Minnesota Session Laws - 1995, Regular Session

                            CHAPTER 252-S.F.No. 1122 
                  An act relating to the environment; establishing a 
                  program for funding response actions to address 
                  environmental contamination from drycleaning 
                  facilities; appropriating money; proposing coding for 
                  new law in Minnesota Statutes, chapter 115B. 
        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
           Section 1.  [115B.47] [CITATION.] 
           Sections 115B.47 to 115B.51 may be cited as the "drycleaner 
        environmental response and reimbursement law." 
           Sec. 2.  [115B.48] [DEFINITIONS.] 
           Subdivision 1.  [APPLICABILITY.] The definitions in section 
        115B.02 and this section apply to sections 115B.47 to 115B.51. 
           Subd. 2.  [DRYCLEANER ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSE AND 
        REIMBURSEMENT ACCOUNT; ACCOUNT.] "Drycleaner environmental 
        response and reimbursement account" or "account" means the 
        drycleaner environmental response and reimbursement account 
        established in section 115B.49. 
           Subd. 3.  [DRYCLEANING FACILITY.] "Drycleaning facility" 
        means a facility located in this state that is or has been used 
        for a drycleaning operation, other than: 
           (1) a coin-operated drycleaning operation; 
           (2) a facility located on a United States military base; 
           (3) a uniform service or linen supply facility; 
           (4) a prison or other penal institution; 
           (5) a facility on the national priorities list established 
        under the Federal Superfund Act; or 
           (6) a facility at which a response action has been taken or 
        started under section 115B.17 before July 1, 1995. 
           Subd. 4.  [DRYCLEANING OPERATION.] "Drycleaning operation" 
        means commercial cleaning of apparel and household fabrics for 
        the general public, using one or more drycleaning solvents. 
           Subd. 5.  [DRYCLEANING SOLVENT.] "Drycleaning solvent" 
        means a chlorine- or hydrocarbon-based formulation or product 
        that is used as a primary cleaning agent in drycleaning 
        operations. 
           Subd. 6.  [ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSE COSTS.] "Environmental 
        response costs" means those costs described in section 115B.17, 
        subdivision 6. 
           Sec. 3.  [115B.49] [DRYCLEANER ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSE AND 
        REIMBURSEMENT ACCOUNT.] 
           Subdivision 1.  [ESTABLISHMENT.] The drycleaner 
        environmental response and reimbursement account is established 
        as an account in the state treasury. 
           Subd. 2.  [REVENUE SOURCES.] Revenue from the following 
        sources must be deposited in the state treasury and credited to 
        the account: 
           (1) the proceeds of the fees imposed by subdivision 4; 
           (2) interest attributable to investment of money in the 
        account; 
           (3) penalties collected under subdivision 4, paragraphs (e) 
        and (f); and 
           (4) money received by the commissioner for deposit in the 
        account in the form of gifts, grants, and appropriations. 
           Subd. 3.  [EXPENDITURES.] (a) Money in the account may only 
        be used: 
           (1) for environmental response costs incurred by the 
        commissioner under section 115B.50, subdivision 1; 
           (2) for reimbursement of amounts spent by the commissioner 
        from the environmental response, compensation, and compliance 
        account for expenses described in clause (1); 
           (3) for reimbursements under section 115B.50, subdivision 
        2; and 
           (4) for administrative costs of the commissioner of revenue.
           (b) Money in the account is appropriated to the 
        commissioner for the purposes of this subdivision.  The 
        commissioner shall transfer funds to the commissioner of revenue 
        sufficient to cover administrative costs pursuant to paragraph 
        (a), clause (4). 
           Subd. 4.  [REGISTRATION; FEES.] (a) The owner or operator 
        of a drycleaning facility shall register on or before July 1 of 
        each year with the commissioner of revenue in a manner 
        prescribed by the commissioner of revenue and pay a registration 
        fee for the facility.  The amount of the fee is: 
           (1) $500, for facilities with up to four full-time 
        equivalent employees; 
           (2) $1,000, for facilities with five to ten full-time 
        equivalent employees; and 
           (3) $1,500, for facilities with more than ten full-time 
        equivalent employees. 
           (b) A person who sells drycleaning solvents for use by 
        drycleaning facilities in the state shall collect and remit to 
        the commissioner of revenue in a manner prescribed by the 
        commissioner of revenue, on or before the 20th day of the month 
        following the month in which the sales of drycleaning solvents 
        are made, a fee of: 
           (1) $3.50 for each gallon of perchloroethylene sold for use 
        by drycleaning facilities in the state; and 
           (2) 70 cents for each gallon of hydrocarbon-based 
        drycleaning solvent sold for use by drycleaning facilities in 
        the state. 
           (c) The commissioner of revenue shall provide each person 
        who pays a registration fee under paragraph (a) with a receipt.  
        The receipt or a copy of the receipt must be produced for 
        inspection at the request of any authorized representative of 
        the commissioner of revenue. 
           (d) The commissioner shall, after a public hearing but 
        notwithstanding section 16A.1285, subdivision 4, annually adjust 
        the fees in this subdivision as necessary to maintain an 
        unencumbered balance in the account of at least $1,000,000.  Any 
        adjustment under this paragraph must be prorated among all the 
        fees in this subdivision.  Fees adjusted under this paragraph 
        may not exceed 200 percent of the fees in this subdivision.  The 
        commissioner shall notify the commissioner of revenue of an 
        adjustment under this paragraph no later than March 1 of the 
        year in which the adjustment is to become effective.  The 
        adjustment is effective for sales of drycleaning solvents made, 
        and annual registration fees due, beginning on July 1 of the 
        same year. 
