Current Status Introducing Body:Senate Bill Number:418 Ratification Number:152 Act Number:122 Primary Sponsor:J. Verne Smith Type of Legislation:GB Subject:Environmental Protection Fund Companion Bill Number:3483 Date Bill Passed both Bodies:19930517 Computer Document Number:436/12927AC.93 Governor's Action:S Date of Governor's Action:19930614 Introduced Date:19930211 Date of Last Amendment:19930512 Last History Body:------ Last History Date:19930614 Last History Type:Act No. 122 Scope of Legislation:Statewide All Sponsors:J. Verne Smith Leatherman Matthews Giese Martin O'Dell Land Stilwell Rose Type of Legislation:General Bill
Bill Body Date Action Description CMN Leg Involved
---- ------ ------------ ------------------------------ --- ------------
418 ------ 19930614 Act No. 122
418 ------ 19930614 Signed by Governor
418 ------ 19930610 Ratified R 152
418 Senate 19930517 Concurred in House amendment,
enrolled for ratification
418 House 19930513 Read third time, returned to
Senate with amendment
418 House 19930512 Amended, read second time
418 House 19930506 Debate adjourned until
Tuesday, 19930511
418 House 19930427 Committee Report: Favorable 30
with amendment
418 House 19930421 Introduced, read first time, 30
referred to Committee
418 Senate 19930420 Read third time, sent to House
418 Senate 19930413 Amended, read second time,
ordered to third reading with
notice of general amendments
418 Senate 19930408 Committee Report: Favorable 13
with amendment
418 Senate 19930317 Referred to Committee 06
418 Senate 19930317 Recalled from Committee 13
418 Senate 19930211 Introduced, read first time, 13
referred to Committee
View additional legislative information at the LPITS web site.
(A122, R152, S418)
AN ACT TO AMEND THE CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, BY ADDING CHAPTER 2 TO TITLE 48 SO AS TO ENACT THE "ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION FUND ACT" SO AS TO PROVIDE FUNDING BY FEES FOR THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROGRAMS OF THE SOUTH CAROLINA DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:
Short title
SECTION 1. This act may be cited as the "Environmental Protection Fund Act".
Fund created; operations; purpose and use; fees
SECTION 2. Title 48 of the 1976 Code is amended by adding:
Section 48-2-10. This chapter may be cited as the `Environmental Protection Fund Act'.
Section 48-2-20. As used in this chapter:
(1) `South Carolina Environmental Protection Fund' or `fund' means a special account established within the Treasurer's Office in which is deposited all fees as authorized by this chapter to be collected for the department's environmental programs.
(2) `Department' means the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control.
Section 48-2-30. (A) There is established within the Treasurer's Office an agency-restricted, interest-bearing account to be known as the South Carolina Environmental Protection Fund.
(B) Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, there must be deposited in the fund all fees as authorized by this chapter to be collected for the following environmental programs administered by the department, including fees for environmental permits, licenses, certificates, and registrations:
(1) Pollution Control Act;
(2) Clean Air Act;
(3) Safe Drinking Water Act;
(4) Hazardous Waste Management Act;
(5) Atomic Energy Act;
(6) Oil and Gas Act;
(7) any environmental program for which applicable federal law requires the establishment and collection of fees.
(C) The department shall maintain separate accounting for the monies collected and expended under each of the acts enumerated in subsection (B).
(D) Unencumbered monies and any unexpended balance of the fund remaining at the end of a fiscal year do not revert to the general fund but must be carried forward and maintained in separate accounts until expended in accordance with this chapter.
(E) Interest accruing on investments and deposits of the fund must be credited to the general fund.
(F) Monies in the fund must be invested by the State Treasurer for the benefit of the fund. The fund must be administered by the appropriate program area within the department.
(G) Monies in the fund may be expended only in accordance with annual appropriations approved by the General Assembly, except as otherwise authorized under Section 48-2-60.
Section 48-2-40. The fund is available to the department to help defray the costs of administering the regulatory programs under each act enumerated in Section 48-2-30(B). The monies must be used for improved performance in permitting, certification, licensing, monitoring, investigating, enforcing, and administering the department's functions under these acts. Monies collected pursuant to the Federal Clean Air Act may be used as necessary to administer the Small Business Stationary Source Technical and Environmental Compliance Assistance Program, support staff, equipment, legal services, contracts with consultants, and program expenses as listed in Title V of the 1990 amendments to the Federal Clean Air Act.
Section 48-2-50. (A) In order to facilitate the proper administration of each act listed in Section 48-2-30(B), the department shall charge fees for the various services and functions it performs under each of those acts including, but not limited to, application fees, processing fees, permit maintenance fees, certification fees, license fees, registration fees, plan review fees, facility inspection fees, and emission fees.
