November 6, 2014, Introduced by Reps. Townsend, Durhal and Switalski and referred to the Committee on Natural Resources.
A bill to amend 1994 PA 451, entitled
"Natural resources and environmental protection act,"
by amending sections 5301 and 5303 (MCL 324.5301 and 324.5303), as
amended by 2012 PA 560.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:
Sec. 5301. As used in this part:
(a) "Assistance" means 1 or more of the following activities
to the extent authorized by the federal water pollution control
act:
(i) Provision of loans to municipalities for construction of
sewage treatment works projects, stormwater treatment projects, or
nonpoint source projects.
(ii) Project refinancing assistance.
(iii) The guarantee or purchase of insurance for local
obligations, if the guarantee or purchase action would improve
credit market access or reduce interest rates.
(iv) Use of the proceeds of the fund as a source of revenue or
security for the payment of principal and interest on revenue or
general obligation bonds issued by this state, if the proceeds of
the sale of the bonds will be deposited into the fund.
(v) Provision of loan guarantees for similar revolving funds
established by municipalities.
(vi) The use of deposited funds to earn interest on fund
accounts.
(vii) Provision for reasonable costs of administering and
conducting activities under title VI of the federal water pollution
control act, 33 USC 1381 to 1387.
(b) "Authority" means the Michigan municipal bond authority
created in the shared credit rating act, 1985 PA 227, MCL 141.1051
to 141.1076.
(c) "Capitalization grant" means the federal grant made to
this state by the United States environmental protection agency for
the purpose of establishing a state water pollution control
revolving fund, as provided in title VI of the federal water
pollution control act, 33 USC 1381 to 1387.
(d) "Construction activities" means any actions undertaken in
the planning, designing, or building of sewage treatment works
projects, stormwater treatment projects, or nonpoint source
projects. Construction activities include, but are not limited to,
all of the following:
(i) Project planning services.
(ii) Engineering Design and engineering services.
(iii) Legal services.
(iv) Financial services.
(v) Design of plans and specifications.
(vi) Acquisition of land, or plants, landscaping materials, and
structural
components. , or both.
(vii) Building, erection, alteration, remodeling, renovation,
or extension of a sewage treatment works.
(viii) Building, erection, alteration, remodeling, renovation,
or extension of projects designed to control nonpoint source
pollution,
consistent with section 319 of title III of the federal
water
pollution control act, 33 USC 1329.
(ix) Building, erection, alteration, or remodeling renovation
of a stormwater treatment project.
(x) Municipal supervision of the project activities described
in subparagraphs (i) to (ix).
(e) "Disadvantaged community" means a municipality in which
all of the following conditions are met:
(i) Users within the area served by a proposed sewage treatment
works project or stormwater treatment project are directly assessed
for the costs of construction.
(ii) The median household income of the area served by a
proposed sewage treatment works project or stormwater treatment
project does not exceed 120% of the statewide median annual
household income for Michigan.
(iii) The municipality demonstrates at least 1 of the following:
(A) More than 50% of the area served by a proposed sewage
treatment works project or stormwater treatment project is
identified as a poverty area by the United States bureau of census.
(B) The median annual household income of the area served by a
proposed sewage treatment works project or stormwater treatment
project is less than the most recently published federal poverty
guidelines for a family of 4 in the 48 contiguous United States. In
determining the median annual household income of the area served
by the proposed sewage treatment works project or stormwater
treatment project under this sub-subparagraph, the municipality
shall utilize the most recently published statistics from the
United States bureau of the census, updated to reflect current
dollars, for the community which most closely approximates the area
being served by the project.
(C) The median annual household income of the area served by a
proposed sewage treatment works project or stormwater treatment
project is less than the most recently published statewide median
annual household income for this state, and annual user costs for
sewage treatment or stormwater treatment exceed 1% of the median
annual household income of the area served by the proposed sewage
treatment works project or stormwater treatment project.
