HB 303: "An Act relating to commercial passenger vessel environmental compliance; relating to commercial passenger vessel fees; establishing the wastewater infrastructure grant fund; repealing the authority for citizens' suits relating to commercial passenger vessel environmental compliance; repealing the commercial passenger vessel recognition program; and providing for an effective date."
00 HOUSE BILL NO. 303 01 "An Act relating to commercial passenger vessel environmental compliance; relating to 02 commercial passenger vessel fees; establishing the wastewater infrastructure grant fund; 03 repealing the authority for citizens' suits relating to commercial passenger vessel 04 environmental compliance; repealing the commercial passenger vessel recognition 05 program; and providing for an effective date." 06 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 07 * Section 1. AS 46.03.460(a) is amended to read: 08 (a) The department shall regulate [THERE IS ESTABLISHED THE] 09 commercial passenger vessel discharges and environmental compliance by 10 [PROGRAM PROVIDING FOR] 11 (1) adopting regulations to carry out the purposes of AS 46.03.460 12 - 46.03.490, including regulations that establish terms and conditions of vessel 13 discharges;
01 (2) verifying [INDEPENDENT VERIFICATION OF] environmental 02 compliance; and 03 (3) monitoring and supervising [ALLOWING THE DEPARTMENT 04 TO MONITOR AND SUPERVISE DISCHARGES FROM] commercial passenger 05 vessels through a registration system. 06 * Sec. 2. AS 46.03.463 is repealed and reenacted to read: 07 Sec. 46.03.463. Prohibited discharges. (a) Except as provided in (b) of this 08 section, or under the terms of prior authorization from the department under 09 AS 46.03.100, a person may not discharge wastewater from a commercial passenger 10 vessel into the marine waters of the state. 11 (b) This section does not apply to discharges from a commercial passenger 12 vessel made to secure the safety of the commercial passenger vessel or to save life at 13 sea, if all reasonable precautions have been taken to prevent or minimize the 14 discharge. 15 * Sec. 3. AS 46.03.465(a) is amended to read: 16 (a) The owner or operator of a commercial passenger vessel shall maintain 17 daily records related to the period of operation while in the state, detailing the dates, 18 times, and locations, and the volumes and flow rates of any discharges of wastewater 19 [SEWAGE, GRAYWATER, OR OTHER WASTEWATERS] into the marine waters 20 of the state, and provide electronic copies of those records [ON A MONTHLY 21 BASIS] to the department in a format and at times prescribed by the department 22 [NOT LATER THAN FIVE DAYS AFTER EACH CALENDAR MONTH OF 23 OPERATION IN STATE WATERS]. 24 * Sec. 4. AS 46.03.465(b) is amended to read: 25 (b) While a commercial passenger vessel is present in the marine waters of the 26 state, the owner or operator of the vessel shall provide an hourly report of the vessel's 27 location based on Global Positioning System technology and, if authorized to 28 discharge under AS 46.03.100, shall routinely collect [ROUTINE] samples of 29 wastewater [THE VESSEL'S TREATED SEWAGE, GRAYWATER, AND OTHER 30 WASTEWATERS] being discharged into marine waters of the state with a sampling 31 technique approved by the department.
