1 2 CITY COUNCIL 3 CITY OF NEW YORK 4 -------------------------------x 5 THE TRANSCRIPT OF THE MINUTES 6 of the 7 COMMITTEE ON SANITATION And 8 SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT 9 -------------------------------x 10 May 14, 2008 11 Start: 11:10 a.m. Recess: 11:18 a.m. 12 City Hall 13 Council Chambers New York, New York 14 15 B E F O R E: 16 MICHAEL McMAHON Chairperson, 17 18 COUNCIL MEMBERS: James Gennaro Robert Jackson 19 Larry Seabrook Maria Arroyo 20 Jessica Lappin David Yassky 21 22 23 24 LEGAL-EASE COURT REPORTING SERVICES, INC. 17 Battery Place - Suite 1308 25 New York, New York 10004 (800) 756-3410 2 1 SANITATION AND SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT 2 CHAIRPERSON McMAHON: 3 Sergeant-At-Arms, we are ready? 4 SERGEANT-AT-ARMS COLLAZO: Yes, sir. 5 CHAIRPERSON McMAHON: Okay. 6 Good morning, everyone. My name is 7 Michael McMahon, and I am Chairperson of the 8 Sanitation and Solid Waste Committee. 9 I am joined this morning by my 10 colleagues. I think the Pastor Seabrook is here, 11 Larry Seabrook is here. Maria del Carmen Arroyo and 12 Jessica Lappin and Robert R. J. Jackson. 13 On March 12th, 2008, this Committee 14 voted seven to zero in favor of Intro. No. 721, and 15 Intro. No. 729. On March 26th, 2008, the Council 16 voted 47 to four in favor of both bills. On April 17 1st, 2008, the Mayor signed into law Intro. No. 728 18 which became the electronic equipment collection 19 recycling and reuse act, a seminal piece of 20 legislation, which established the first 21 manufacturer responsibility, e-recycling bill to be 22 passed by municipality in the country. 23 On April 16th, 2008, the Mayor vetoed 24 Intro. No. 729. 25 This bill set the minimum performance 3 1 SANITATION AND SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT 2 penalties for manufacturers of electronic equipment 3 covered by the new e-recycling law. 4 The Mayor in his veto message said 5 the performance standards contained in this bill are 6 unfair, unnecessary and irrational. 7 And Intro. No. 729 provides that 8 electronic equipment manufacturers covered by the 9 e-recycling law must collect as measured by weight, 10 25 percent of the average of the annual sales by 11 July 1, 2012, 45 percent by July 1, 2015, and 65 12 percent by July 1, 2018. 13 If the manufacturers do not meet 14 these standards, they would be fined $50,000 for 15 each percentage point they fall short of the 16 mandated amount. 17 Today this Committee will consider a 18 vote on this bill, despite the objections of the 19 Mayor in effect overriding the Mayor's veto. 20 We will also vote on a preconsidered 21 resolution requesting the State Legislature to pass 22 the necessary legislation to allow the Gansevoort 23 Street recycling educational center and marine 24 transfer station, an integral part of our Solid 25 Waste Management Plan, to be built. 4 1 SANITATION AND SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT 2 This resolution is similar, in fact, 3 identical, except for the bill number, as Reso 899 4 in 2007 that we in the Council passed last year. 5 At that time we did not have the 6 numbers of the particular bills that were being 7 introduced to allow the MTS to be built. 8 We now have those bill numbers and 9 they have been added to the resolution. 10 For procedural clarity we will be 11 conducting two votes. The first vote is upon a 12 motion to receive and file the Mayor's Message M 13 994, vetoing Intro 729, and that message was dated 14 April 16th, 2008 and is done for the purposes of 15 completing the record. 16 A yes vote will only mean that the 17 message is accepted into the official record of the 18 Council proceedings, and does not mean that we have 19 agreement with its contents. 20 Is that clear? Everybody gets that, 21 right? 22 Okay. I recommend a yes vote on 23 accepting the Mayor's veto message for the record, 24 and request that the clerk call the roll. 25 COUNCIL CLERK MARTIN: McMahon. 5 1 SANITATION AND SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT 2 CHAIRPERSON McMAHON: Aye. 3 COUNCIL CLERK MARTIN: Jackson. 4 COUNCIL MEMBER JACKSON: Aye on all. 5 COUNCIL CLERK MARTIN: Seabrook. 6 COUNCIL MEMBER SEABROOK: I vote aye. 7 COUNCIL CLERK MARTIN: Arroyo. 8 COUNCIL MEMBER ARROYO: Aye. 9 COUNCIL CLERK MARTIN: Lappin. 10 COUNCIL MEMBER LAPPIN: Aye. 11 COUNCIL CLERK MARTIN: By a vote of 12 five in the affirmative, zero in the negative, no 13 abstentions, M 944 is accepted and filed. 14 CHAIRPERSON McMAHON: Okay. 15 Now, we're actually going to do three 16 votes, the second vote will be answering the 17 question of whether or not Intro. 729 shall be 18 repassed, notwithstanding the objections of the 19 Mayor. 20 So, in effect overriding the Mayor's 21 veto of the performance standard portion of the 22 e-waste bill. The Chair recommends a yes. I ask the 23 Clerk to call the roll. 24 COUNCIL CLERK MARTIN: McMahon. 25 COUNCIL MEMBER McMAHON: Aye. 6 1 SANITATION AND SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT 2 COUNCIL CLERK MARTIN: Jackson. 3 COUNCIL MEMBER JACKSON: Aye. 4 COUNCIL CLERK MARTIN: Seabrook. 5 COUNCIL MEMBER SEABROOK: Aye. 6 COUNCIL CLERK MARTIN: Arroyo. 7 COUNCIL MEMBER ARROYO: Aye. 8 COUNCIL CLERK MARTIN: Lappin. 