(B) All fees in existence before the effective date of this chapter which implement the acts identified in Section 48-2-30(B) must be continued and must be calculated and maintained with any additional fees authorized by this chapter; however, the existing fees may be used in any manner consistent with the department's authority, the provisions of this chapter notwithstanding.
(C) No permit, certificate, license, or registration and no renewal or modification of a permit, certificate, license, or registration may be issued to an applicant under the acts enumerated in Section 48-2-30(B) until all fees are paid in full. The department shall develop a schedule by regulation for the collection of delinquent accounts and the amounts to be applied to delinquent accounts.
(D) The department shall develop regulations which set annual levels of fees as authorized by this chapter. The level of these fees must be determined after careful consideration of the direct and indirect costs incurred by the department in performing its various functions and services under each of the acts enumerated in Section 48-2-30(B). Any subsequent increase in the level of these fees must be justified by an assessment report compiled in accordance with Section 1-23-115. All fees and procedures for collecting fees must be adopted pursuant to procedures as are set forth in the Administrative Procedures Act. In promulgating these regulations, the department shall consider detailed information regarding other costs to be funded by the proposed fee schedule or fee increases and the current and proposed average response time to permit applications under that program.
(E) In the third, and all subsequent years, the fee schedule promulgated by the department may not, when added to its individual program fund balance from prior years, exceed one hundred fifty percent of the fees collected in the previous year.
(F) The total fees assessed under this chapter and listed in subsection (H) to be paid by a single permitted facility under any one act enumerated in Section 48-2-30(B) may not exceed five percent of the total of all fees assessed under that act, except for those fees collected pursuant to the Clean Air Act and the Atomic Energy Act.
(G) On January 1, 1994, and January first of every even-numbered year after 1994, the department shall evaluate the implementation of the permit fee program and provide this evaluation in writing to the Senate Finance Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee. This evaluation shall include a report on the total fees collected, the amount of general funds allocated to the department, the department's use of the fees and the general funds, the number of permit applications received, the number of permits issued, the progress in eliminating permit backlogs, and the timeliness of permit processing.
(H) For the following categories, the fees shall not exceed the maximum amounts listed below. The department is encouraged to use graduated fees to reflect the volume of waste, population served, or other factors determined necessary to fairly apportion the fees:
(1) Water Pollution Control
(a) Annual fees for NPDES Permits and State Construction Permits for Land Application Systems; however, annual operating fees for both major and minor facilities must be calculated based on the previous year's actual flow as reported to the department:
Type of Facility:
(i) Major Facility $5,400
(Flow greater than
2,000,000 gal/day)
(ii) Major Facility $4,050
(Flow 1,000,000 -
1,999,999 gal/day)
(iii) Minor Facility $3,375
(Flow 500,000 -
999,999 gal/day)
(iv) Minor Facility $2,700
(Flow 100,000 -
499,999 gal/day)
(v) Minor Facility $2,025
(Flow 50,000 -
99,999 gal/day)
(vi) Minor Facility $1,350
(Flow 0 - 49,999
gal/day)
(vii) Multiple Discharged
Permits $4,050
(More than 5 discharge
points) per discharged
over 5 $1,520
(viii) General Permits $ 170
(b) Water Quality Certification
Application Fees:
(i) Certification of major
activities requiring
federal or state
permits $1,688
(ii) Certification of minor
activities requiring
federal or state
permits $ 255
(c) Construction Permit Fees:
(i) Pretreatment Systems:
1. Oil/water separators or Air
Stripper Systems only $1,013
2. All other Pretreatment
Systems $3,038
(ii) Collection Systems:
1. 1000 ft. or less $ 338
2. 1,001 to 10,000 ft. $ 845
3. 10,000 ft. or more $1,688
4. Delegated Program $ 170
(iii) Wastewater Treatment Facilities, provided that fees for modifications without expansions for both major and minor facilities must be assessed by the department only for those modifications which require the actual submission of plans and specifications to the department for engineering review
1. Major Facilities
(1,000,000 gal/day
or greater)
a. New $5,400
b. Expansion $4,050
c. Modification
w/o expansion $2,700
2. Minor Facilities
(0 to 999,999 gal/day)
a. New $3,375
b. Expansion $2,700
c. Modification
w/o expansion $2,025
(2) Water Supply Operating Permit
(a) Major Facility
(Serving more than 10,000
people) $4,050
(b) Major Facility
(Serving 5,000 -
10,000 people) $3,038
(c) Minor Facility
(Serving 1,000 -
4,900 people) $ 761
(d) Minor Facility
(Serving less than
1,000 people) $ 255
(3) Air Quality Control
(a) Permit fees for air quality operating permits must be based on an annual fee of $25.00 per ton of each regulated pollutant based on actual emissions, up to a maximum 4,000 tons a year a regulated pollutant. `Actual emissions' means the actual rate of emissions in tons per year of any regulated pollutant which was emitted over the preceding calendar year or any other period determined by the department to be representative of normal source operation. Actual emissions must be calculated using the unit's actual operating hours, production rates, and in-place control equipment, types of materials processed, stored, or combusted during the preceding calendar year or such other time period established by the department.
