Zombie TVs Keep Walking

No-one likes a bill they worked hard on to die, but there's particular fury in the environmental community today that Gov. Rick Perry killed House Bill 821, the famous zombie TV recycling legislation. "Perry had no good reason to veto this bill," Texas Campaign for the Environment Director Robin Schneider said.

A Magnavox? This should go in a museum, not a landfill (Photo by Richard Whittaker)

The bill got TV manufacturers into the recycling game: A particularly important issue since the digital switch made many sets unusable. Schneider's already had the chance to challenge Perry on his veto. This morning, before a rally at the Capitol, she and some protesters headed to UT's Volunteer Leadership Summit, where Perry was scheduled to speak. As she explained, she came out of the elevator and there was the gov. When she asked for an explanation, "He said this was an industry bill. Well, coming from Texas' business-friendly Perry, that's an interesting argument."

Schneider is particularly frustrated because Perry struck the bill down even though it had wide-spread support (including big industry names like GE, Thomson, Philips and the TechAmerica trade association) that almost exactly mirrored the consensus-backing of the 2007 session's computer recycling bill. "This bill uses the free market to let the companies come up with their recycling plans, and the fees were modest," she lamented.

More importantly, Perry's staff told her he was fine with it – right up to the point he vetoed it.