(D)
The median annual household income of the area served by a
proposed
sewage treatment works project or stormwater treatment
project
is not greater than 120% of the statewide median annual
household
income for this state, and annual Annual
user costs for
sewage treatment or stormwater treatment exceed 3% of the median
annual household income of the area served by the proposed project.
(f) "Federal water pollution control act" means 33 USC 1251 to
1387.
(g) "Fund" means the state water pollution control revolving
fund established under the shared credit rating act, 1985 PA 227,
MCL 141.1051 to 141.1076, established pursuant to title VI of the
federal water pollution control act.
(h) "Fundable range" means those projects, taken in descending
order on the priority lists, for which sufficient funds are
estimated by the department to exist to provide assistance at the
beginning of each annual funding cycle.
(i) "Low-impact development" means land development designed
to mimic a site's presettlement hydrology without exacerbating
downstream flooding or stream channel instability by using
spatially distributed, decentralized, small scale controls that
infiltrate, filter, store, evaporate, and detain storm water close
to its source.
(j) (i)
"Municipality" means a
city, village, county,
township, authority, or other public body, including an
intermunicipal agency of 2 or more municipalities, authorized or
created under state law; or an Indian tribe that has jurisdiction
over construction and operation of sewage treatment works or other
projects
qualifying under section 319 of title III of the federal
water
pollution control act, 33 USC 1329.
(k) (j)
"Nonpoint source project"
means construction
activities designed to reduce nonpoint source pollution consistent
with
the state nonpoint source management plan pursuant to section
319
of title III of the federal water pollution control act, 33 USC
1329.
(l) (k)
"Priority list" means the
annual ranked listing of
projects
developed by the department in section 5303. or used by
the
department pursuant to section 5315.
(m) (l) "Project"
means a sewage treatment works project, a
stormwater treatment project, or a nonpoint source project, or a
combination of these.
(n) (m)
"Project refinancing
assistance" means buying or
refinancing the debt obligations of municipalities within the state
if construction activities commenced after March 7, 1985 and the
debt obligation was incurred after March 7, 1985.
(o) (n)
"Sewage treatment works
project" means construction
activities on any device or system for the treatment, storage,
collection, conveyance, recycling, or reclamation of the sewage of
a municipality, including combined sewer overflow correction and
major rehabilitation of sewers.
(p) (o)
"Stormwater treatment
project" means construction
activities of a municipality on any device or system for the
treatment, storage, recycling, or reclamation of storm water that
is conveyed by a storm sewer that is separate from a sanitary
sewer.
(q) (p)
"Tier I project" means a
project for which assistance
is sought or provided from funds made directly available from the
federal capitalization grant or from the Great Lakes water quality
bond fund pursuant to section 19708(1)(a).
(r) (q)
"Tier II project" means a
project for which assistance
is sought or provided from funds other than those made directly
available from the federal capitalization grant or from the Great
Lakes water quality bond fund pursuant to section 19708(1)(a).
Sec. 5303. (1) Municipalities shall consider and utilize,
where possible, cooperative regional or intermunicipal projects in
satisfying sewerage needs in the development of project plans.
(2) A municipality may submit a project plan for use by the
department in developing a priority list.
(3) The project plan for a tier I project shall include
documentation that demonstrates that the project is needed to
assure maintenance of, or to progress toward, compliance with the
federal water pollution control act or part 31, and to meet the
minimum requirements of the national environmental policy act of
1969,
Public Law 91-190, 42 USC 4321
, 4331 to 4335, and 4341 to
4347. The documentation shall demonstrate all of the following:
(a) The need for the project.
(b) That feasible alternatives to the project were evaluated
taking into consideration volume reduction opportunities and the
demographic, topographic, hydrologic, and institutional
characteristics of the area.
(c) That the project is cost effective and implementable from
a legal, institutional, financial, and management standpoint.
(d) Other information as required by the department.
