Timeline of Events Since 2003
103rd General Assembly (2003-2004)
February 2003: State Rep. Russell Johnson (R-Loudon) files Tennessee's first bottle bill since 1993; it is carried in the Senate by Sen. Randy McNally (R-Oak Ridge). It's a good bill, modeled after Hawaii's successful 2002 legislation; but with little outside support, it goes nowhere.
April 2004: Marge Davis, a conservation writer in Mount Juliet who worked on the first Tennessee bottle bill back in 1979, decides it's time to try again. She calls the Container Recycling Institute in Washington, D.C., to get some advice. To her great surprise, CRI founder and executive director Pat Franklin tells her that Tennessee already has a bill in the works.
November 2004: Marge asks Scenic Tennessee to host the bottle-bill effort. Meanwhile, the lobbying group Tennessee Conservation Voters is also preparing to get behind it. After talking to Rep. Johnson and Sen. McNally, Scenic Tennessee launches the Tennessee Bottle Bill Project and prepares a public education and media campaign.
104th General Assembly (2005-2006)
February 2005: Rep. Johnson and Sen. McNally reintroduce their bill. In the Senate the bill is referred to the Senate Environment, Conservation and Tourism Committee. But in the House, it is referred to the Local Government Subcommittee
of the House State and Local Government Committee. This placement apparently owes to the fact that the bill will mean the end of $5 million annually in beverage taxes that fund the county litter grants as well as Keep Tennessee Beautiful. Rep. Johnson comes up with a solution: replace the $5 million in tax money with $10 million of the unclaimed deposits, and so keep the litter grants alive. Yet even with the prospect of doubled funding, opponents continue to insist that the bottle bill will mean the end of Tennessee's "comprehensive litter program."
April 4, 2005: The Loudon County Commission endorses a resolution supporting Rep. Johnson's bottle bill.
April 13, 2005: The bill comes before the Local Government Subcommittee
of the House State and Local Government Committee. Knowing that he lacks the votes to get out of subcommittee, Rep. Johnson intends merely to give a brief presentation on the bill's merits, after which he will ask to "roll" the bill to 2006.
One of Johnson's fellow Republicans, Knoxville
Rep. Harry Brooks, moves to discuss the bill. However, in a rather awkward moment of averted eyes and lowered heads, none of his fellow legislators seconds the motion.
Subcommittee
chair Edith
Langster declares the
bill
"fail[ed]
for lack
of support."
Members who were present and eligible to second were Ulysses
Jones,
Randy
Rinks,
Park Strader,
Harry
Tindell,
Ben West and Eddie Yokley. Rep.
Curry Todd had excused himself from the room shortly before the vote. As chair, Rep. Langster can neither make nor second motions.
April 20, 2005: The bottle bill now goes before the Senate Environment,
Conservation and Tourism
Committee. Like Rep. Russell before him, sponsor Sen. Randy McNally
intends merely to give a presentation on the bill's merits, after
which he intends to
ask that it be referred for study without an up-or-down vote.
Instead, committee chairman David Fowler asks
Sen. McNally if he intends to withdraw the bill, given that it had already
been rejected in the House. Sen. McNally
replies that he does not wish to withdraw the bill but does wish to have
it referred for study. There appears to be some confusion as to which
type of study is being requested (whether a comptroller's
independent
study or a multi-member task force). Chairman Fowler suggests
that he and Sen. McNally clear the matter up later, and the brief hearing is over.
By late spring, it has become clear to both sponsors that the wisest route is to withdraw the bill altogether and file a new, significantly improved version for 2006. Scenic Tennessee continues to promote the bill to citizen groups, county commissions, the media and so on.
Meanwhile, lobbyists for Tennessee Conservation Voters and the Sierra Club decide that container-deposit legislation will be one of their lobbying priorities in 2006. They, Scenic Tennessee and other supporters begin meeting periodically.
October 2005: Rep. Johnson offers to use his campaign funds to take fellow legislators to Maine to learn about that state's successful bottle bill.
There are few takers, and the idea is abandoned. However, Rep. Johnson and Marge Davis decide to make the trip themselves around Christmas.
