HCS/SCS/SB 925 - The act authorizes all public water supply and sewer districts as well as municipalities to construct and maintain sewer and water lines in public highways and roads provided they meet the applicable local regulations. The act provides tax credits for any applicant who installs and operates an alternative fuel station within the state. The credits per applicant shall not exceed twenty thousand dollars or twenty percent of the total costs associated with the purchase and installation of alternative fuel equipment. The department of revenue shall promulgate rules governing the process by which such credits are applied for, issued, and claimed.
The act subjects municipalities and public water and sewer districts to the jurisdiction of the transportation commission in the event that any such district or municipality removes equipment within the right-of-way of any highway. The act does not lessen or eliminate property rights belonging to sewer districts established under the Missouri Constitution.
The act makes various technical changes to sections pertaining to hazardous waste.
The act makes it clear that the lead-acid battery fee as well as the scrap tire fee is applicable only to new batteries and tires sold individually. The act allows the department of revenue to keep one percent of the lead acid battery fee, a change from the current four percent.
The act includes plasma arc technology in the list of waste processing treatments and defines such a process as "a process that converts electrical energy into thermal energy." The provisions of this section are identical to HCS/HB 1037 (2006).
The act removes the current requirement that in-state hazardous waste generators pay an annual registration fee of one hundred dollars. Resource recovery facilities have been added to the list of entities required to pay an annual fee for hazardous waste received from outside the state; all revenue from such fees as well as revenues from penalties for not paying such a fee, shall be deposited to the hazardous waste fund.
The act requires all residential or commercial septage pumpers to register with the department of natural resources. The requirements for such registration are laid out in the act. Upon submission of the completed registration application, the department shall subsequently register the septage pumper and provide evidence of such registration. Any changes in the original information filed with the department shall be made available by the pumper to the department. All such registrations shall expire four years after the initial issuance and may be renewed by the department upon payment of a renewal fee.
The act directs all septage pumpers to maintain a record of sites from which they have removed waste, any such record shall be made available to various departments upon request. The record requirements are laid out in the act. In the event that any septage was land applied, the location of such application shall be tied to an existing permit.
The act directs the department to supply all county health departments an updated list of registered pumpers; the act does allow for the electronic posting of such a list on the department's website provided the department notifies the county health departments about the updated posting.
The act allows for a nonprofit sewer company to operate as a member nonprofit water company upon vote by its membership in areas not located within a rural water district or a municipal water district.
The act prohibits claims, fines, or penalties against any publicly owned wastewater treatment works for exceeding the limits of an applicable permit or state law provided such discharge was a result of a sewage treatment malfunction due to the acceptance of residential or commercial septage from a registered pumper. The public owned treatment work must have responded to such a discharge in a reasonable manner to prohibit any environmental damage.
The act extends the fees imposed under the water pollution statutes until December 31, 2009.
The act directs the creation of a joint committee that shall consider proposals for restructuring the fees imposed under section 644.052 and 644.053 RSMo, as well as the state's implementation of the federal clean water program, stormwater programs and related state clean water responsibilities. The committee's report shall be due no later than December 31, 2008. The language in this section is similar to the HCS/SB 1165 (2006).
This act authorizes the Board of Fund Commissioners, in addition to amounts authorized prior to August 28, 2007, to issue bonds for grants and loans pursuant to several sections of Article III of the Missouri Constitution.
The authorizations are for: (1) $10 million of bonds for waste water pollution control, drinking water system improvements, and storm water control pursuant to Section 37(e); (2) $10 million of bonds for rural water and sewer projects pursuant to Section 37(g); and (3) $20 million of bonds for storm water control plans, studies, and projects in first classification counties and the City of St. Louis pursuant to Section 37(h). The language in this section is similar to SB 246 (2005).
MEGAN WORD