County Waste Management Assistance
Senate Bill 706 revises North Carolina’s scrap tire disposal funding structure and related reporting requirements. The bill restores and expands assistance to counties and local governments for scrap tire cleanup by reenacting the Scrap Tire Disposal Account and changing how scrap tire tax proceeds are distributed and used. Under the bill, 30% of net scrap tire tax proceeds are credited to the General Fund, while the remaining 70% are distributed to counties on a per-capita basis. The bill also increases the share of Scrap Tire Disposal Account revenue that may be used for local government disposal grants from 50% to 75%, reduces the share available for grants encouraging processed scrap tire materials from 40% to 15%, and preserves a limited amount for administrative support and a position to help local governments manage scrap tire programs.
The bill further directs the Department of Environmental Quality to use remaining account funds to clean up illegal nuisance scrap tire collection sites, and it repeals a prior statute governing the account. It also updates reporting requirements so the department must describe account balances, revenues, grants, and cleanup spending in annual reports to the Environmental Review Commission and Fiscal Research Division. In addition, the bill amends penalty provisions so local governments that fail to meet certain solid waste requirements may lose eligibility for multiple waste-related grant programs and tax proceeds, and it clarifies that scrap tire tax proceeds may be used only for scrap tire disposal or nuisance abatement by counties.
The bill’s impact is primarily on state environmental finance and local solid waste administration. It changes the allocation of scrap tire tax revenue under Chapter 105 and Chapter 130A, affecting the General Fund, Highway Fund, counties, the Department of Environmental Quality, and local governments that manage scrap tire disposal. It also narrows and refocuses the use of the Scrap Tire Disposal Account toward direct cleanup assistance and nuisance site remediation rather than broader processing incentives.
The overall sentiment around the bill appears strongly supportive and noncontroversial. The voting record shows unanimous or near-unanimous approval at each recorded stage, including 45-0 in the Senate on second reading, 107-0 and 110-0 on House readings, and 42-0 on the motion to concur. No committee transcript objections are provided, and the bill was ratified and signed into law.
The main policy tension in the bill is between funding local cleanup efforts and funding market development for processed tire materials. The bill shifts a larger share of account revenue toward local disposal grants and away from grants that encourage end-use markets for tire-derived products. Another point of emphasis is accountability: the bill conditions some funding on local government compliance with solid waste requirements and requires more detailed reporting on how scrap tire funds are used.
The bill amends the State’s scrap tire tax and waste-management statutes, including G.S. 105-187.19, G.S. 130A-309.63, G.S. 130A-309.64, G.S. 130A-309.06, G.S. 130A-309.09C, and G.S. 130A-309.54. It changes the distribution of scrap tire tax proceeds, reenacts the Scrap Tire Disposal Account, repeals a prior account statute, and revises how funds may be spent by the Department of Environmental Quality and local governments. The bill takes effect largely on October 1, 2025, and applies to quarterly crediting of scrap tire tax proceeds on or after that date.
The bill appears to have enjoyed broad bipartisan support and little visible opposition. All recorded votes were unanimous or overwhelmingly favorable, and the bill was ratified and signed into law. The context suggests the measure was viewed as a practical cleanup and local assistance bill rather than a controversial policy change.
The principal substantive debate reflected in the text is how to divide scrap tire tax revenues between direct local cleanup assistance, processing-market incentives, and other uses. The bill favors counties and nuisance-site cleanup by increasing grant funding for disposal and reducing funding for processed-material incentives. A secondary point of contention is compliance enforcement: local governments that fail to meet solid waste requirements can lose eligibility for several grant and tax-proceeds programs, which may be seen as a stricter accountability measure.