November 2005: Scenic Tennessee hosts a reception for winners of "Message In The Bottles," a photo contest on the subject of container litter. Winning images are used widely in the campaign and displayed at Legislative Plaza. Also in November, Marge organizes "X Marks the Spot," a statewide, separated litter survey designed to refute the opposition argument that beverage containers make up a small portion of litter. The survey results prove what supporters have observed and that other states' surveys have found: that bottles and cans make up about half of roadside litter in Tennessee.
December 2005: Rep. Johnson, his legal aide John Sanchez and Marge Davis spend four days in Maine meeting with and videotaping assorted stakeholders, including grocers and small market owners, redemption-center owners, recyclers, government officials, nonpofit groups and even a beer bottler. (He likes the bottle bill!) Using information gained in these meetings, Johnson and McNally revise their bill. Meanwhile, Marge Davis turns the videotaped footage into a 25-minute DVD that she shares with legislators and others.
February 2006: Rep. Johnson and Sen. McNally introduce their substantially improved 2006 bottle bill. There are two versions, but in the end they decide to go with the version that exempts all retailers from having to take back empty containers. The task of redemption is explicitly given to voluntary "redemption centers." Redemption centers may be operated by individuals, county and local governments, organizations and retailers. The bill also explicitly gives $10 million of the unclaimed deposits to the litter-grants program. Nonetheless, certain Keep Tennessee Beautiful affiliates continue working actively to undermine the bill.
March 29, 2006: HB 3350 makes a quick stop in front of the House Government Operations Committee. This committee is supposed to evaluate only the rulemaking implications of a bill, and these are minimal in this case. Nonetheless, there is one dissenting vote, that of Rep. Barbara Cooper of Memphis.
April 17, 2006: The Hickman County Commission votes 14 to 4, with 3 abstentions, to endorse a resolution in support of the bottle bill.
April 19, 2006: Following presentations by Rep. Johnson and two convenience-store executives, the House Local Government Subcommittee votes 8 to 1 against the bill. Rep. Ben West casts the single vote in favor of the bill. The Senate version dies in consequence, and the 104th General Assembly ends without a bottle bill.
Over the coming months, Sierra Club lobbyist Mike Murphy works out a new provision designed to appeal to farmers. He proposes to amend the 1976 Agricultural, Forest and Open Space Land Act (dubbed the Greenbelt Law) to increase from 1,500 to 2,000 acres the amount of undeveloped land on which a landowner can qualify for a reduced tax rate. In order to compensate local governments for any resulting losses in tax revenue, he proposes to alllot $5 million of the unclaimed deposits.
Meanwhile, following an important powwow of supporters in July, the Tennessee Bottle Bill Project changes its name to the more upbeat Pride of Place (POP), emphasizing the social, community and economic benefits of the bill as well as its environmental ones.
In November, Rep. Russell Johnson wins election as district attorney for the Ninth Judicial District with a landslide 74 percent of the vote. Supporters are grieved to see him go but grateful for his leadership and courage.
105th General Assembly (2007-2008):
February 8, 2007: The better-than-ever 2007 bottle bill is filed in the Senate as SB 1408 with Sen. Tommy Kilby as prime sponsor and Randy McNally as cosponsor. With Republicans now in control of the Senate, Sen. McNally has been made chair of the Finance, Ways and Means Committee and feels he should not be the lead on the bill. Sen. Kilby soon withdraws as sponsor in deference to a supporter who owns a chain of convenience markets; he later says he will never support the bill as long as it is opposed by the retailers. Sen. Doug Jackson (D-Dickson) agrees to sponsor the bill.
February 15, 2007: HB 1829 is filed in the House by Rep. Mike Turner (D-Old Hickory). Though the bill has lost the leadership of Russell Johnson, it has gained numerous cosponsors. Supporters launch "POP Means Business," lining up business endorsements as well as potential redemption-center owners. Throughout March and April, supporters drum up grassroots support, meet with legislators and enlist new sponsors.
May 2007: With 14 sponsors now signed on and the bill gaining ground steadily (but not yet ready to be put to a vote), supporters and sponsors agree to roll the bill to 2008. This means the 2007 bill will remain in the pipeline, unchanged and ready for action when the legislature reconvenes in January 2008.
Summer/fall 2007: Supporters meet with key legislators and support groups; Marge Davis rides her bicycle 855 miles across Tennessee to raise visibility and awareness and generate press coverage. (Click on Bicycle Tour for details.)
