HOUSE BILL No. 5163


     December 7, 1999, Introduced by Rep. Pumford and referred to the Committee on
Agriculture and Resource Management.


        A bill to amend 1994 PA 451, entitled

   "Natural resources and environmental protection act,"

   by amending sections 8707 and 8715 (MCL 324.8707 and 324.8715),

   section 8715 as amended by 1995 PA 61; and to repeal acts and

   parts of acts.

               THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:

 1         Sec. 8707.  (1) The director, in conjunction with  the
             

 2    Michigan state university  cooperative  extension
              service  and

 3    the MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY agricultural experiment station,

 4    AND in cooperation with the United  State  STATES
             department of

 5    agriculture  soil and  NATURAL RESOURCES
             conservation service,

 6     and the agricultural stabilization and conservation
             service, 

 7    the department of  natural resources  ENVIRONMENTAL
             QUALITY, and

 8    other professional and industry organizations, shall develop

 9    groundwater stewardship practices for approval by the


   02693'99 *                                               JCB
                                                2

 1     commissioner  COMMISSION of agriculture and upon
             approval shall

 2    promote their implementation.

 3         (2) The director, in conjunction with Michigan state univer-

 4    sity, the department of  natural resources 
             ENVIRONMENTAL

 5    QUALITY, and other persons the director considers appropriate,

 6    shall develop a voluntary on-site evaluation system for pesticide

 7    or  nitrogen  fertilizer use.  The on-site
             evaluation system

 8    shall be designed to do all of the following:

 9         (a) Provide persons with the ability to voluntarily deter-

10    mine the relative groundwater impact potential posed by their use

11    of pesticides and  nitrogen  fertilizers.

12         (b) Provide persons with the ability to determine the degree

13    to which operations are in accord with groundwater stewardship

14    practices and applicable groundwater protection rules.

15         (c) Prioritize operational changes at the site level

16    intended to protect groundwater.

17         (d) Guide persons to appropriate technical and educational

18    materials.

19         (3) The director, in conjunction with the groundwater

20    advisory council, shall review and evaluate the effectiveness of

21    groundwater stewardship practices adopted under subsection (1).

22         Sec. 8715.  (1) In addition to the fees provided for in part

23    83, a registrant shall pay an annual groundwater protection fee

24    for each product to be registered.  The specialty pesticide

25    groundwater protection fee is $100.00 per product.  Groundwater

26    protection fees for all other pesticides are 0.75% of the

27    wholesale value of the previous registration year's product sales



   02693'99 *
                                   3

 1    for use in this state with a $150.00 minimum groundwater

 2    protection fee.  The minimum groundwater protection fee is due in

 3    the office of the director before July 1.  Sales based groundwa-

 4    ter protection fees greater than the $150.00 minimum are due in

 5    the office of the director before October 1 of the following reg-

 6    istration years.

 7         (2) An additional late fee of $100.00 shall be paid by the

 8    registrant for each pesticide if the pesticide registration is a

 9    renewal registration and the minimum groundwater protection fee

10    is received by the department after June 30.

11         (3) A person required to pay a specialty fertilizer or soil

12    conditioner registration fee under part 85 shall pay an addi-

13    tional $100.00 groundwater protection fee for each brand and pro-

14    duct name of each grade registered.

15         (4) All fertilizer manufacturers or distributors licensed

16    under part 85, except specialty fertilizer and soil conditioner

17    registrants, shall pay an additional groundwater protection fee

18    of 1-1/2 cents per percent of nitrogen in the fertilizer for each

19    ton of fertilizer sold.

20         (5) The fees collected under this part, including any inter-

21    est or dividends earned, shall be transmitted to the state trea-

22    surer, who shall credit the money received to the fund.

23          (6) This section is repealed November 22, 2000.
             

24         (6)  (7)  Upon the expenditure or
             appropriation of money

25    raised in this section for any purpose other than those specifi-

26    cally listed in this part, authorization to collect fees in this

27    section shall be suspended until such time as the money expended



   02693'99 *
                                   4

 1    or appropriated for purposes other than those listed in this part

 2    are returned to the fund.

 3         (7) THIS SECTION IS REPEALED DECEMBER 31, 2010.


















































   02693'99 *          Final page.                          JCB