March 24, 2004

LANSING – Governor Jennifer M. Granholm, Senate Majority Leader Ken Sikkema (R-Wyoming), and House Speaker Rick Johnson (R-LeRoy) announced today that they have reached a bipartisan agreement to protect Michigan’s water resources. The agreement also streamlines the administrative rule-making and hearings processes, allowing the Granholm Administration to implement policy, while maintaining legislative review of rule-making activities.

The agreement clears the way for legislation to enact fees to help fund the National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) and preserves an important check and balance by outlining legislative oversight of an effective and more efficient administrative rule-making process.

"This agreement takes a significant step forward in protecting our citizens and our water from the harmful effects of pollution, while allowing us to better implement policy," said Governor Granholm. "This agreement will consolidate the functions of government to make it more efficient and save the taxpayers' money by requiring permit holders to pay for their discharge permits."

Granholm noted since the Governor is responsible for the faithful execution of laws, executive control of the administrative rule-making process is essential to the provision of appropriate public accountability.

"Effective legislative oversight of the administrative rules process is critical to having an accountable government," said Senator Sikkema. "Now we have an agreement that accomplishes that and protects our environment."

"This is a good example of bipartisanship at work," Speaker Johnson said. "I’m glad that we were able to work with the Governor to protect our environment, keep the agreement that balanced last year’s budget, and maintain the Legislature’s important role in overseeing the rules that impact job providers in Michigan."

The agreement reached by Granholm and House and Senate leadership preserves the Department of Environmental Quality’s (DEQ) ability to promulgate rules while providing appropriate mechanisms for legislative review of new rules. The new fees will support the DEQ’s ability to issue and manage permits for businesses and municipalities that discharge wastewater into Michigan’s waterways and increase compliance and enforcement activities to ensure that our water is protected.

The legislation to implement the agreement includes Senate Bill 252 and House Bill 5670.

Senate Bill 252, sponsored by Sen. Liz Brater (D-Ann Arbor), establishes the fees for the NPDES program. It was passed in the House and Senate last month but was held up because of a change added in conference committee that would have eliminated the ability of the DEQ to promulgate rules. Both chambers agreed to the fees raised by the bill that will allow the DEQ to administer and monitor the permit program. In total, the bill will raise $5.4 million in fees. New fees include $3 million from NPDES and $1.2 million from Stormwater Phase II.

The NPDES was established by Congress in 1972 to monitor and discourage waste discharge into the nation’s waterways. Michigan is currently one of only eight states in the nation, and the only Great Lakes state, that does not charge fees for wastewater discharge permits. With the funding provided in this legislation, the DEQ will be able to increase monitoring of companies and municipalities and ensure that they only discharge within legal limits

House Bill 5670, sponsored by Rep. John Pappageorge (R-Troy), will amend the Administrative Procedures Act to vest complete responsibility for the processing and promulgation of administrative rules in the executive branch. Recognizing the important role for appropriate legislative review, the legislation will extend the time period for review of administrative rules from a mandatory 21 calendar days under current law, to an optional review period of up to 15 legislative session days. But in a change from current law, the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules will be allowed to waive a portion of the review period.

Amendments under the bill would also allow administrative rules to take effect immediately upon filing, permit the centralized processing of notices on behalf of agencies issuing rules, and remove obsolete statutory mechanisms for legislative disapproval of administrative rules by concurrent resolution.

In addition, the Governor will issue an executive order consolidating administrative hearing functions and officers and transferring administrative rule processing functions currently performed by the Office of Regulatory Reform into a new State Office of Administrative Hearings and Rules within the Department of Labor and Economic Growth.