January 22, 2008: Thanks to Glen Hasse, Maury County commissioner, and the testimony of a half-dozen citizens from a farmer to a member of the NAACP to a biologist, the Maury County Commission votes 15 to 5, with 1 abstention, to endorse the bill. (Click here to read the story.) Earlier, an unofficial online poll in the Columbia Daily Herald had logged nearly 80 percent support for the bill.
February-March 2008: The bill encounters a number of delays. Marge Davis' father (who has always cheered on her bottle-bill efforts) has cancer; she returns to Maine in mid-February and doesn't return until after his funeral. Meanwhile, members of the Tennessee Solid Waste Directors Association, which has not yet taken a position on the bill, have been waiting to hear a presentation by Marge during their annual meeting. The day they are to meet is the same day Marge flies to Maine, and they discuss the bill without her. Concerns are raised about who controls the leftover monies, and without Marge present to reply to these concerns, they vote not to endorse the bill. Around the same time, the Legislative Committee of the Tennessee Sheriffs' Association does agree to endorse the bill on behalf of the entire association. However, when the endorsement is announced in the press, some county sheriffs feel some heat from local retailers and distributors, and the sheriffs' endorsement is withdrawn.
April 6, 2008: Marge gets an e-mail from Karen Soro, a real estate broker and resident of Harbor Town, a high-end residential development on Mud Island in Memphis. Recent heavy rains and high waters have turned their front yards into a raft of debris, half of it beverage containers. Karen has taken some compelling photographs; her neighbor Greg Gardner, had earlier filmed an equally appalling video. They have sent copies of this graphic documentation to legislators; and they have organized the Harbor Town Neighborhood Association. Yet it is only when Senator Ophelia Ford refers them to Sen. Jackson's office that they realize legislation has already been filed that will deal significantly with this chronic problem. Their efforts inject a burst of energy into the bill, getting more legislators to pay attention, and compelling the city of Memphis to spend hours cleaning up the mess.
April 8, 2008: Following several discussions, recommended changes in the bill, and a presentation to the entire body, the general membership of the Tennessee Association of County Mayors, meeting in Nashville during their annual "county government" day, votes without dissent to endorse the bottle bill. Marge almost weeps with joy.
April 9, 2008: The bill, now with 16 sponsors, finally starts working its way through the legislative gamut, beginning with a tough hearing before the Senate Government Operations Committee. Marge Davis testifies for the bill; an anti-bottle bill consultant, Kevin Dietly, testifies against it. Dietly, a principal at Northbrige Environmental in Westford, Mass., has been providing anti-bottle-bill research and testimony--most of it either misleading, selective or outdated--for the beverage and grocery industries for more than 15 years. Senators Dewayne Bunch, Jack Johnson and Bo Watson are prepared to vote against recommendation, while Senators Thelma Harper, Beverly Marrero are prepared to vote for it. Sen. Mike Williams, who faces a tough reelection race, will vote aye only if there is a majority. Senators Rusty Crowe, Ophelia Ford and Paul Stanley are not present.
Without a majority, the choice is to vote either for "no recommendation" or "neutral recommendation." Chairman Harper chooses the latter (the better option) and the vote goes on record as 2 ayes (Harper and Marrero), 0 noes and 4 pass-no-vote (Bunch, Johnson, Watson, Williams). Officially the vote is recorded as "recommended for passage" by a vote of 2 to 0. Score one for our side!
April 22, 2008: The bill now goes before the the House Government Operations Committee. After much squabbling (some members want to debate the content of the bill, though this is explicitly not the job of the committee), the bill is deferred to Wednesday, April 30.
April 23, 2008: The bill is due to be be heard by the Senate Environment, Conservation and Tourism Committee. However, two days before the hearing, legendary state comptroller William R. Snodgrass dies, and the Legislature takes a recess to attend his funeral. The bottle bill is deferred to Tuesday, April 29.
April 29, 2008: The bill finally has its day before the Senate Environment, Conservation and Tourism Committee. Kevin Dietley is again testifying for the opposition, along with three convenience-store owners. Testifying for the bottle bill--in addition to our good-natured and incredibly savvy chief sponsor Sen. Doug Jackson--are 11 private citizens representing 11 very diverse constituences:
1.
