1.1 	A bill for an act
1.2 	relating to environment; changing waste management reporting requirements; 
1.3 	creating a work group; requiring a report;amending Minnesota Statutes 2008, 
1.4 	section 115A.557, subdivision 3.
1.5 	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

1.6 	Section 1. Minnesota Statutes 2008, section 115A.557, subdivision 3, is amended to 
1.7 	read:
1.8 		Subd. 3.Eligibility to receive money. (a) To be eligible to receive money 
1.9 	distributed by the commissioner under this section, a county shall within one year of 
1.10 	October 4, 1989:
1.11 	(1) create a separate account in its general fund to credit the money; and
1.12 	(2) set up accounting procedures to ensure that money in the separate account is 
1.13 	spent only for the purposes in subdivision 2.
1.14 	(b) In each following year, each county shall also:
1.15 	(1) have in place an approved solid waste management plan or master plan including 
1.16 	a recycling implementation strategy under section 115A.551, subdivision 7, and a 
1.17 	household hazardous waste management plan under section 115A.96, subdivision 6, 
1.18 	by the dates specified in those provisions; 
1.19 	(2) submit a report by April 1 of each year to the commissioner detailing for the 
1.20 	previous calendar year:
1.21 	(i) how the money was spent including, but not limited to, specific information on 
1.22 	the number of employees performing SCORE planning, oversight, and administration; the 
1.23 	percentage of those employees' total work time allocated to SCORE planning, oversight, 
2.1 	and administration; the specific duties and responsibilities of those employees; and the 
2.2 	amount of staff salary for these SCORE duties and responsibilities of the employees; and
2.3 	(ii) the resulting gains achieved in solid waste management practices; and
2.4 	(3) provide evidence to the commissioner that local revenue equal to 25 percent of 
2.5 	the money sought for distribution under this section will be spent for the purposes in 
2.6 	subdivision 2.
2.7 	(c) The commissioner shall withhold all or part of the funds to be distributed 
2.8 	to a county under this section if the county fails to comply with this subdivision and 
2.9 	subdivision 2.
2.10 	(d) The requirements for the report specified in paragraph (b), clause (2), that is due 
2.11 	April 1, 2010, shall be abbreviate in scope. The information collected shall be sufficient 
2.12 	for the commissioner to determine that counties have complied with the requirement 
2.13 	of this subdivision.

2.14 	Sec. 2. WORKING GROUP ON SCORE REPORTING.
 2.15 	By July 1, 2009, the commissioner shall convene a working group on SCORE 
2.16 	Reporting to review the requirements for counties to report to the agency on activities 
2.17 	funded under Minnesota Statutes, section 115A.557. The commissioner shall appoint to 
2.18 	the working group representatives from, at a minimum, the following organizations: 
2.19 	the Association of Minnesota Counties, the Solid Waste Administrators Association, 
2.20 	and the Solid Waste Management Coordinating Board. The working group shall make 
2.21 	recommendations to amend the reporting requirements under Minnesota Statutes, section 
2.22 	115A.557, subdivision 3, in ways that reduce the resources counties employ to collect the 
2.23 	data reported, while insuring that estimation methods used to report data are consistent 
2.24 	across counties and that the data reported is accurate and useful as a guide to solid waste 
2.25 	management policy makers. The working group shall also make recommendations 
2.26 	regarding the feasibility and desirability of multicounty reporting of the data. The working 
2.27 	group's recommendations must be presented in a report submitted to the chairs and ranking 
2.28 	minority members of the senate and house of representatives committees with primary 
2.29 	jurisdiction over solid waste policy no later than December 15, 2009.