LANSING — Michigan legislative committees went into overdrive this week, teeing up dozens of bills for potential passage in the next two weeks.
A set of bills considered in the Senate would propose an expansion of Michigan’s bottle deposit law to include plastic water bottles and most other individual beverages, which would be subject to a 10 cent deposit with purchase that you can get back when returned.
Supporters of the bill say it would encourage the recycling of more single-use containers.
“The advent of massive consumer use of bottled water wasn’t something that was conceived of in 1976 and that it’s imperative for all of us to do something to prevent billions of them becoming plastic garbage in our roadsides, lakes, streams and landfills,” said Sen. Sean McCann, D-Kalamazoo.
The package would also allow containers to be returned at any retailer in Michigan, as long as the product is sold somewhere in the state.
Opponents say the expansion would result in greater challenges for retailers, higher costs for consumers and could enable efforts to defraud the system.
Importation of containers sold out-of-state is illegal, but still results in millions of dollars being fraudulently paid out each year.
The bills wouldn’t implement the policy immediately - instead, it would be placed on the November 2026 ballot to be approved or denied by voters.
Lawmakers also advanced a proposal to make the purchase of a state recreation passport automatically included with vehicle registration or renewal.
The system would be ‘opt-out,’ meaning that drivers will automatically pay $10 for the passport unless they intentionally opt-out.
Supporters say that park attendance has increased in recent years, along with maintenance costs.
“Life being a double edged sword, it is a strain on our parks, and we need to figure out a way to properly maintain them and improve the infrastructure to handle this increased participation,” said Rep. Julie Brixie, D-Okemos.
Opponents of the proposal say the policy would essentially trick a portion of drivers unaware of the change to pay for a service they may not use.
“We need to encourage more people to get out of the House and into the woods,” sad Rep. Dave Prestin, R-Cedar River, in a statement. “Forcing people to pay more to do something they already were hesitant to do will not boost outdoor recreational participation - it will only make the problem worse.”
Other proposals in the package would add a separate optional $15 DNR donation question to registration forms, and allow veterans to utilize state parks for free without a passport.
Any bills not approved by both the House and Senate will be discarded at the end of the year.
The chambers are set to meet over the next two weeks, before breaking for the holidays.