Benefits to counties: Mayor Jai Templeton, McNairy County
2. Benefits to small entrepreneurs: Robert Lahm, Ph.D., assistant professor of entrepreneurship, Jones College of Business, Middle Tennessee State University
3. Benefits to recycling/manufacturing industries: Steve Russell, area manager, Strategic Materials, Inc.
4. Benefits to energy: John Noel, Nashville; president, Southern Alliance for Clean Energy; member, Governor’s Task Force on Energy Policy
5. Benefits to existing curbside/solid waste programs: Linda Kaplan, Germantown Environmental Commission
6. Benefits to local businesses: Karen Soro, Sowell and Co. Realtors, Memphis
7. Benefits to social services: Clifton Harris, coordinator, Metro Nashville Homelessness Commission
8. Benefits to tourism: Bob Keast, owner, Birdsong Resort & Marina, Camden
9. Benefits to sustainable industries: Mark Schwartz, architect, MFS3 Designs and greenMARK COLLABORATIVE, Pegram
10. Benefits to farmers: Frank McGinley, Hardin County Farm Bureau, Savannah
11. Benefits to litter: Gary Barrigar, Overmountain Chapter of Trout Unlimited, Elizabethton
(Jeremy Doochin of Vanderbilt was unable to be there, but he would have spoken on the benefits to schools.)
Though all adhere to a 2-minute limit, there are many questions, especially from Sen. Roy Herron, and the testimony goes on for more than an hour. (To give him credit, Sen. Kilby allows every one of them to speak without interruption.) When it's time to vote, Sen. Herron begins by saying that our folks have given some of the best testimony he's ever heard, and it's clear that for the first time, he has really listened to our arguments--especially regarding the need for more recycling options. He acknowledges that he has promised a constituent to vote against the bill (presumably he is referring to former governor and beer distributor Ned Ray McWherter) and admits that he was too quick in doing so. However, he is honor-bound to keep his promise. Therefore, he urges Sen. Jackson to defer the vote until all committee members are present (Sen. Raymond Finney is missing). Herron then proceeds to chide the opposition's lobbyists--there are six or eight of them at the back of the room--for being obstructive without offering an alternative, especially to the recycling dilemma. The lobbyists all promise to come up with their own solution by next year. Even staunch opponents Sen. Steve Southerland and Sen. Dewayne Bunch seem to finally "get" that the status quo is not acceptable. We leave the hearing feeling almost victorious.
April 30, 2008: The bill is recommended for passage by the House Government Operations Committee, and is referred to the State and Local Government Committee. However, that committee has already closed for the year, and there is zero chance that it will reopen on our account. All around, committees are closing. It's clear that the bottle bill is running out of time. It's also clear that the biggest sticking point for most legislators is not the concept of a container deposit--many of them have said they are okay with that--but rather the 3-cent handling fee charged to the distributors. After talking with various experts, other states, some recyclers and even the beer and grocery lobbyists, we've come up with a way to reduce the handling fee to just one cent, while still giving the redemption centers 3 cents (more or less)--the difference being made up out of the unclaimed deposits and the scrap value. It's a huge improvement--but the sponsors decide it is too late to bring it up this year. Wait till 2009.
May 6, 2008: The final meeting of the Senate Environment Committee. Though we know passage this session is impossible, spirits are high: Sen. Raymond Finney had decided to vote with the two sponsors, Sen. Jackson and Sen. Steve Roller. That's three of the five votes we need. We're hoping Sen. Williams and Sen. Bill Ketron will vote with us--Ketron has been lobbied hard by the citizens of Maury and Rutherford counties--and some people think Sen. Herron will make his apologies to his constituent and vote with us as well.
But it doesn't happen. Sen. Herron intends to remain loyal to his word, and Sen. Ketron and Sen. Williams both intend to be cautious. This is an election year, after all, and it's hard to stick your neck out for a bill that's doomed in the House even if it makes it out of the Senate. So Sen. Jackson decides to let the bill die. However, before he leaves the podium, he gives a gracious, upbeat and eloquent closing statement. (See it at www.legislature.state.tn.us--click on Senate, then video streaming.) Holding up a green plastic soda bottle, he says that Tennessee can no longer afford a status quo that tolerates the annual, mindless wasting/littering of 4 billion such containers.
Summer 2008: In July, POP coordinator Marge Davis is elected to the board of the national Container Recycling Institute, a respected information clearinghouse. And in August, Governor Bredesen appoints her to the Keep Tennessee Beautiful Advisory Council.