9 COUNCIL MEMBER LAPPIN: Aye and I 10 would like to request that my name be added to the 11 bill. I was a cosponsor of the original bill before 12 it was split into two and would like my name to be 13 added to both. 14 Thank you. 15 CHAIRPERSON McMAHON: So ordered. 16 COUNCIL CLERK MARTIN: By a vote of 17 five in the affirmative, zero in the negative and no 18 abstentions, Intro. 729 is readopted. 19 CHAIRPERSON McMAHON: Okay. I will now 20 ask the clerk to call the vote on the preconsidered 21 resolution regarding expressing the Council's 22 support for the Gansevoort Recycling and Educational 23 Center. 24 Before I do that, I just want to say 25 hello to the law government community service high 7 1 SANITATION AND SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT 2 school of Queens, which is gracing us with a visit 3 today. And we welcome you to the Committee on 4 Sanitation and Solid Waste Management of the City. 5 Because today is a full stated day 6 this is not a full hearing with testimony, it's one 7 where we're simply voting on matters that will then 8 come before the full Stated Council in about two 9 hours. 10 So, once again, I will call the vote. 11 Before I do that, I will ask the 12 clerk to recall the votes on the two Intros for 13 Council Member Gennaro. 14 So, first, we'll do the resolution. 15 Again, this resolution calls on the State 16 Legislature to pass legislation authorizing the 17 establishment of the Gansevoort Recycling and 18 Educational Facility, in the Hudson River Park Land. 19 The Chair recommends a yes vote. 20 I vote aye. Oh, no, I ask the clerk 21 to call the vote. 22 COUNCIL CLERK MARTIN: McMahon. 23 CHAIRPERSON McMAHON: Aye. 24 COUNCIL CLERK MARTIN: Seabrook. 25 COUNCIL MEMBER SEABROOK: I vote aye. 8 1 SANITATION AND SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT 2 COUNCIL CLERK MARTIN: Gennaro. 3 COUNCIL MEMBER GENNARO: Yes. Yes. 4 COUNCIL CLERK MARTIN: Jackson. 5 COUNCIL MEMBER JACKSON: Yes. Please 6 add my name on this preconsidered reso as a signer, 7 please. 8 COUNCIL CLERK MARTIN: Arroyo. 9 COUNCIL MEMBER ARROYO: Yes. 10 COUNCIL CLERK MARTIN: Lappin. 11 COUNCIL MEMBER LAPPIN: No. 12 COUNCIL CLERK MARTIN: By a vote of 13 five in the affirmative, one in the negative and no 14 abstentions, item is adopted. 15 Members, please sign the Committee 16 reports. Thank you. 17 CHAIRPERSON McMAHON: And at this time 18 I'd ask the clerk to recall the first two votes for 19 Council Member Gennaro. 20 COUNCIL CLERK MARTIN: M 994, Council 21 Member Gennaro. 22 COUNCIL MEMBER GENNARO: Yes. 23 COUNCIL CLERK MARTIN: That vote now 24 stands at six in the affirmative, zero in the 25 negative and no abstentions. 9 1 SANITATION AND SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT 2 And Introduction 729, Council Member 3 Gennaro. 4 COUNCIL MEMBER GENNARO: Yes. 5 COUNCIL CLERK MARTIN: That vote also 6 stands at six in the affirmative, zero in the 7 negative and no abstentions. 8 CHAIRPERSON McMAHON: Okay. I thank 9 everyone, including our Sergeant-At-Arms, our 10 audiovisual team, Billy Martin and the incomparable 11 Carmen J. Cognetta, Counsel extraordinare. I hereby 12 adjourn this meeting of the New York City Council 13 Committee on Sanitation and Solid Waste Management, 14 and I request that the clerk leave the vote open for 15 as long as possible, in order that the members who 16 are in transit and who have called ahead can vote. 17 Thank you. 18 COUNCIL CLERK MARTIN: M 994, Council 19 Member Yassky. 20 COUNCIL MEMBER YASSKY: Aye. 21 COUNCIL CLERK MARTIN: The vote now 22 stands at seven in the affirmative, zero in the 23 negative and no abstentions. 24 Introduction 729, Council Member 25 Yassky. 10 1 SANITATION AND SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT 2 COUNCIL MEMBER YASSKY: Aye. 3 COUNCIL CLERK MARTIN: The vote now 4 stands at seven in the affirmative, zero in the 5 negative and no abstentions, and preconsidered 6 resolution, Council Member Yassky. 7 COUNCIL MEMBER YASSKY: Aye. 8 COUNCIL CLERK MARTIN: The vote now 9 stands at six in the affirmative, one in the 10 negative and no abstentions. Thank you. 11 (Hearing concluded at 11:18 a.m.) 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 11 1 2 CERTIFICATION 3 4 5 STATE OF NEW YORK ) 6 COUNTY OF NEW YORK ) 7 8 9 I, CINDY MILLELOT, a Certified 10 Shorthand Reporter, do hereby certify that the 11 foregoing is a true and accurate transcript of the 12 within proceeding. 13 I further certify that I am not 14 related to any of the parties to this action by 15 blood or marriage, and that I am in no way 16 interested in the outcome of this matter. 17 IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto 18 set my hand this 14th day of May 2008. 19 20 21 22 23 --------------------- 24 CINDY MILLELOT, CSR. 25 12 1 2 C E R T I F I C A T I O N 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 I, CINDY MILLELOT, a Certified Shorthand 10 Reporter and a Notary Public in and for the State of 11 New York, do hereby certify the aforesaid to be a 12 true and accurate copy of the transcription of the 13 audio tapes of this hearing. 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 ----------------------- CINDY MILLELOT, CSR. 25