01 * Sec. 5. AS 46.03.465(c) is amended to read: 02 (c) While a commercial passenger vessel is present in the marine waters of the 03 state, including while underway, the owner or operator shall allow the department, 04 or an independent contractor retained by the department, to board and 05 (1) inspect systems that collect, treat, or dispose of wastewater; 06 (2) [MAY] collect [ADDITIONAL] samples of wastewater [THE 07 VESSEL'S TREATED SEWAGE, GRAYWATER, AND OTHER 08 WASTEWATERS] being discharged into the marine waters of the state; and 09 (3) inspect systems that affect air emissions under AS 46.14. 10 * Sec. 6. AS 46.03.465(d) is amended to read: 11 (d) The owner or operator of a vessel required to collect samples under (b) of 12 this section shall ensure that all sampling techniques and frequency of sampling events 13 are approved by the department in a manner sufficient to determine [ENSURE 14 DEMONSTRATION OF] compliance with all discharge requirements under 15 AS 46.03.460 - 46.03.490 [AS 46.03.462]. 16 * Sec. 7. AS 46.03.465(f) is amended to read: 17 (f) If the owner or operator of a commercial passenger vessel has, when 18 complying with another state or federal law that requires [SUBSTANTIALLY 19 EQUIVALENT] information gathering, gathered information that is substantially 20 equivalent to the information required under (a), (b), or (d) of this section, the owner 21 or operator shall be considered to be in compliance with that subsection so long as the 22 information is also provided to the department in a format prescribed by the 23 department. 24 * Sec. 8. AS 46.03.465(h) is amended to read: 25 (h) At the department's [ON] request, the owner or operator of a commercial 26 passenger vessel discharging wastewater [UNDER AS 46.03.462(b)] shall provide the 27 department with information relating to wastewater treatment, pollution avoidance, 28 and pollution reduction measures used on the vessel, including testing and evaluation 29 procedures and economic and technical feasibility analyses. 30 * Sec. 9. AS 46.03.480(a) is amended to read: 31 (a) Except as provided in (c) of this section, each commercial passenger
01 vessel is subject to [THERE IS IMPOSED] an environmental compliance fee of $5 02 per berth, determined with reference to the number of lower berths, for [ON] 03 each voyage during which the [COMMERCIAL PASSENGER] vessel operates 04 [OPERATING] in the marine waters of the state. The department shall 05 (1) establish procedures for the collection of the fee; 06 (2) reduce the fee by $1 per berth if the owner or operator of a 07 vessel 08 (A) installs and operates an electronic monitoring system 09 for wastewater discharges that has been approved by the department; and 10 (B) provides the appropriate monitoring data to the 11 department consistent with AS 46.03.465; and 12 (3) provide a rebate to each vessel after the vessel's last voyage of 13 the year, in an amount proportionate to the vessel's total number of unoccupied 14 berths that year, but only if the vessel provides information specified by and in a 15 format prescribed by the department to confirm the number of unoccupied 16 berths. 17 * Sec. 10. AS 46.03.480(b) is repealed and reenacted to read: 18 (b) Except as provided in (c) of this section and notwithstanding (a) of this 19 section, for each voyage during which a small commercial passenger vessel operates 20 in the marine waters of the state, the vessel is only subject to an environmental 21 compliance fee of 22 (1) $75 for a commercial passenger vessel with overnight 23 accommodations for at least 50 but not more than 99 passengers for hire; 24 (2) $175 for a commercial passenger vessel with overnight 25 accommodations for at least 100 but not more than 249 passengers for hire. 26 * Sec. 11. AS 46.03.480(c) is repealed and reenacted to read: 27 (c) The commissioner of environmental conservation and the commissioner of 28 transportation and public facilities shall jointly set a fee to be imposed on all 29 commercial passenger vessels operated by the state in the marine waters of the state. 30 * Sec. 12. AS 46.03.482(c) is amended to read: 31 (c) The legislature may make appropriations from the fund to the department