           (e) An owner of a drycleaning facility who fails to pay a 
        fee under paragraph (a) when due is subject to a penalty of $50 
        per facility for each day the fee is not paid. 
           (f) To enforce this subdivision, the commissioner of 
        revenue may examine documents, assess and collect fees, impose 
        sales and use tax penalties on the monthly fee under paragraph 
        (b), and administer appeals, in the manner provided in chapters 
        270 and 289A.  Disclosure of data collected by the commissioner 
        under this subdivision is governed by chapter 270B. 
           Sec. 4.  [115B.50] [RESPONSE ACTIONS.] 
           Subdivision 1.  [RESPONSE ACTIONS BY THE COMMISSIONER.] (a) 
        In accordance with the priority list established under section 
        115B.17, subdivision 13, the commissioner shall take all 
        response actions at or related to a drycleaning facility that 
        the commissioner determines are reasonable and necessary to 
        protect the public health or welfare or the environment under 
        the standards required in sections 115B.01 to 115B.24.  The 
        commissioner shall review and approve any investigation and 
        response action plan submitted by an owner or operator of a 
        drycleaning facility who is taking response actions under 
        subdivision 2 and shall oversee the implementation of the 
        approved plans.  In carrying out the duties under this 
        subdivision, the commissioner may take emergency removal actions 
        as provided in section 115B.17, subdivision 1, paragraph (b), 
        and may exercise the authority provided in section 115B.17, 
        subdivisions 2 to 5, 15, and 16. 
           (b) The commissioner may not seek recovery against a 
        current or former owner or operator of a drycleaning facility of 
        any environmental response costs in excess of $10,000 incurred 
        by the commissioner at the facility, except: 
           (1) to the extent of insurance coverage, in excess of 
        $10,000, held by the owner or operator; or 
           (2) as provided in section 115B.51. 
           If the commissioner seeks recovery of environmental 
        response costs against an owner or operator pursuant to this 
        paragraph, the owner or operator shall act as directed by the 
        commissioner to assert any rights of the owner or operator to 
        any insurance coverage applicable to those costs and, if 
        coverage is denied, to assign those rights to the commissioner. 
           (c) Before taking a response action under this subdivision, 
        the commissioner shall notify the owner or operator of the 
        facility.  Except for emergency removal actions under section 
        115B.17, subdivision 1, paragraph (b), the commissioner shall 
        not take response actions under this subdivision at a 
        drycleaning facility where an owner or operator of the facility 
        is taking response actions under subdivision 2 in accordance 
        with an investigation or response action plan approved by the 
        commissioner. 
           Subd. 2.  [RESPONSE ACTIONS BY OWNERS OR OPERATORS; 
        REIMBURSEMENT.] (a) At the request of the owner or operator of a 
        drycleaning facility who takes response actions at the facility 
        in accordance with a response action plan approved by the 
        commissioner, the commissioner shall reimburse the owner or 
        operator for all but $10,000 of the environmental response costs 
        incurred by the owner or operator if the commissioner determines 
        that the costs are reasonable and were actually incurred.  If a 
        request for reimbursement is denied, the owner or operator may 
        appeal the decision as a contested case under chapter 14. 
           (b) If the commissioner reimburses an owner or operator for 
        environmental response costs under this subdivision for which 
        the owner or operator has insurance coverage, the commissioner 
        is subrogated to the rights of the owner or operator with 
        respect to that insurance coverage to the extent of the 
        reimbursement.  Acceptance of reimbursement under this 
        subdivision constitutes an assignment by the owner or operator 
        with respect to any insurance coverage applicable to the costs 
        that are reimbursed. 
           Subd. 3.  [LIMITATION ON AMOUNT THAT MAY BE SPENT.] The 
        commissioner may not, in a single fiscal year, make expenditures 
        from the account related to a single drycleaning facility that 
        exceed 20 percent of the balance in the account at the beginning 
        of the fiscal year. 
           Sec. 5.  [115B.51] [ILLEGAL ACTIONS.] 
           The commissioner may recover under section 115B.17, 
        subdivision 6, that portion of the environmental response costs 
        at a drycleaning facility that is attributable to a person who 
        otherwise would be responsible for the release or threatened 
        release under section 115B.03, and whose actions related to the 
        release or threatened release were in violation of federal or 
        state hazardous waste management laws in effect at the time of 
        those actions. 
           Sec. 6.  [APPROPRIATION.] 
           $29,000 is appropriated from the general fund to the 
        commissioner of revenue for the purposes of this act, to be 
        available until June 30, 1997, and must be reimbursed to the 
        general fund from the drycleaner environmental response and 
        reimbursement account by that date.  Any addiitonal amounts 
        appropriated from the general fund shall also be reimbursed from 
        the drycleaner environmental response and reimbursement account 
        within the biennium in which the funds were appropriated. 
           Sec. 7.  [EFFECTIVE DATE.] 
           Section 3, subdivision 4, paragraph (d), is effective for 
        annual fees due by July 1, 1997, and for monthly fees due by 
        July 20, 1997. 
           Presented to the governor May 30, 1995 
           Signed by the governor June 1, 1995, 11:34 a.m.