Public Health Committee
AN ACT CONCERNING THE STATE WATER PLAN
SUMMARY: This act modifies the legislative review and approval process for the state water plan. By law, the Water Planning Council (WPC) must prepare the plan by July 1, 2017 and submit it to the Energy and Technology, Environment, Planning and Development, and Public Health committees by January 1, 2018.
The act eliminates a requirement that the committees hold a joint public hearing on the plan within 45 days after the start of the 2018 regular legislative session and submit it to the legislature with their joint recommendations for approval, modification, or disapproval. It instead allows the committees to hold a public hearing and submit the plan to the legislature with their recommendation for approval or if they disapprove it, return it with any recommended revisions to the WPC for revision and resubmittal to the committees.
Under the act, the state water plan takes effect when the legislature adopts it by an affirmative vote. As under prior law, if the legislature disapproves the plan, it must be returned to the WPC for revision and resubmission to the committees of cognizance as described above. The act removes prior law's requirement that the committees act on the revised plan within 60 days after its resubmission. It also allows the WPC to resubmit the plan for approval in a subsequent legislative session instead of within 90 days after the disapproval as under prior law.
Under the act, if the legislature fails to adopt the state water plan within two years after the date it was originally submitted, the plan must be forwarded to the governor for adoption or rejection. Prior law deemed the plan approved if the legislature failed to act on it by July 1, 2018.
The act also makes minor, technical, and conforming changes.
EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 2016, except that a conforming change to an annual reporting requirement takes effect upon passage.
OLR Tracking: ND; RP; vr: tjo