(4) The project plan for a tier II project shall include
documentation that demonstrates that the project is or was needed
to assure maintenance of or progress towards compliance with the
federal water pollution control act or part 31, and is consistent
with all applicable state environmental laws. The documentation
shall include all of the following information:
(a) Information to demonstrate the need for the project.
(b) A showing that the cost of the project is or was
justified, taking into account available alternatives. Those costs
determined by the department to be in excess of those costs
justified are not eligible for assistance under this part.
(5) After notice and an opportunity for public comment, the
department shall annually develop separate priority lists for
sewage treatment works projects and stormwater treatment projects,
for nonpoint source projects, and for projects funded under the
strategic water quality initiatives fund created in section 5204.
Projects not funded during the time that a priority list developed
under this section is in effect shall be automatically prioritized
on the next annual list using the same criteria, unless the
municipality submits an amendment to its plan that introduces new
information to be used as the basis for prioritization. These
priority lists shall be based upon project plans submitted by
municipalities, and the following criteria:
(a) That a project complies with all applicable standards in
part 31 and the federal water pollution control act.
(b) An application for a segment of a project that received
funds
under the title II construction grant program under title II
of
the federal water pollution control act or
title VI state
revolving loan funds under title VI of the federal water pollution
control act or revenue from the strategic water quality initiatives
fund created in section 5204 shall be first priority on its
respective priority list for funding for a period of not more than
3 years after funds were first committed under those programs.
(c) After sewage treatment works projects and stormwater
treatment projects have been ranked, for stormwater treatment
projects that have equal ranking, the first priority on the
priority list shall be those projects that do 1 or more of the
following:
(i) Substantially rely on the utilization of low-impact
development.
(ii) Substantially rely on the restoration or creation of
native habitat.
(iii) Assist in making progress in total maximum daily load
compliance or removal of waters from the impaired waters list under
33 USC 1313(d).
(d) (c)
If the project is a sewage
treatment works project or
a stormwater treatment project, all of the following criteria:
(i) The severity of the water pollution problem to be
addressed, maximizing progress towards restoring beneficial uses
and meeting water quality standards.
(ii) A determination of whether a project is or was necessary
to comply with an order, permit, or other document with an
enforceable schedule for addressing a municipality's sewage-related
water pollution problems that was issued by the department or
entered as part of an action brought by the state against the
municipality or any component of the municipality. A municipality
may voluntarily agree to an order, permit, or other document with
an enforceable schedule as described in this subparagraph.
(iii) The population to be served by the project. However, the
criterion provided in this subparagraph shall not be applied to
projects funded by the strategic water quality initiatives fund
created in section 5204.
(iv) The dilution ratio existing between the discharge volume
and the receiving stream.
(v) If the project is within a disadvantaged community, a
maximum of 50 points shall be awarded to the project in the manner
that points are awarded in rules promulgated under this part.
(e) (d)
If the project is a sewage
treatment works project,
100 priority points shall be awarded pursuant to R 323.958 of the
Michigan administrative code for each of the following that apply
to the project:
(i) The project addresses on-site septic systems that are
adversely affecting the water quality of a water body or represent
a
threat to public health, provided that and soil and hydrologic
conditions are not suitable for the replacement of those on-site
septic systems.
(ii) The project includes the construction of facilities for
the acceptance or treatment of septage collected from on-site
septic systems.
(f) (e)
Rankings for nonpoint source
projects shall be
consistent with the state nonpoint source management plan developed
pursuant
to section 319 of title III of the federal water pollution
control
act, chapter 758, 101 Stat. 52, 33
USC 1329.
(g) (f)
Any other criteria established by
the department by
rule.
(6) The priority list shall be submitted annually to the chair
of the senate and house of representatives standing committees that
primarily consider legislation pertaining to the protection of
natural resources and the environment.
(7) For purposes of providing assistance, the priority list
shall take effect on the first day of each fiscal year.
(8) This section does not limit other actions undertaken to
enforce part 31, the federal water pollution control act, or any
other act.
(9) As used in this section, "on-site septic system" means
that term as defined in section 5201.