Good environmental enforcement legislation must do five things:

1. Include stringent inspection and monitoring programs to ensure compliance;
2. Ensure that penalties are strong enough to prevent polluters from benefiting economically from breaking environmental laws;
3. Bar chronic violators from receiving state contracts to prevent the state from subsidizing polluters;
4. Report how much enforcement operations cost so that permit fees can be set appropriately to reflect the real economic costs to the public; and
5. Make information on the state's environmental enforcement efforts public to ensure that the process is open to public scrutiny.

The Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act meets these goals.

The Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act

AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR THE PROPER ADMINISTRATION, INSPECTION, AND PENALIZATION OF STATE AND FEDERAL ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATIONS AND THE PUBLIC RELEASE OF INFORMATIONAL RECORDS THEREOF

Summary

This bill establishes inspection and monitoring programs, prevents polluters from benefiting economically from breaking environmental laws, bars chronic violators from receiving state contracts, assists compliant contractors in good standing with getting future state contracts, provides for the public reporting of enforcement operations costs, and further requires that information on permit infractions and penalties be publicly reported.

The People of the State of <insert your state here>, represented in the State Legislature, do enact as follows:

Section 1. Definitions.

(A) “Department” means the Department of <insert appropriate department charged with environmental enforcement>.

(B) “Supplemental environmental project” means a project or action carried out by or on behalf of an entity, in response to an enforcement action by the Department, which benefits the environment.

(C) “Violation” means a violation of a law or license that is administered by the Department.

(D) “License” means the whole or part of any agency permit, certificate, approval, registration, charter or alternate form of permission required by law.

(E) “Entity” means natural persons or corporations.

Section 2.

(A) In enforcing or settling a violation, the Department shall ensure that the monetary value of the penalties and other relief imposed for the violation exceed the economic benefits of the violation.

(B) Notwithstanding any other provision of this act, in enforcing or settling a violation, if the fines, penalties, and remedies otherwise provided for in section 2 (A) do not exceed the economic benefits of the violation, the Department shall impose additional penalties through further fines, or should the violator agree, one or more supplemental environmental projects whose value in combination with fines, penalties, and remedies shall exceed the economic benefits of the violation, provided the Department is able to make a specific finding, supported by credible evidence, of the monetary value of the supplemental environmental project or projects.

Section 3.

(A) The Department shall implement by <insert date> a program of compliance inspection, monitoring, and enforcement with respect to licenses issued by the Department, other than professional or occupational licenses. As part of this program, each year the Department shall conduct a compliance inspection of at least 10 percent of all unexpired licenses that have been issued by the Department, including at least 30 percent of the 100 licenses for each category that have the most potential to adversely impact the environment, as determined by the Department. At least 50 percent of the compliance inspections conducted by the Department shall be unannounced and shall include independent sampling and analysis by the Department or a person who is not affiliated with the licensee at sites or facilities where a discharge to the environment may have occurred or is allowed to occur under the license.

(B) The Department shall include in its inspections 25 percent of those sites or facilities that have the most potential to adversely impact the environment, as determined by the Department, and that:

(1) are required to have a license but have not obtained one or that have allowed the license to expire, or

(2) are regulated by the Department but which are not required to have a license.

(C) Beginning 18 months after the effective date of this section, the Department shall publish and update the following lists:

(1) A violators list that identifies the name of each licensee who, during the preceding 5 years, has been determined by the Department or a court as having 2 or more significant license violations as defined by the Department or has been convicted of a crime for a license violation.

(2) A compliance list that identifies the names of each licensee who has not been found to have violated his or her license during the preceding 5 years. The list shall also identify the most recent date in which the Department has conducted a compliance inspection of the facility subject to the license.

(D) To the extent allowed by law, entities listed on the violators list under subsection (C)(2) shall be prohibited from receiving any state contract as long as they remain on the violators list. The rules shall also provide that an entity listed on the compliance list under subsection (B)(2) shall be preferred to receive a state contract for which they have applied and are otherwise eligible as long as they remain on the compliance list.

(E) The Department may promulgate rules to establish criteria for determining significant license violations under subsection (B).

Section 4.

Within 1 year after the effective date of this section, and annually thereafter, the Department shall furnish to the Senate and House budget committees and the committees of the Senate and House with jurisdiction over issues primarily related to natural resources and the environment both of the following:

(A) An estimate of the annual budget amount required by the Department for compliance inspection, monitoring, and enforcement of all licenses issued by the Department. As part of the estimate, the Department shall recommend a schedule of annual compliance assurance fees that could be assessed to licensees that would be sufficient to defray the costs contained in the estimate.

(B) A report that itemizes all of the following:

(1) The number of facilities that have been issued a license.

(2) The number of new, modified, and expired licenses.

(3) The number of on-site compliance inspections conducted, and the number of compliance inspections that were not announced in advance to the licensee.

(4) The number of initiated and resolved license violations by category of license.

(5) The number of initiated and resolved administrative enforcement actions taken for license violations and the results of the resolved enforcement actions, including the amount of fines and penalties collected.

(6) The number of judicial enforcement actions taken for license violations and the results of the enforcement actions, including the amount of fines and penalties collected.

(7) Any measurable improvement in environmental quality achieved as a result of the enforcement activity described in subparagraphs (5) and (6).

(8) Any supplemental environmental projects undertaken under section 2 and the environmental benefits resulting from each such project.

(9) Any additional items the Department shall deem relevant.

Section 5.

(A) The Department of <insert appropriate environmental enforcement agency> shall establish and maintain an enforcement database of violations that is available for public inspection on the Department's website and that includes all of the following:

(1) A list of each violation.

(2) The extent of any environmental damage.

(3) The extent of any license violations identified in subdivision (1).

(4) Any enforcement actions that are ongoing or that have been taken in the preceding 2 years.

(5) The results of any enforcement actions identified in subdivision (4).

(B) The enforcement database established under subsection (A) shall contain and be searchable by all of the following as they relate to a violation:

(1) The name of the violator.

(2) The name of the facility at which the violation occurred, if applicable.

(3) The location at which the violation occurred.

(4) The nature of the violation, including whether the violation involved a discharge to air or water or onto land.