S*418 Session 110 (1993-1994)
S*0418(Rat #0152, Act #0122) General Bill, By J.V. Smith, Giese, Land,
Leatherman, Martin, Matthews, O'Dell, M.T. Rose and H.S. Stilwell
Similar(H 3483)
A Bill 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.
02/11/93 Senate Introduced and read first time SJ-7
02/11/93 Senate Referred to Committee on Medical Affairs SJ-8
03/17/93 Senate Recalled from Committee on Medical Affairs SJ-5
03/17/93 Senate Committed to Committee on Finance SJ-5
04/08/93 Senate Committee report: Favorable with amendment Finance SJ-5
04/13/93 Senate Amended SJ-28
04/13/93 Senate Read second time SJ-29
04/13/93 Senate Ordered to third reading with notice of
amendments SJ-29
04/20/93 Senate Read third time and sent to House SJ-27
04/21/93 House Introduced and read first time HJ-19
04/21/93 House Referred to Committee on Ways and Means HJ-19
04/27/93 House Committee report: Favorable with amendment Ways
and Means HJ-9
05/06/93 House Debate adjourned until Tuesday, May 11, 1993 HJ-64
05/12/93 House Amended HJ-23
05/12/93 House Read second time HJ-24
05/13/93 House Read third time and returned to Senate with
amendments HJ-14
05/17/93 Senate Concurred in House amendment and enrolled SJ-4
06/10/93 Ratified R 152
06/14/93 Signed By Governor
06/14/93 Effective date 06/14/93
07/01/93 Copies available
(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:
"CHAPTER 2
Environmental Protection Fund
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. |