Meanwhile, the bill is undergoing an extensive overhaul. TDEC's Solid Waste Management folks look at the legislation line by line and suggest several smart improvements. Advisors from across the country, especially in California, help us spot weaknesses and correct them.
With the primaries scheduled for August, Marge sends a letter to all state legislative candidates, apprising them of the improvements to the bill. When the primaries are over, we have lost one of our Senate sponsors--Sen. Steve Roller of McMinnville--and Sen. Ray Finney has also been defeated. However, most of our allies will be back in January.
Fall 2008: The November elections are interesting, to say the least. For the first time since the 1860s, Republicans are now the majority party in both houses, the GOp having won a 50-49 majority in the House. (The Senate has gained members as well.) While this is not necessarily bad for our side--our bill has friends and foes in both parties--it is widely assumed that the new Speaker of the House will be Rep. Jason Mumpower of Bristol, and he is unapologetically opposed to a bottle bill. On the other hand, so is the current speaker, west Tennessee Democrat Jimmy Naifeh.
Meanwhile, two other events bode very well indeed. On November 18, the Aluminum Association issues a press release acknowledging, among other things, that it now supports container deposits as part of a multi-tiered approach to achieving new recycling goals (75 percent by 2015). Within a month, another trade group, the Glass Packaging Institute, does likewise; its goal is 50 percent recycled content in all glass containers by 2013. This brings to three the number of major industry associations that have reversed their former opposition to bottle bills. (The Association of Postconsumer Plastic Recyclers started the trend in May 2006, when it voted to support the expansion of existing bottle bills and oppose any efforts to repeal them.) All three industries are now willing to help--cautiously--pass the Tennessee bill.
106th General Assembly (2009-2010)
January 13, 2009: In a stunning political maneuver, all 49 House Democrats vote to elect east Tennessee Republican Kent Williams to be speaker, denying the seat to Rep. Jason Mumpower. Williams is promptly kicked out of the GOP, meaning that the House is now evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats--49 to 49--with one Independent. Speaker Williams promises to appoint both parties evenly in committees, which he does. However, most committees now have lots of new members, meaning that bottle-bill advocates must get busy educating these newcomers.
February 12, 2009: The extensively revised Tennessee bottle bill is filed in the Senate by Sen. Doug Jackson (SB 1404) and in the House by Rep. Mike Turner (HB 1167). (Note: Rep. Turner, who is swamped with administration bills, will later hand the bill off to Rep. Mike McDonald, another fine environmental ally.)
Meanwhile, several representatives of processing industries begin helping us lobby the bill. It quickly becomes clear that the proposed 1-cent distributors' fee is still too high, especially in a much tougher economy. Sponsors and advocates begin crunching numbers and preparing an amendment to lower the fee and restructure the funding.
February 18, 2009: The bill is referred, as expected, to the Senate Environment, Conservation and Tourism Committee. Fortunately, our prime sponsor, Sen. Jackson, is still on this committee.
February 19, 2009: The bill is referred in the House to the State Government Subcommittee of the State and Local Government Committee. This is new. In the past, it always went to the Local Government Subcommittee.
March 9, 2009: The sponsors file an amendment that reduces the container-recovery fee to one-eighth of a cent per container and reduces the payment to redemption centers to 1 cent.
March 23, 2009: The bill is "put on notice"(scheduled to be heard) on Tuesday, April 7, 2009, in the Senate Environment, Conservation and Tourism Committee, which will meet at 11:00 a.m. in hearing room 12 of Legislative Plaza.
April 7, 2009: The agenda is so lengthy in the Senate Environment Committee hearing that by the time the bottle bill is up, they've just about run out of time. Fortunately, the committee agrees to address the bill as far as it can in 15 minutes, and to put it at the top of its agenda the following week (April 14).
First, the committee adopts the amendment (see above). It then hears from four speakers who cannot return the following week:
- Benefits to manufacturers: Peter Walters, vice president for purchasing and distribution, and Darrell Wineman, director of purchasing, Saint-Gobain Containers, Muncie, Indiana. Saint-Gobain (formerly the Ball glass jar people!) is the second-largest glass-container maker in the country and part of the largest glass company in the world.
- Benefits to processors: Steve Russell, area manager, Strategic Materials, Inc., St. Louis, Missouri. SMI, the largest glass processor in North America, has a plant in Ashland City. Its operations include NexCycle, which operates redemption centers and services in California and New England.
