Q. How does this bill discourage violations?

A. The bill discourages violations because it: 

• Requires that penalties exceed any profits gained by breaking the law. 
• Bans certain habitual violators from receiving state contracts. 
• Releases the significant details of violations to the public. 
• Gives those who avoid violations preferred status for state contracts.

Q. Will the polluters still get away with polluting by hiding it?

A. No. The legislation mandates stringent monitoring and inspections of facilities which have been issued permits and licenses by the state, and ensures that the state legislature knows how much it costs to fund these operations.

Q. What fiscal impacts does this bill have? 

A. The annual report to the state legislature would also include an estimate of how much permits fees should be in order to off-set the costs to the state for the monitoring and enforcement programs. The state should see considerable long-term savings by ensuring polluters pay for the true costs of their oversight programs, reduce expensive clean-up operations and, most importantly, reduce health costs resulting from pollution.