Brief(1)
S.B. 132 would make amendments to the Kansas Drycleaner Environmental Response Act. Specifically, the bill would allow the Director of the Division of Environment, upon a finding that a person has violated the Act, to impose an administrative penalty in an amount not to exceed $500 for every violation. Current law allows the Secretary of Health and Environment to bring a civil action and upon conviction a civil penalty of up to $500 could be imposed.
In addition, the bill would impose a $100 annual registration fee for each operating drycleaning facility. These moneys would be deposited in the Drycleaning Facility Release Trust Fund. Registrants would be required to post the owner's registration number in the public area of each operating drycleaning facility owned by the owner. An additional provision would require that no person who distributes drycleaning solvent could sell solvent for use in a drycleaning facility unless the person first obtains the registration number of the owner of the facility.
The bill also would increase the total amount which could be spent from the Drycleaning Facility Release Trust Fund for any contaminated drycleaning site from the current $2 million to $5 million. Another amendment would change the person who pays the fee on drycleaning solvent the proceeds of which are deposited into the Fund. Under current law the person who acquires the solvent pays the fee; the bill would require that the person who distributes the solvent pay the fee. An additional amendment would increase the amount of deductible which owners must pay for corrective action costs from $2,500 to $5,000.
Another amendment would increase the maximum and minimum fund balances which regulate when the taxes and fees are imposed under the Act. The proceeds of the tax and fees are subsequently deposited into the Drycleaning Facility Release Trust Fund. The bill would require the continued imposition of the gross receipts tax and the fees under the Act until the fund balance exceeds $6 million on April 1 of any year (the current law cap is $4 million). The bill also would require the reimposition of the tax and fees when the fund balance equals $4 million or less (current law is $2 million or less).
Further, the bill would increase the environmental surcharge which is imposed in the form of a gross receipts tax for the privilege of engaging in the business of laundering and drycleaning garments and other household fabrics from 2 percent to 2.5 percent.
Finally, the bill would allow any person adversely affected by any order or decision of the Director of the Division of Environment to make a written request for a hearing within 15 days of service of the order or decision.
Background
This bill was introduced at the request of a spokesperson for the Kansas Drycleaners Environmental Committee. Several representatives of the drycleaning industry appeared before the Committee in support of the original bill. The Acting Secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) also appeared in support of the original bill.
The Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources amended the bill to delete provisions that would have required transfers from the State General Fund to the Drycleaning Facility Release Trust Fund the amounts collected by imposition of the Kansas retailer's sales tax which were attributable to drycleaning sales. Also deleted by the Committee was a provision which would have required that, upon request of the Secretary of KDHE, the Director of Taxation provide a report identifying each drycleaning establishment's place of business in the state.
The House Committee on Environment amended the bill to:
The fiscal note on the original bill indicated that no estimate of the amount of the demand transfer had yet been made by the Department of Revenue. KDHE officials estimated that they could increase expenditures for their program to remediate soil and groundwater contamination caused by the release of drycleaning solvent. This increase was estimated to be $3.0 million and would come from the State General Fund. The Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources deleted the demand transfer provisions from the bill.
1. *Supplemental notes are prepared by the Legislative Research Department and do not express legislative intent. The supplemental note and fiscal note for this bill may be accessed on the Internet at http://www.ink.org/public/legislative/bill_search.html.