After years of not getting any traction in the Senate, a proposal to place nickel bottle deposits on water and juice containers got its first public hearing in that house Wednesday.

For three of the past four years, the Democrat-led Assembly passed bills to expand the state’s 27-year-old 5-cent deposit law on soda, sparkling water, malt beverage and beer bottles and cans. The Senate did not take up the issue until this year, the first in which Democrats have controlled the chamber since 1965.

“It’s been known as the poster child for Albany’s dysfunction because it’s been bottled up in the Senate for so long,” said Laura Haight of the New York Public Interest Research Group.

Business interests have fiercely opposed changing the law, which would require the deposit on non-carbonated beverages such as water, iced tea, juices and sports drinks. The expansion would be costly, take up too much space, threaten sanitary conditions and lead to higher costs for consumers, they said Wednesday.

Senate Environmental Conservation Committee Chairman Antoine Thompson, D-Buffalo, said after the hearing is confident a compromise agreement could be worked out and would recommend to Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith, D-Queens, that negotiations be held, he said.

“I think there’s been a willingness to come together,” Thompson said, adding the legislation could be done before a budget is passed.

The New York Association of Convenience Stores said its members don’t have the room or resources to install vending machines for the returns, meaning employees would have to handle them manually, said James Calvin, president of the group.

Source: Poughkeepsie Journal