JOINT COMMITTEE ON LEGISLATION/HEALTH
LEGISLATION
MEMBERS: Stewart-Cousins, Chair, Bronz, Abinanti,
Mosiello, Oros,Maisano and Ryan
STAFF: Bass, Giordano
GUESTS: William Randolph (CE); Liz Salvi (Co. Atty Office), Stacey Dolgin-Kmetz (Co. Atty Office), Ann Nelson (LWV)
HEALTH
MEMBERS: Abinanti, Chair, Carsky, Stewart-Cousins,
Swanson
The Chair, Andrea-Stewart Cousins called the Joint meeting on Legislation and Health to order at: 1:24 p.m.
Items of focus will be:
1. Amendments to Solid Waste Legislation
2. Cell Phone Legislation Amendments
3. Domestic Partner Registry
4. Tobacco Legislation
Chairwoman Stewart-Cousins opened with the Solid Waste Amendments to the legislation.
The request was to amend Section 1 of Local Law No. 10-1999, which codified Chapter 826-a of the Laws of Westchester County Solid Waste & Recyclables Collection Licensing Law.
Questions raised included:
1) How long will it take for contractors to get a permanent permit and will they be able to operate their business while they wait for their
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permit. It was stated that licensing decisions should be able to be made in about 6 months.
2) Whether the fee increase would keep the taxpayers from footing the bill for the New Solid Waste Commission.
Amendment A:
Primarily, an extension of time is needed to conduct background investigation on the applicants, -- the suggested time was 12 months. The recommendation of legislation of the Trashhaulers will deal with a temporary permit to operate. An investigation will be done beforehand by a Sub-committee for a permit to operate for one year for new entrants into the market place.
A motion was moved for all purposes by Mosiello and seconded by Abinanti. All in favor: 6-0.
A motion was made by Legislator Abinanti to put out for all purposes the first piece of legislation which is to change the expiration date of § 826 and to extend the deadline by which current applications must be completed under § 826 a for one year until March 31, 2002. Legislator Oros seconded the motion. All in favor: 6-0.
Amendment B:
Other provisions were mentioned -- one is that the Solid Waste Commission will provide the Board of Legislators with an update on investigations that are being done. One of the things suggested was to provide information on licensing and registering to the appropriate government agencies that will conduct the investigation. (For the record, we mandate a monthly recording requirement from the Commissioner.)
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Amendment C:
The third piece of legislation is the exemption of some businesses from class C-1 Licensing. The Commission on Trashhaulers Sub Committee attempted to impose requirements on the classes of companies that were then regulated by the old law. Definition should be changed to clarify whom it would apply to. One of the concerns was to restate in the committee report that this amendment is for the purpose of re-emphasizing and specifying standards to include or exclude businesses.
Legislator Abinanti said that he will amend the committee report. It was so moved by Abinanti Seconded by Ryan. All in favor 6-0.
Amendment D:
We were informed that Chapter 826, the old environmental law is 9 about years old. The amendment to increase fees would primarily pay for personnel. Abinanti moved it for All Purposes. It was seconded by Legislator Bronz. All in favor: 6-0.
After a lengthy discussion, Chairwoman Stewart-Cousins pointed out that we have done a great deal of work and we will ultimately make sure that the beneficiaries are the consumers. At this point a public final hearing can be set up to consider the amendments.
The Health Committee, Chaired by Legislator Abinanti had at least 2 meetings with regard to the Tobacco Legislation. The first meeting was a joint meeting with Legislation, It took place at The Greenburgh Town Hall. At that meeting, amendments were discussed. The County Attorney’s office discussed terms of vending machines, access of machines to minors, locations of machines and lockout devices. Also, advertising is to placed at least 10 feet away from candy advertising. An area of concern was
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making non-commercial cigarette distribution a violation,(if anything). Legislators voiced concern about creating a misdemeanor for the offense. Questions were raised about our legislation as compared to New York State and ATUPA. The County Attorney promised to draw the comparisons and report to the joint committees at the following meeting.
Chairwoman Stewart-Cousins announced that we will have a joint committee meeting with Health next week.
Domestic Partner Registry:
It was indicated that our law lacks some of the benefits of the New York City Law considered much more extensive. Legislators voiced a desire to explore the Domestic Partner Registry from other localities. It was asked of the administration to extend the invitation to have The County’s Gay and Lesbian Liaison visit the committee and discuss this further.
A motion was made by Mosiello to ajourn the meeting. It was seconded by Abinanti. All in favor: 6-0.
The Meeting was adjourned at: 2:45 p.m.