A bill that would have blocked most local governments from offering recycling services appears to be dead for this session of the Legislature, but it seems certain it will be resurrected by its backers.

House Bill 274 stirred alarm across Alabama from cities and counties that offer more than curbside residential recycling. Officials said the bill, had it been enacted, would have made many public recycling programs financially unsustainable and would have increased the cost of recycling for everyone.

"We were adamantly opposed to the bill as it was written," said Sonny Brasfield, executive director of the Association of County Commissions of Alabama. "Solid waste is an important function of county government for the citizens."

Brasfield said he met last week with the bill's sponsor, Rep. Lynn Greer, R-Rogersville, to express his concerns. Greer withdrew the bill after their meeting.

The bill would have prevented any city or county from offering recycling and related services to commercial and government customers where two or more companies exist that could provide the same service.

One of the bill's co-sponsors, Rep. Barry Moore, R-Enterprise, said the bill represents solid Republican philosophy because it limits the scope of government and prevents government from competing with private enterprise. Moore owns a waste-hauling business in Coffee County.

"I've been fighting my county since 2003 because they are in the (waste hauling) business tax free.

"In a capitalistic society, there are some things government should not do when they are competing with private enterprise," he said.

Asked if he felt there was a conflict of interest in his co-sponsorship of the bill, Moore said he cleared it with the Ethics Commission.

Coffee County, where Moore lives and operates his business, offers roll-off and front-end loader services that Moore contends unfairly compete with his business.

Greer said he was asked by a group of south Alabama legislators to sponsor the bill. He said he agrees with the general premise of the legislation, but won't be involved with it when it is introduced again.

"The bill needs to be clear and have no controversy in it," he said. "I don't know yet if I will support it."

Greer said he was told the bill will be rewritten.

"It's mostly people from south Alabama working on the bill," he said.

Elected officials began calling their legislative delegations when word of the bill's contents got out via a series of emails.

"I mailed a letter (Thursday) to our delegation opposing the bill," Florence Mayor Bobby Irons said. "(The bill) would have tied our hands in certain areas that would have been very detrimental to our recycling program. We've got to have the revenue just to keep it afloat."

Florence has the oldest residential curbside recycling program in Alabama, and has expanded it to businesses and industries. The Alabama Department of Environmental Management has provided grants to Lauderdale County to expand recycling efforts.

The kind of recycling offered in the Shoals is not especially profitable. The main goal is to save space in landfills by removing products that can be reused. Florence, after 20 years of recycling, broke even with its program for the first time in 2011.

The bill was troubling at every level of state and local government, though few at the state level will discuss specific concerns, apparently in deference to the altered legislative landscape of the new Republican majority.

"Everybody understands there were some unintended consequences with the way the bill was written," said Scott Hughes, spokesman for the Alabama Department of Environmental Management. "Our goal is to enhance recycling in Alabama, and we will work with all parties to achieve that goal."

The sweeping language of the bill would, based on interpretation, have pushed local government out of the recycling business. That does not come as a surprise to Shannon Bridgmon, professor of political science at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.

"It seems to be not just about dismantling government but certain provisions of government," Bridgmon said. "They would contract those provisions out under the guise of saving money. The money will still be spent but it will be subsidizing private business. This has been going on in Alabama for more than 75 years."

Bridgmon said had local government not reacted as quickly and as decisively as it did to the bill, it could have passed.

"This is more bull-in-a-china-shop governance," she said. "It's a knee-jerk kind of overkill without much analysis about how it will affect us in the long term."

Robert Palmer can be reached at 256-740-5720 or robert.palmer@TimesDaily.com.