(b) New sources or any source without sufficient data to be able to determine actual emissions must be assessed the above $25.00 a ton fee with appropriate CPI adjustment calculated on a prorata basis for their months of operation. The fee must be based on permitted emissions, until such time as `Actual emissions' can be calculated, and must be paid before the operating permit is issued.
(c) Pursuant to the 1990 Federal Clean Air Act, fees for air emissions or for air emission permits may be adjusted to reflect any increase in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the year before the billing month over the 1989 CPI. The CPI for any calendar year is the average of CPI for all urban consumers published by the Department of Labor, as of the close of the twelve-month period ending on August thirty-first of each calendar year.
(4) Laboratory Certification Services
(a) Application fee $ 507
(b) Minimum Annual Fee
(per laboratory) $ 507
(c) Clean Water Act Inorganics
(per parameter) $ 102
(d) Safe Drinking Water Act
Inorganics (per parameter) $ 102
(e) SDWA `Secondary' Inorganics
(per parameter) $ 102
(f) CWA Organics
(i) PCB's and Pesticides
(per Sub-Group) $ 1,268
(ii) Herbicides
(per Sub-Group) $ 1,268
(iii) Volatiles
(per Sub-Group) $ 1,268
(iv) Semi-Volatiles
(per Sub-Group) $ 1,268
(v) Dioxins and Furans
(per Sub-Group) $ 1,268
(g) SDWA Organics
(i) Trihalomethanes $ 1,268
(ii) Synthetic Organic
Compounds $ 2,532
(iii) Volatiles $ 2,532
(h) Microbiology
(i) Total Coliform $ 255
(ii) Fecal Coliform $ 255
(iii) Fecal Streptococci $ 255
(i) Biology
(i) Toxicity Testing $ 2,532
(ii) Taxonomy $ 2,268
(j) Solid and Hazardous Wastes
(SW 846 Methods) $ 2,532
(k) Air Quality Analysis $ 2,532
(5) Radioactive Material Licenses
(a) Low Level Radioactive Waste
Disposal $275,000
(b) Radioactive Material
Manufact/processing $ 27,000
(c) Decontamination Facil. $ 3,000
(d) Industrial Radiography
under Reciprocity $ 500
(e) Low Level Waste
Consolidation $ 25,000
(f) Low Level Waste Processing $ 50,000
(6) Radioactive Waste
Transportation Permits $ 10,000
(7) Hazardous Waste Units $ 3,038
Section 48-2-60. A person required to pay the fees set forth in this chapter who disagrees with the calculation or applicability of the fee may petition the department for a hearing by submitting a petition setting forth the fee which is challenged, the grounds on which relief is sought, and the total amount of the fee due. The petition and the fee must be received by the department no later than thirty days after the due date. The hearing must be conducted in accordance with contested case provisions set forth in the Administrative Procedures Act and department regulations. If it is finally determined that the amount in dispute was improperly assessed, the department shall return the amount determined to be improperly assessed with interest not to exceed the statutory rate.
Section 48-2-70. Under each program for which a permit processing fee is established pursuant to this chapter, the promulgating authority also shall establish by regulation a schedule or timely action by the Department of Health and Environmental Control on permit applications under that program. These schedules shall contain criteria for determining in a timely manner when an application is complete and the maximum length of time necessary and appropriate for a thorough and prompt review of each category of permit applications and shall take into account the nature and complexity of permit application review required by the act under which the permit is sought. If the department fails to grant or deny the permit within the time frame established by regulation, the department shall refund the permit processing fee to the permit applicant.
Section 48-2-80. Fees collected pursuant to Section 48-2-50 do not supplant or reduce in any way the general fund appropriation to the department from the state or federal program; and the total amount of fees authorized by this chapter collected in any fiscal year, may not exceed thirty-three and one-third percent of the `Total Funds' appropriated to the Office of Environmental Quality Control in the annual appropriations act.
Section 48-2-90. If the requirements of this chapter are not in agreement with applicable federal requirements pertaining to the establishment and collection of fees as authorized by this chapter, the federal requirements take precedence. The department has the authority to establish, by regulation, applicable federal requirements. A permissible maximum fee or cap on a fee authorized by federal law or regulation, or both, must be used by the department."
Time effective
SECTION 3. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.
Approved the 14th day of June, 1993.