Brief⁽¹⁾

S.B. 296 would create the Hazardous Waste Management Fund, where moneys collected for the purpose of regulating hazardous waste would be credited. Money in the Fund could be expended for the following purposes:

• technical review of applications for permits issued under the hazardous waste statutes, including permit modification and permit renewals for hazardous waste facilities;



• evaluating options available for minimizing the generation of hazardous wastes;



• completing background investigation of applicants for hazardous waste facilities;



• assuring that a permittee under the hazardous waste statutes fulfills all permit conditions during the effective period of the permit; and



• payment of the administrative, technical, and legal costs incurred by the Secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) in administering the hazardous waste laws, including the cost of any additional employees or increased operating cost of KDHE.

All expenditures from the Fund would be made in accordance with appropriations acts.

The bill would require that money credited to the Hazardous Waste Management Fund from the fees from hazardous waste facility permittees be expended only to recover costs associated with the review and processing of the permit applications.

The bill also would require that all moneys in the hazardous Waste Perpetual Care Trust Fund and the Environmental Permit Fund be transferred to the Hazardous Waste Management Fund. The bill would repeal provisions of law relating to the creation of these two funds.

The amendments to the bill were technical in nature.

Background

This bill was introduced at the request of a spokesperson of the Kansas Cement Council. At the hearing on the bill, the spokesperson for the Council stated that the bill was an effort to assure that hazardous waste would continue to be destroyed by burning it in cement kilns. The conferee stated that this would be accomplished by earmarking the fees currently paid by his industry to the state for the operation of the hazardous waste management program in a dedicated fee fund. The conferee stated that the establishment of a dedicated fee fund would allow KDHE greater flexibility in the management of its regulatory program and its creation would assist his industry in maintaining its competitive edge in the marketplace, while providing an important environmental service to all Kansans.

A spokesperson from KDHE also appeared in support of the bill. The spokesperson stated that the bill had as its purpose the establishment of a dedicated fee fund for all hazardous waste fees paid by generators, transporters, and processors of hazardous waste. The conferee stated that the purpose of the bill was to ensure that the fees paid by businesses, local governments, or other handlers of hazardous waste are used to support the state hazardous waste regulatory program rather than other unrelated state programs.

A conferee representing Safety-Kleen, which operates a hazardous waste treatment facility in Coffeyville, also appeared in support of the bill.

The fiscal note on the bill indicates that there would be a shift of $418,000 in receipts from the State General Fund (SGF) to the new Hazardous Waste Management Fund in FY 2000. KDHE also indicates that the transfer of the Perpetual Care Trust Fund to the new Fund in FY 2000 would result in a one-time receipt of $300,000 to the Fund. KDHE states that this would eliminate the need for a continued expenditure of SGF moneys in FY 2000 at the same time SGF receipts are reduced by the elimination of receipts from hazardous waste monitoring.

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.