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Why Overriding HB 56 Veto Matters to Your Business

Why does overriding the veto of House Bill 56: Amend Environmental Laws matter to your business? The bill includes an important provision that affects every North Carolina business’ bottom line – including yours. Be it through taxes or fees for service, waste disposal is a necessary cost for business and one that can be significant. By initiating the orderly phase out of local government control over solid waste management, House Bill 56 will eliminate a hidden tax and lower waste disposal costs across the state.

Current flow control restrictions give local governments an unfair advantage when competing with the private sector, creating a monopoly in waste disposal. This both drives costs higher and fosters an unfair marketplace, insulating local governments from competition. Not to mention that flow control creates a hidden tax through tipping fees which makes waste disposal more expensive for residents and businesses. Since the 1990s, it has been North Carolina’s policy to reduce the number of small, inefficient local landfills and have private industry increase investment into larger facilities that are safer and more economically viable. House Bill 56 merely advances that long-held approach. However, without a veto override these costly flow control restrictions will remain in place.

North Carolina needs to have a modern and efficient solid waste management program that keeps costs low. House Bill 56 will do just that by lifting local government monopolies and advancing private solutions. As legislators prepare to return to Jones Street this week, it is imperative that the aligned business community shows its support for a veto override of House Bill 56. We are collecting signatures for these letters to state House and Senate leadership, urging a veto override of House Bill 56. If you would like to sign onto these letters, please email Jason Soper, director of governmental affairs, indicating how you’d like the name of your business to appear. Thank you in advance for lending your voice to this important issue and joining the aligned business community in fighting for our state’s competitive future.

Gary J. Salamido
Vice President, Government Affairs
North Carolina Chamber