Bill Text: IA HF2296 | 2015-2016 | 86th General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: A bill for an act imposing a fee on certain fertilizers to be credited to the water quality initiative fund.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2016-02-16 - Introduced, referred to Agriculture. H.J. 233. [HF2296 Detail]

Download: Iowa-2015-HF2296-Introduced.html

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House File 2296 - Introduced




                                 HOUSE FILE       
                                 BY  BYRNES

                                      A BILL FOR

  1 An Act  imposing a fee on certain fertilizers to be credited to
  2    the water quality initiative fund.
  3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:
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PAG LIN



  1  1    Section 1.  Section 200.8, subsection 4, Code 2016, is
  1  2 amended to read as follows:
  1  3    4.  In addition to the fees imposed under subsection 1, a
  1  4 groundwater protection fee and water quality initiative fee
  1  5  shall be imposed upon nitrogen=based fertilizer. The Each fee
  1  6 shall be based upon the percentage of actual nitrogen contained
  1  7 in the product. An eighty=two percent nitrogen solution shall
  1  8 be taxed at a rate of seventy=five cents per ton. Other
  1  9 nitrogen=based product formulations shall be taxed on the
  1 10 percentage of actual nitrogen contained in the formulations
  1 11 with the eighty=two percent nitrogen solution serving as the
  1 12 base. The Each fee shall be paid to the secretary by each a
  1 13  licensee registering to sell fertilizer to the secretary of
  1 14 agriculture pursuant to section 200.5. The fees collected
  1 15 by the secretary under this subsection shall be deposited
  1 16 in the agriculture management account of credited to the
  1 17 groundwater protection fund or the water quality initiative
  1 18 fund in the manner described in section 200.9. The secretary
  1 19 of agriculture shall adopt rules for the payment, filing, and
  1 20 collection of groundwater protection the fees from paid by
  1 21  licensees in conjunction with the collection of registration
  1 22 and inspection fees paid by persons under subsection 1. The
  1 23 secretary shall, by rule, allow an exemption to from the
  1 24 payment of this fee the groundwater protection fee and water
  1 25 quality initiative fee for fertilizers which contain trace
  1 26 amounts of nitrogen.
  1 27    Sec. 2.  Section 200.9, Code 2016, is amended to read as
  1 28 follows:
  1 29    200.9  Fertilizer Use of fees.
  1 30    1.  Fees collected by the secretary for licenses and
  1 31 inspection fees under sections 200.4 and 200.8, with
  1 32 the exception of those fees collected for deposit in the
  1 33 agriculture management account of the groundwater protection
  1 34 fund, shall be deposited in the general fund of the state
  1 35 and shall be subject to the requirements of section 8.60.
  2  1 Moneys deposited under this section to the general fund shall
  2  2 be used only by the department secretary for the purpose of
  2  3 inspection, sampling, analysis, preparation, and publishing
  2  4 of reports and other expenses necessary for administration of
  2  5 this chapter. The secretary may assign allocate moneys to
  2  6 the Iowa agricultural experiment station for research, work
  2  7 projects, and investigations as needed for the specific purpose
  2  8 of improving the regulatory functions for enforcement of this
  2  9 chapter.
  2 10    2.  Notwithstanding subsection 1, the groundwater protection
  2 11 fee collected by the secretary pursuant to section 200.8,
  2 12 subsection 4, shall be credited to the agriculture management
  2 13 account of the groundwater protection fund created pursuant to
  2 14 section 455E.11, subsection 2, paragraph "b".  The water quality
  2 15 initiative fee collected by the secretary pursuant to section
  2 16 200.8, subsection 4, shall be credited to the water quality
  2 17 initiative fund created pursuant to section 466B.45.
  2 18                           EXPLANATION
  2 19 The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with
  2 20 the explanation's substance by the members of the general assembly.
  2 21    BILL.  This bill provides that the groundwater protection
  2 22 fee imposed on the sale of nitrogen=based fertilizer and
  2 23 credited to the agriculture management account of the
  2 24 groundwater protection fund would have a counterpart (water
  2 25 quality initiative fee).  The new fee would be imposed on the
  2 26 same basis as the groundwater protection fee but would be
  2 27 credited to the water quality initiative fund.
  2 28    BACKGROUND == FEES ON FERTILIZERS AND SOIL CONDITIONERS.
  2 29 Each brand and grade of a commercial fertilizer or soil
  2 30 conditioner must be registered with the department of
  2 31 agriculture and land stewardship headed by the secretary of
  2 32 agriculture (secretary) (Code section 200.5). A person who
  2 33 is engaged in the manufacture or sale of fertilizers and soil
  2 34 conditioners must obtain an annual license, register each
  2 35 fertilizer or soil conditioner, and pay the associated fees
  3  1 which are collected by the secretary (Code sections 200.4(1)
  3  2 and 200.8(1)) and deposited into the general fund of the state
  3  3 but are reserved for use by the secretary in administering
  3  4 and enforcing regulations applying to fertilizers and soil
  3  5 conditioners (Code sections 8.60 and 200.9). In addition
  3  6 to fees reserved for use by the secretary, a nitrogen=based
  3  7 fertilizer fee (groundwater protection fee) is required to be
  3  8 paid by each licensee registering to sell fertilizer in this
  3  9 state.  Those fees are credited to the agriculture management
  3 10 account of the groundwater protection fund to support projects
  3 11 and programs designed to protect groundwater resources (Code
  3 12 sections 200.9 and 455E.11(2)(b)).
  3 13    BACKGROUND == WATER QUALITY INITIATIVE FUND.  The water
  3 14 quality initiative fund is created in the state treasury under
  3 15 the management of the soil conservation and water quality
  3 16 division of the department (Code section 466B.45).  The purpose
  3 17 of the initiative fund is to support and administer projects to
  3 18 reduce nutrients in surface waters from nonpoint sources in a
  3 19 scientific, reasonable, and cost=effective manner (Code section
  3 20 466B.42).
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