing to the department any documentation, including but not limited to manifests, statements, or certified scale-weight tickets, required by law or by rules and regulations promulgated by the department.

            (3)(a) In the event the balance of the account is insufficient to meet the obligations to waste tire processors provided for in Paragraph (2) of this Subsection, the department, after meeting all payments required by law, shall pay any undisputed obligations in a pro rata share to waste tire processors having a standard permit when the request for payment was submitted. Any remaining undisputed obligations which would have been paid to waste tire processors but for the insufficiency of the account shall be paid from future surplus funds in the account as provided in Subparagraph (b) of this Paragraph. However, beginning August 1, 2013, such payments shall be applied in priority from the earliest incurred undisputed obligation to the most current undisputed obligation.

            (b) In the event the account has a surplus after meeting all obligations of the account for the month, including any payments required by law, such surplus shall be distributed in a pro rata share to those waste tire processors having a standard permit when the request for payment was submitted and for whom there are unpaid obligations of the account, excluding any disputed amounts. Such surplus shall be processed for payment by the department within fifteen days after the end of the month in which the surplus arose.

            (c) For purposes of this Section, "undisputed obligations" means those waste tire material payments which should have been paid by the department to a waste tire processor since January 1, 2003, but which have not been paid due to the insufficiency of the account.

            (4) If litigation relating to account payments in dispute prior to March 1, 2004, is resolved through final judgment or settlement, the secretary shall pay from the account the portion of such final judgment or settlement which represents previously disputed account payments within one hundred eighty days of the judgment or settlement. This Subsection shall not be construed to limit or condition the right of the judgment creditor or obligee under the settlement agreement to obtain payment in satisfaction of the judgment or settlement from any source authorized by law.

            J. The secretary or his designee shall submit an annual report to the president of the Senate, the speaker of the House of Representatives, the Senate Committee on Environmental Quality, and the House Committee on Natural Resources and Environment and appear before a joint meeting of the House Committee on Natural Resources and Environment and the Senate Committee on Environmental Quality during each regular session to present the report detailing the progress of the waste tire program for the preceding year, the current balance of the account, and the forecast for the account in the following year.

            K.(1) Except as provided in Paragraph (2) of this Subsection, the governing authority of each parish or municipality is hereby authorized to govern the siting of waste tire collection, processing, storage, and depository facilities within their respective jurisdictions. The department shall not issue any permit allowing the establishment of a waste tire collection, processing, storage, or depository facility unless the governing authority of the parish or municipality in which the proposed facility is to be located is first notified by the department of the proposed permit.

            (2) The permit application submitted to the department shall be accompanied by a letter of compliance and certification of premises and buildings from the state fire marshal. The applicant shall post a bond in accordance with the requirements of the department sufficient to cover the costs of removal of tires from the site in the event operations cease.

            (3) Copies of the permit applications to the department shall be made available to the public at the local governmental office. The department shall hold a public hearing within sixty days of submission of an application. The applicant shall cause the notice of the hearing to be published in the official journal of the parish or municipality on two separate days preceding the hearing. The last day of publication of such notice shall be at least ten days prior to the hearing. The applicant shall post a notice of the hearing at least two weeks prior to the hearing in the courthouse, government center, and all the libraries. A public comment period of at least thirty days shall be allowed following the public hearing.

            L. The secretary shall promulgate rules and regulations providing incentives, including but not limited to financial rewards, for the reporting of the unauthorized disposal of waste tires.

            M.(1) No person shall, with the intent to defraud, prepare, submit, tender, sign, make an entry upon, or certify any invoice, report, manifest, request for payment, claim, or other document in connection with the origin, transportation, storage, transfer, assignment, sale, or disposal of waste tires, as defined by R.S. 30:2412.

            (2) Penalties for a violation of Paragraph (1) of this Subsection shall be based on the value of the fraudulent taking. When the fraudulent taking results from a number of distinct acts by the offender, the aggregate amount of the payments, subsidies, credits, other disbursements, or things of value obtained shall determine the grade of the offense. Penalties shall be as follows:

            (a) If the fraudulent taking amounts to a value of five hundred dollars or more, the offender shall be imprisoned, with or without hard labor, for not more than ten years, or may be fined not more than three thousand dollars, or both.

            (b) When the fraudulent taking amounts to a value of three hundred dollars or more, but less than five hundred dollars, the offender shall be imprisoned, with or without hard labor, for not more than two years, or may be fined not more than two thousand dollars, or both.

            (c) When the fraudulent taking amounts to less than three hundred dollars the offender shall be imprisoned for not more than six months, or may be fined not more than five hundred dollars, or both. However, if such a conviction is the offender's third or subsequent conviction for violations of this Subsection, the offender shall be imprisoned, with or without hard labor, for not more than two years, or may be fined not more than two thousand dollars, or both.

            (3) A waste tire processor shall not request or receive payments from the account for any waste tires unless the waste tires are generated and processed in Louisiana, the generator and transporter have signed a statement swearing under penalty of law that the tires were not generated outside the state of Louisiana and are Louisiana-eligible tires, and the processor has signed a statement swearing under penalty of law that he has no knowledge contrary to the representations of the generator and transporter. The department shall provide a standard form to be used by generators, transporters, and processors to comply with this Paragraph.

