HF 502

1st Engrossment - 79th Legislature (1995 - 1996) Posted on 12/15/2009 12:00am

  1.1                          A bill for an act
  1.2             relating to towns; prohibiting the Minnesota pollution 
  1.3             control agency from charging towns certain fees for 
  1.4             permits for certain town road, bridge, or culvert 
  1.5             projects; amending Minnesota Statutes 1994, section 
  1.6             116.07, subdivision 4d. 
  1.7   BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.8      Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 1994, section 116.07, 
  1.9   subdivision 4d, is amended to read: 
  1.10     Subd. 4d.  [PERMIT FEES.] (a) The agency may collect permit 
  1.11  fees in amounts not greater than those necessary to cover the 
  1.12  reasonable costs of reviewing and acting upon applications for 
  1.13  agency permits and implementing and enforcing the conditions of 
  1.14  the permits pursuant to agency rules.  Permit fees shall not 
  1.15  include the costs of litigation.  The agency shall adopt rules 
  1.16  under section 16A.128 establishing the amounts and methods of 
  1.17  collection of any permit fees collected under this subdivision.  
  1.18  The fee schedule must reflect reasonable and routine permitting, 
  1.19  implementation, and enforcement costs.  The agency may impose an 
  1.20  additional enforcement fee to be collected for a period of up to 
  1.21  two years to cover the reasonable costs of implementing and 
  1.22  enforcing the conditions of a permit under the rules of the 
  1.23  agency.  Any money collected under this paragraph shall be 
  1.24  deposited in the special revenue account. 
  1.25     (b) Notwithstanding paragraph (a), and section 16A.128, 
  1.26  subdivision 1, the agency shall collect an annual fee from the 
  2.1   owner or operator of all stationary sources, emission 
  2.2   facilities, emissions units, air contaminant treatment 
  2.3   facilities, treatment facilities, potential air contaminant 
  2.4   storage facilities, or storage facilities subject to the 
  2.5   requirement to obtain a permit under Title V of the federal 
  2.6   Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990, Public Law Number 101-549, 
  2.7   Statutes at Large, volume 104, pages 2399 et seq., or section 
  2.8   116.081.  The annual fee shall be used to pay for all direct and 
  2.9   indirect reasonable costs, including attorney general costs, 
  2.10  required to develop and administer the permit program 
  2.11  requirements of Title V of the federal Clean Air Act Amendments 
  2.12  of 1990, Public Law Number 101-549, Statutes at Large, volume 
  2.13  104, pages 2399 et seq., and sections of this chapter and the 
  2.14  rules adopted under this chapter related to air contamination 
  2.15  and noise.  Those costs include the reasonable costs of 
  2.16  reviewing and acting upon an application for a permit; 
  2.17  implementing and enforcing statutes, rules, and the terms and 
  2.18  conditions of a permit; emissions, ambient, and deposition 
  2.19  monitoring; preparing generally applicable regulations; 
  2.20  responding to federal guidance; modeling, analyses, and 
  2.21  demonstrations; preparing inventories and tracking emissions; 
  2.22  providing information to the public about these activities; and, 
  2.23  after June 30, 1992, the costs of acid deposition monitoring 
  2.24  currently assessed under section 116C.69, subdivision 3. 
  2.25     (c) The agency shall adopt fee rules in accordance with the 
  2.26  procedures in section 16A.128, subdivisions 1a and 2a, that will 
  2.27  result in the collection, in the aggregate, from the sources 
  2.28  listed in paragraph (b), of the following amounts: 
  2.29     (1) in fiscal years 1992 and 1993, the amount appropriated 
  2.30  by the legislature from the air quality account in the 
  2.31  environmental fund for the agency's air quality program; 
  2.32     (2) for fiscal year 1994 and thereafter, an amount not less 
  2.33  than $25 per ton of each volatile organic compound; pollutant 
  2.34  regulated under United States Code, title 42, section 7411 or 
  2.35  7412 (section 111 or 112 of the federal Clean Air Act); and each 
  2.36  pollutant, except carbon monoxide, for which a national primary 
  3.1   ambient air quality standard has been promulgated; and 
  3.2      (3) for fiscal year 1994 and thereafter, the agency fee 
  3.3   rules may also result in the collection, in the aggregate, from 
  3.4   the sources listed in paragraph (b), of an amount not less than 
  3.5   $25 per ton of each pollutant not listed in clause (2) that is 
  3.6   regulated under Minnesota Rules, chapter 7005, or for which a 
  3.7   state primary ambient air quality standard has been adopted.  
  3.8   The agency must not include in the calculation of the aggregate 
  3.9   amount to be collected under the fee rules any amount in excess 
  3.10  of 4,000 tons per year of each air pollutant from a source. 
  3.11     (d) To cover the reasonable costs described in paragraph 
  3.12  (b), the agency shall provide in the rules promulgated under 
  3.13  paragraph (c) for an increase in the fee collected in each year 
  3.14  beginning after fiscal year 1993 by the percentage, if any, by 
  3.15  which the Consumer Price Index for the most recent calendar year 
  3.16  ending before the beginning of the year the fee is collected 
  3.17  exceeds the Consumer Price Index for the calendar year 1989.  
  3.18  For purposes of this paragraph the Consumer Price Index for any 
  3.19  calendar year is the average of the Consumer Price Index for 
  3.20  all-urban consumers published by the United States Department of 
  3.21  Labor, as of the close of the 12-month period ending on August 
  3.22  31 of each calendar year.  The revision of the Consumer Price 
  3.23  Index that is most consistent with the Consumer Price Index for 
  3.24  calendar year 1989 shall be used. 
  3.25     (e) Any money collected under paragraphs (b) to (d) must be 
  3.26  deposited in an air quality account in the environmental fund 
  3.27  and must be used solely for the activities listed in paragraph 
  3.28  (b).  
  3.29     (f) Persons who wish to construct or expand an air emission 
  3.30  facility may offer to reimburse the agency for the costs of 
  3.31  staff overtime or consultant services needed to expedite permit 
  3.32  review.  The reimbursement shall be in addition to fees imposed 
  3.33  by paragraphs (a) to (d).  When the agency determines that it 
  3.34  needs additional resources to review the permit application in 
  3.35  an expedited manner, and that expediting the review would not 
  3.36  disrupt air permitting program priorities, the agency may accept 
  4.1   the reimbursement.  Reimbursements accepted by the agency are 
  4.2   appropriated to the agency for the purpose of reviewing the 
  4.3   permit application.  Reimbursement by a permit applicant shall 
  4.4   precede and not be contingent upon issuance of a permit and 
  4.5   shall not affect the agency's decision on whether to issue or 
  4.6   deny a permit, what conditions are included in a permit, or the 
  4.7   application of state and federal statutes and rules governing 
  4.8   permit determinations. 
  4.9      (g) Notwithstanding this section or any other law, no 
  4.10  permit application fee in excess of $85 shall be charged to a 
  4.11  town in connection with the construction, reconstruction, or 
  4.12  alteration of a town road, bridge, or culvert.