- Benefits to counties: Jai Templeton, Selmer, mayor of McNairy County.
Their testimony is fantastic. Mr. Walters says basically, "We used to oppose bottle bills. Now we love them."
April 14, 2009: The hearing resumes in the Senate Environment Committee. Although some of last week's scheduled speakers cannot be present today, their written testimony is entered into the record. These incude Tim Soro, a Memphis realtor, Kiyala Hatcher, a Joelton 11-year-old and Linda Kaplan, member of the environmental commission in Germantown, as well as a plastics processor in Georgia.
Today's speakers include:
- Benefits to manufacturers: Garney Scott, Jr., Waverly: founder and CEO, Scepter, Inc.
- Benefits to tourism: Fred Cole, Jacksboro: owner and operator, Indian River Marina, Norris Lake, and founding member, Campbell County Tourism Council
- Benefits to farmers: Kathy Gunn, Springfield: co-owner, Green Hill Farm and Gourmet Pasture Beef
- Benefits to nonprofits and kids: Sizwe Herring, Nashville: founder and executive director, EarthMatters and the Carver Food Park
Once again, the testimony is terrific--polite, objective, professional and compelling. It is followed by remarks from Tony Barham, owner of eight convenience stores in west Tennessee. As in past years, convenience centers predict higher costs, lower sales and the fear that they will be forced to become redemption centers.
Marge Davis, coordinator of the Pride of Place effort, is asked to respond to these concerns. This is followed by discussion and questions from the senators. Sen. Jack Johnson of Franklin (Williamson County and part of Davidson) considers the 5-cent deposit a tax and nothing but a tax, and fears that it will harm existing recycling centers. Sen. Mike Faulk of Church Hill (Hawkins and five other counties) asks, with a smile, if the roads will be so clean that prisoners will have to be put to work running redemption centers. (Marge says that's a great idea! And yes, the bill allows it.) Sen. Ken Yager of Harriman (Roane and five other counties) is worried that the bill discriminates against beverage distributors, and that even if it removes half of the litter, it still leaves the other half and so does nothing to help tourism. Senator Burks of Monterey (Putnam and five other counties) says that what she really hates is Styrofoam cups. It looks like nobody was listening when the glass and aluminum testifiers talked about the importance of bottle bills to recycling.
Sen. Johnson proposes an amendment that would delete everything in the bill and instead create a "summer study committee" on "comprehensite litter contol." Bill supporters groan aloud; this was precisely how opponents killed a bottle bill 30 years ago.
Sen. Doug Jackson, the bill's sponsor, observes wryly that his bill is starting to resemble a freighter off the coast of Somalia (i.e., being taken over by pirates). He makes a great speech (you can see the entire hearing at http://www.legislature.state.tn.us/; click on video, go to Senate Environment Committee, and then click on the archives for April 14.) He talks earnestly about the good sense of this bill. He said it's a deposit, not a tax, but even if it is a tax, he said, it's a tax that 80 percent of the citizens want, according to the UT poll. "How often do we ever have bills with that kind of support?" he asked his colleagues. He listed all the benefits to energy, to landfills, to counties, to schools, etc. Finally, he said something lke, "We can't do much that's new for the state in this economy. But this is something we can do."
In the end, he asked that the committee not rush into the study committee idea, and asks to roll the bill for a week. Sen. Johnson agrees to withdraw his proposal, and the committee adjourns. It will conclude these discussions on Tuesday, April 21, at 11 am.
April 21, 2009: After considering the various options, including the likely weakening of the bill should it be allowed to go into a summer study committee, Senator Doug Jackson asks that the Senate Environment Committee roll the bill to next year, and there is no objection.
Technically speaking, the bill has been "assigned to General Sub"--the General Subcommittee. This is perfectly normal; many bills go to general sub. Think of it as the belly of a plane where skydivers line up and await the right moment to jump. We now have another eight months to prepare for a successful "jump."
With hearings concluded in the Senate, the bill is withdrawn in the House. Supporters shake hands all around, smile, and begin preparing for 2010.
January 14, 2010: The legislature reconvenes, and proponents resume speaking to legislators, confident that this is the year Tennessee will pass a bottle bill. Eleven counties have now voted on resolutions of support, and all have endorsed the bill by big margins--seven of them unanimously.
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