2011 Minnesota Statutes

116.03 COMMISSIONER.

Subdivision 1.Office.

(a) The Office of Commissioner of the Pollution Control Agency is created and is under the supervision and control of the commissioner, who is appointed by the governor under the provisions of section 15.06.

(b) The commissioner may appoint a deputy commissioner and assistant commissioners who shall be in the unclassified service.

(c) The commissioner shall make all decisions on behalf of the agency that are not required to be made by the agency under section 116.02.

Subd. 2.Organization of office.

The commissioner shall organize the agency and employ such assistants and other officers, employees and agents as the commissioner may deem necessary to discharge the functions of the commissioner's office, define the duties of such officers, employees and agents, and delegate to them any of the commissioner's powers, duties, and responsibilities, subject to the commissioner's control and under such conditions as the commissioner may prescribe. The commissioner may also contract with, and enter into grant agreements with, persons, firms, corporations, the federal government and any agency or instrumentality thereof, the Water Research Center of the University of Minnesota or any other instrumentality of such university, for doing any of the work of the commissioner's office. None of the provisions of chapter 16C, relating to bids, shall apply to such contracts.

Subd. 2a.Mission; efficiency.

It is part of the agency's mission that within the agency's resources the commissioner and the members of the agency shall endeavor to:

(1) prevent the waste or unnecessary spending of public money;

(2) use innovative fiscal and human resource practices to manage the state's resources and operate the agency as efficiently as possible;

(3) coordinate the agency's activities wherever appropriate with the activities of other governmental agencies;

(4) use technology where appropriate to increase agency productivity, improve customer service, increase public access to information about government, and increase public participation in the business of government;

(5) utilize constructive and cooperative labor-management practices to the extent otherwise required by chapters 43A and 179A;

(6) report to the legislature on the performance of agency operations and the accomplishment of agency goals in the agency's biennial budget according to section 16A.10, subdivision 1; and

(7) recommend to the legislature appropriate changes in law necessary to carry out the mission and improve the performance of the agency.

Subd. 2b.Permitting efficiency.

(a) It is the goal of the state that environmental and resource management permits be issued or denied within 150 days of the submission of a substantially completed permit application. The commissioner of the Pollution Control Agency shall establish management systems designed to achieve the goal.

(b) The commissioner shall prepare semiannual permitting efficiency reports that include statistics on meeting the goal in paragraph (a). The reports are due February 1 and August 1 each year. For permit applications that have not met the goal, the report must state the reasons for not meeting the goal, steps that will be taken to complete action on the application, and the expected timeline. In stating the reasons for not meeting the goal, the commissioner shall separately identify delays caused by the responsiveness of the proposer, lack of staff, scientific or technical disagreements, or the level of public engagement. The report must specify the number of days from initial submission of the application to the day of determination that the application is complete. The report for August 1 each year must aggregate the data for the year and assess whether program or system changes are necessary to achieve the goal. The report must be posted on the agency's Web site and submitted to the governor and the chairs and ranking minority members of the house of representatives and senate committees having jurisdiction over environment policy and finance.

(c) The commissioner shall allow electronic submission of environmental review and permit documents to the agency.

(d) Beginning July 1, 2011, within 30 business days of application for a permit subject to paragraph (a), the commissioner of the Pollution Control Agency shall notify the project proposer, in writing, of whether or not the permit application is complete enough for processing. If the permit is incomplete, the commissioner must identify where deficiencies exist and advise the applicant on how they can be remedied. A resubmittal of the application begins a new 30-day review period. If the commissioner fails to notify the project proposer of completeness within 30 business days, the application is deemed to be substantially complete and subject to the 150-day permitting review period in paragraph (a) from the date it was submitted. This paragraph does not apply to an application for a permit that is subject to a grant or loan agreement under chapter 446A.

Subd. 3.Federal funds.

The commissioner of the Pollution Control Agency is the state agent to apply for, receive, and disburse federal funds made available to the state by federal law or rules and regulations promulgated thereunder for any purpose related to the powers and duties of the Pollution Control Agency or the commissioner. The commissioner shall comply with any and all requirements of such federal law or such rules and regulations promulgated thereunder to facilitate application for, receipt, and disbursement of such funds. All such moneys received by the commissioner shall be deposited in the state treasury and are hereby annually appropriated to the commissioner for the purposes for which they are received. None of such moneys in the state treasury shall cancel and they shall be available for expenditure in accordance with the requirements of federal law.

The provisions of section 3.3005 shall not apply to money available under the federal Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980, United States Code, title 42, sections 9601 to 9657, for which a state match is not required or for which a state match is available under the Environmental Response and Liability Act or from a political subdivision. The receipt of the money shall be reported to the Legislative Advisory Commission.

Subd. 4.

[Repealed by amendment, 1996 c 405 s 6]

Subd. 5.

[Repealed by amendment, 1996 c 405 s 6]

Subd. 6.

[Repealed by amendment, 1996 c 405 s 6]

History:

1967 c 882 s 3; 1974 c 406 s 9; 1974 c 483 s 2; 1977 c 305 s 19,45; 1982 c 458 s 1; 1983 c 301 s 111; 1986 c 444; 1987 c 186 s 15; 1991 c 326 s 6; 1995 c 186 s 31; 1995 c 248 art 11 s 7; 1996 c 405 s 6; 1998 c 366 s 54; 1998 c 386 art 2 s 32; 2003 c 128 art 2 s 36; 2011 c 4 s 3