An Act relating to protection of the environment; concerning the release or discharge of materials detrimental to the water and soil of the state; prescribing certain duties and responsibilities of the secretary of health and environment; requiring publication of cer- tain information and documents of the division of environment.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Kansas:

Section 1. (a) The secretary of health and environment shall publish all general policies, guidelines, standards and other documents that are used by the division of environment as part of the division's regulatory functions. The publication shall be supplemented at least annually. The division of the environment shall make the publication available upon request for a fee to be fixed by the secretary in an amount which will recover only the cost incurred by the division for printing and binding such materials, except that the fee for the original publication of all such documents shall not exceed $75 and the fee for the annual supplement shall not exceed $15. The publication or supplement may incorporate by reference or contain a bibliographic listing of documents that are pub- lished or protected by copyright if such documents are generally available to the public or are provided by the division to any citizen upon request in accordance with the provisions of K.S.A. 45-219 et seq. and amend- ments thereto.

(b) There is hereby established in the state treasury the health and environment publication fee fund. All moneys received by the depart- ment of health and environment from fees received pursuant to subsec- tion (a) shall be remitted to the state treasurer, deposited in the state treasury and credited to the health and environment publication fee fund. Moneys in such fund shall be used only for paying the expenses of pub- lishing documents as required by subsection (a). Expenditures from the fund shall be made in accordance with appropriation acts upon warrants of the director of accounts and reports issued pursuant to vouchers ap- proved by the secretary of health and environment or a person designated by the secretary.

Sec. 2. (a) It shall be the duty of any person responsible for an ac- cidental release or discharge of materials detrimental to the quality of the waters or soil of the state to: (1) Compensate the owner of the property where the release or discharge occurred for actual damages incurred as the result of the release or discharge, or as the result of corrective action taken or access to take corrective action, if the release or discharge oc- curred without any contribution to the contamination and without any causal connection to the release or discharge by any action of the owner or owner-permitted occupant of the property; and (2) comply with all existing rules and regulations and requirements of the secretary of health and environment designed to ensure the prompt correction of any such release or discharge for the protection of the public health and environ- ment.

(b) Any owner or subsequent purchaser of land, upon which there has occurred an accidental release or discharge of materials detrimental to the quality of the waters or soil of the state, which occurred without any contribution to the contamination and without any causal connection to the release or discharge by any action of the owner or the owner- permitted occupant of the property, shall not be liable for any costs of subsequent remedial action required as a result of changes in standards adopted after the time of such accident, if such owner or purchaser can demonstrate that: (1) The persons responsible for the correction of the release or discharge were allowed timely and adequate access to perform the duty imposed by subsection (a)(2), upon reasonable prior assurance that any actual damages incurred as the result of allowing access will be promptly reimbursed, and the secretary of health and environment, or the secretary's agents, were allowed timely and adequate access to oversee the corrective action; and (2) the secretary of health and environment has approved the corrective action and certified that the action taken has met all requirements and rules and regulations of the secretary, or conditions of administrative orders or agreements which were in effect at the time of the accidental release or discharge. The provisions of this section shall apply to both releases and discharges and remedial actions taken prior to the effective date of this act and releases and discharges and remedial actions taken hereafter.

(c) The secretary of health and environment is hereby authorized to adopt rules and regulations necessary for the administration of the pro- visions of this section.

(d) Neither the state, nor any officer, employee or department of the state, shall incur any liability by reason of approval of any corrective action plan or any certification pursuant to this section.

(e) The provisions of this section shall not apply to any release or discharge under the jurisdiction of the state corporation commission.

Sec. 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after Jan- uary 1, 1997, and its publication in the statute book.

Approved April 20, 1996.