            (4) In addition to any other penalties provided for in this Subsection, any person convicted of violating Paragraph (1) of this Subsection may be barred from participating in the program, including requesting and receiving payments or reimbursements from the account, and any license or registration issued by the department that is required to participate in the program may be ordered to be surrendered. Participants shall include collectors, generators, processors, and transporters. Any such person convicted may be forever barred from employment with or from contracting with any license holder under this Section. Any sentence imposed which includes the suspension or barring under this Paragraph shall be suspended until after rendition of a final conviction from which no appeal may be taken.

            (5) Nothing in this Subsection shall preclude the department from promulgating rules and regulations providing for the revocation of licenses or registrations through the Administrative Procedure Act.

            N. The secretary shall promulgate rules to make payments to processors on the basis of weight or tire count. Payments to a waste tire processor, or any portion thereof, shall not be temporarily or permanently withheld or terminated prior to written notification by the department of the reasons for such withholding or termination to the processor by certified mail. Any such disputed funds shall be immediately placed in escrow pending final resolution of the matter.

            O.(1) Failure by any person to timely remit fees collected that are imposed in this Section shall cause the fees to become immediately delinquent, and the secretary has the authority, on motion in a court of competent jurisdiction, to take a rule to show cause in not less than two nor more than ten days, exclusive of holidays, why such person should not be ordered to cease from further pursuit of business. This rule may be tried in chambers and shall always be tried by preference. If the rule is made absolute, the order rendered thereon shall be considered a judgment in favor of the state, prohibiting the person from the further pursuit of said business until he has paid the delinquent fees and any fines, interest, penalties, and other costs in connection with the fees, and every violation of the injunction shall be considered as a contempt of court and punished according to law.

            (2) The provisions of Paragraph (1) of this Subsection shall not apply if the person has entered into an installment agreement for the payment of the delinquent fees with the department and is in compliance with the terms of the agreement.

            (3) Proceeds from the collection of the fees and any fines, penalties, interest, and costs collected in connection with the fees shall be deposited into the account to be used to administer the waste tire program authorized by this Section.

            (4) The collection procedure provided for in this Subsection shall be in addition to any other collection procedure available to the department.

            (5) In addition to the authority and collection procedure provided for in this Subsection, the secretary has the authority to impose upon any person failing to timely remit fees imposed by this Section, a delinquent fee of ten percent of the unpaid fee or twenty-five dollars, whichever is greater. A delinquent fee of twenty-five dollars may also be imposed upon any person failing to timely submit a monthly waste tire fee report required by any rule or regulation promulgated pursuant to this Section. Proceeds from the collection of the fees authorized by this Paragraph shall be used for special waste tire projects as determined by the secretary. Any such proceeds remaining at the end of the fiscal year that have not been used for special projects shall be deposited in the account.

            P. The department shall be responsible for the removal of tires on any property containing more than one thousand tires, located in a historic district in a municipality with a population between twenty-eight and twenty-nine thousand according to the latest decennial census; however, in no event shall the department be responsible for the removal of more than three thousand tires from such property. The owner of any such property shall notify the secretary of the existence and need for removal of tires by certified mail. The department shall be responsible for the cost of labor, transportation, and disposal of any tires removed pursuant to this Subsection and shall have the removal of any such tires complete by September 30, 2022.

            Acts 1989, No. 185, §1, eff. Sept. 1, 1989; Acts 1992, No. 664, §1, eff. July 2, 1992; Acts 1993, No. 79, §1; Acts 1993, No. 158, §1; Acts 1996, 1st Ex. Sess., No. 36, §1, eff. May 7, 1996; Acts 1999, No. 1015, §1, eff. July 9, 1999; Acts 1999, No. 1049, §1; Acts 2001, No. 623, §1; Acts 2002, 1st Ex. Sess., No. 101, §1, eff. April 18, 2002; Acts 2003, No. 582, §1, eff. June 27, 2003; Acts 2003, No. 789, §1; Acts 2004, No. 846, §1; Acts 2006, No. 821, §1, eff. July 5, 2006, and §2, eff. July 1, 2008; Acts 2008, No. 580, §2; Acts 2010, No. 852, §1, eff. June 30, 2010; Acts 2012, No. 817, §1; Acts 2013, No. 323, §1; Acts 2015, No. 427, §1; Acts 2016, No. 633, §1, eff. Oct. 1, 2016; Acts 2018, No. 541, §1; Acts 2021, No. 114, §6, eff. July 1, 2022; Acts 2021, No. 291, §1; Acts 2022, No. 480, §1.

NOTE: Section 2 of Act. No. 323 of the 2013 R.S. requires the Dept. of Environmental Quality to implement Section 1 of the Act through rulemaking and to submit the report required pursuant to R.S. 49:968(A) by December 31, 2013.

NOTE: See Section 3 of Act No. 323 of the 2013 R.S. for the required study and report by the Waste Tire Program Task Force.

NOTE: See Section 2 of Act No. 427 of the 2015 R.S. which extends the authority of the Waste Tire Program Task Force (created by Section 3 of Act No. 323 of the 2013 R.S.), requires annual reporting by the Task Force, and provides relative to the membership of the Task Force.

NOTE: See Sections 3 and 4 of Act No. 427 of the 2015 R.S. relative to the rules, regulations, and guidelines of the Department of Environmental Quality.