LANSING, Mich. — (Michigan) Gov. Jennifer Granholm has signed into law legislation that would ban the importation of foreign trash, but Michigan can take that step only if Congress gives the state that authority.

"I am pleased to sign legislation that will ban the importation of Canadian and other out-of-country trash when we are given the authority to do so," Granholm said Monday in a statement. "But Michigan cannot sit back and wait on Congress. There is action we can, and should, take to protect Michigan families from the health hazards created by imported trash."

Granholm and Democratic legislators have pushed for a series of measures that would limit the importation of out-of-state trash and improve the safety of waste being hauled into Michigan.

House Democrats want the state to institute a higher dumping fee, which they say would discourage Canadian dumping by raising costs. Michigan now charges just 21 cents per ton, the lowest rate in the region.

Democrats also lobbied unsuccessfully to ban new landfills until 2011, but the ban was allowed to expire at the end of 2005. The Democratic governor did sign a package of bills in 2004 requiring out-of-state waste to meet the same safety standards as in-state waste.

Republican legislators say federal action is needed to curb out-of-state trash because of a 1992 U.S. Supreme Court decision that says states cannot prohibit trash from crossing their borders without approval from Congress. The federal legislation authorizing the trash ban is pending in Congress.

The amount of Canadian trash dumped in Michigan landfills rose three per cent in the most recent fiscal year, according to a Department of Environmental Quality report. It has increased more significantly in previous years.

Granholm signed the package of bills on Friday. They'll take effect 90 days after Congress passes its own legislation authorizing the regulation of out-of-state trash.