Bill Text: NY A03469 | 2025-2026 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Establishes the bottle redemption fraud task force to provide the governor and the legislature with information on the fraud, enforcement, and reporting requirements related to the New York state returnable container act.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2025-01-27 - referred to environmental conservation [A03469 Detail]
Download: New_York-2025-A03469-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 3469 2025-2026 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY January 27, 2025 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. HYNDMAN -- read once and referred to the Commit- tee on Environmental Conservation AN ACT to establish the bottle redemption fraud task force; and provid- ing for the repeal of such provisions upon the expiration thereof The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. The legislature hereby establishes the bottle redemption 2 fraud task force (referred to hereinafter as the "task force") to 3 conduct a comprehensive study of the fraud, enforcement, and reporting 4 requirements related to the New York state returnable container act. 5 § 2. (a) Such task force shall consist of fifteen members that shall 6 be appointed as follows: the state attorney general or their designee; 7 the commissioner of the department of taxation and finance or their 8 designee; the commissioner of the department of environmental conserva- 9 tion or their designee; the state comptroller or their designee; the 10 chair of the state liquor authority or their designee; the commissioner 11 of the department of agriculture and markets or their designee; one 12 member shall be appointed by the district attorneys association of the 13 state of New York; two members shall be appointed by the temporary pres- 14 ident of the senate and two members shall be appointed by the speaker of 15 the assembly, one shall be an individual who represents a municipality, 16 one shall be an individual who represents a deposit initiator, one shall 17 be an individual who represents a redemption center, and one shall be an 18 individual who represents a wholesale distributor; and four members 19 shall be appointed by the governor, one shall be an individual who 20 represents a deposit initiator and one shall be an individual who 21 represents a retailer. 22 (b) The task force shall be chaired by the attorney general or their 23 designee thereof. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD07041-01-5A. 3469 2 1 (c) Members of the task force shall receive no compensation for their 2 services but shall be reimbursed for their actual expenses incurred in 3 the performance of their duties in the work of the task force. 4 (d) Appointed members shall, to the greatest extent practicable have 5 by education or experience, knowledge of organized retail theft. 6 (e) The task force is authorized to audit any reverse vending machine. 7 § 3. Appointments shall be made within 60 days of the effective date 8 of this act. Any vacancies in the membership of the task force shall be 9 filled in the same manner provided for in the initial appointment. 10 § 4. The task force may consult with any organization, government 11 entity, or person, in the development of its report required under 12 section five of this act. 13 § 5. On or before one year after the effective date of this act, the 14 task force shall submit to the governor, the temporary president of the 15 senate and the speaker of the assembly a report containing, but not 16 limited to, the following information based on available data: 17 (a) A review of laws and regulations regarding the New York state 18 returnable container act and relevant civil and criminal penalties 19 related to the act; 20 (b) The need for interagency coordination of public education, 21 outreach, and prevention programs for retail stores, redemption centers, 22 municipalities, agents acting on behalf of the deposit initiators that 23 provide pickup services, and any other identified entities; 24 (c) The fiscal impact of fraudulent bottle redemptions and deposits in 25 the state of New York; 26 (d) The status of current enforcement efforts and recommendations on 27 what could be done to improve enforcement, including the addition of 28 more employees; 29 (e) A review of inter-state bottle redemption fraud, including, to the 30 extent practicable, information on the number of containers that origi- 31 nate from out-of-state shipments and a review of the practice of redeem- 32 ing beverage containers purchased out-of-state; and 33 (f) Recommended legislative, regulatory and enforcement solutions to 34 address fraudulent bottle redemptions and deposits, including, but not 35 limited to, inter-state initiatives. 36 § 6. This act shall take effect immediately and shall expire 24 months 37 after it shall have become a law when upon such date the provisions of 38 this act shall be deemed repealed.
