81-1561. Litter Fee Collection Fund; created; Nebraska Litter Reduction and Recycling Fund; distribution; procedure; purposes.

(1) The Tax Commissioner shall deduct and withhold from the litter fee collected a fee sufficient to reimburse himself or herself for the cost of collecting and administering the litter fee and shall deposit such collection fee in the Litter Fee Collection Fund which is hereby created. The Litter Fee Collection Fund shall be appropriated to the Department of Revenue. Any money in the Litter Fee Collection Fund available for investment shall be invested by the state investment officer pursuant to the Nebraska Capital Expansion Act and the Nebraska State Funds Investment Act.

(2) The Tax Commissioner shall remit the balance of the litter fee collections to the Department of Environment and Energy. The department shall allocate and distribute funds from the Nebraska Litter Reduction and Recycling Fund in percentage amounts to be determined by the council on an annual basis, after a public hearing on a date to be determined by the council, for the following activities:

(a) Programs of public education, motivation, and participation aimed at creating an ethic conducive to the reduction of litter, establishing an attitude against littering and a desire for a clean environment, and securing greater awareness of and compliance with antilitter laws. Such programs shall include:

(i) The distribution of informative materials to elementary and secondary schools;

(ii) The purchase and erection of roadside signs;

(iii) The organization and operation of cleanup drives conducted by local agencies and organizations using volunteer help;

(iv) Grants to state and local government units and agencies and private organizations for developing and conducting antilitter programs; and

(v) Any other public information method selected by the department, including the use of media;

(b) Cleanup of public highways, waterways, recreation lands, urban areas, and public places within the state, including, but not limited to:

(i) Grants to cities and counties for payment of personnel employed in the pickup of litter;

(ii) Grants for programs aimed at increasing the use of youth and unemployed persons in seasonal and part-time litter pickup programs and to establish work release and other programs to carry out the purposes of the Nebraska Litter Reduction and Recycling Act;

(iii) Grants to public and private agencies and persons to conduct surveys of amounts and composition of litter and rates of littering; and

(iv) Grants to public and private agencies and persons for research and development in the fields of litter reduction, removal, and disposal, including the evaluation of behavioral science techniques in litter control and the development of new equipment, and to implement such research and development when appropriate; and

(c) New or improved community recycling and source separation programs, including, but not limited to:

(i) Expansion of existing and creation of new community recycling centers;

(ii) Expansion of existing and creation of new source separation programs;

(iii) Research and evaluation of markets for the materials and products recovered in source separation and recycling programs; and

(iv) Providing advice and assistance on matters relating to recycling and source separation, including information and consultation on available technology, operating procedures, organizational arrangements, markets for materials and products recovered in recycling and source separation, transportation alternatives, and publicity techniques.

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