Air & Water Quality
Minority Reports: Subsidies For Polluters
HB 3481
House Vote 4
Senate Vote 3
During the debate over the biofuels package, House leaders added to the bill an unrelated amendment to dramatically expand the level of tax breaks going to major polluters simply to obey existing clean water and clean air safeguards.
This "pollution control tax credit" (PCTC) robs state agencies of revenue needed to enforce existing clean air and clean water laws.
It also biases the market place in favor of polluting businesses against non-polluting businesses.
In the House, a good Minority Report was offered on the floor to strip ou the PCTC expansion from the bill.
The vote unfortunately failed.
In the Senate, a bad Minority Rport was issued to try to re-insert the PCTC expansion into an otherwise responsible Senate version of the biofuels package.
Fortunately, it also failed.
YES IS THE PRO-ENVIRONMENT VOTE IN THE SENATE.
- Minority Report Failed in House, June 28, 25-33
- Minority Report Failed in Senate, July 21, 14-16
- Died in Conference Committee