01 [TO PAY] for the department's operational costs necessary to [PREPARE REPORTS 02 THAT ASSESS THE INFORMATION RECEIVED BY THE DEPARTMENT FOR 03 THE CRUISE SHIP SEASONS OF 2000, 2001, 2002, AND 2003 AND FOR THE 04 DEPARTMENT'S OPERATIONAL COSTS NECESSARY TO] carry out activities 05 under AS 46.03.460 - 46.03.490 relating to commercial passenger vessels and for the 06 wastewater infrastructure grant fund administered by the department under 07 AS 46.03.483. 08 * Sec. 13. AS 46.03 is amended by adding a new section to read: 09 Sec. 46.03.483. Wastewater infrastructure grant fund. (a) The wastewater 10 infrastructure grant fund is established in the general fund and consists of money 11 appropriated to the fund by the legislature, money appropriated to the fund in 12 accordance with AS 46.03.482(c), and earnings on the fund. Appropriations from the 13 commercial passenger vessel environmental compliance fund shall be deposited in a 14 separate account within the fund. The department may establish in the fund the 15 accounts it considers appropriate. 16 (b) Except as otherwise limited by law, money appropriated to the wastewater 17 infrastructure grant fund and accounts in the fund may be expended by the department 18 for wastewater infrastructure grants without further appropriation. Money in the fund 19 does not lapse and remains available for expenditure in successive fiscal years. 20 (c) A municipality may submit an application for a wastewater infrastructure 21 grant to be used to establish, upgrade, or improve a wastewater treatment collection 22 system or facility in a port community that serves commercial passenger vessels. The 23 application must provide evidence acceptable to the department that the 24 (1) proposed project is a capital improvement project and not part of a 25 preventive maintenance program or regular custodial care program; 26 (2) municipality has secured and will maintain adequate property loss 27 insurance for the replacement cost of the wastewater treatment system or facility or 28 has an adequate program of insurance; 29 (3) municipality has a preventive maintenance plan for the wastewater 30 treatment system or facility and will adequately adhere to the preventive maintenance 31 plan after completion of the proposed project.
01 (d) Awards granted by the department from the separate commercial 02 passenger vessel environmental compliance account shall be limited to the percentage 03 of operations that the wastewater treatment collection system or facility expends 04 servicing commercial passenger vessels. 05 (e) The department may award a wastewater infrastructure grant during a 06 fiscal year for a proposed project eligible under this section based on a grant 07 application filed during the immediately preceding fiscal year before February 1. 08 (f) The department shall establish priorities for the award of grants for 09 proposed wastewater treatment systems or facilities under this section. The department 10 shall award grants in the order of priority established. In establishing priorities, the 11 department shall consider how the project will 12 (1) protect or improve public health; 13 (2) protect or improve water quality; and 14 (3) mitigate any environmental impact caused by commercial 15 passenger vessels or passengers. 16 (g) Nothing in this section creates a dedicated fund. 17 * Sec. 14. AS 46.03.490(2) is amended to read: 18 (2) "commercial passenger vessel" means a vessel that carries 19 passengers for hire except that "commercial passenger vessel" does not include a 20 vessel 21 (A) authorized to carry fewer than 50 passengers; 22 (B) that does not provide overnight accommodations for at 23 least 50 passengers for hire [, DETERMINED WITH REFERENCE TO THE 24 NUMBER OF LOWER BERTHS]; or 25 (C) operated by the United States or a foreign government; 26 * Sec. 15. AS 46.03.490(13) is amended to read: 27 (13) "small commercial passenger vessel" means a commercial 28 passenger vessel that provides overnight accommodations for 249 or fewer passengers 29 for hire [, DETERMINED WITH REFERENCE TO THE NUMBER OF LOWER 30 BERTHS]; 31 * Sec. 16. AS 46.03.490 is amended by adding a new paragraph to read:
01 (19) "wastewater" means any graywater or sewage, including any 02 graywater or sewage that is stored in or transferred to a ballast tank or other holding 03 area on the vessel that may not be customarily used for storing graywater or sewage. 04 * Sec. 17. AS 46.03.460(b), 46.03.461, 46.03.462, 46.03.465(i), 46.03.480(d), 05 46.03.480(e), 46.03.481, 46.03.490(1), 46.03.490(7), 46.03.490(10), 46.03.490(14), and 06 46.03.490(15) are repealed. 07 * Sec. 18. AS 46.03.476 is repealed. 08 * Sec. 19. AS 46.03.480(b) is repealed December 31, 2023. 09 * Sec. 20. The uncodified law of the State of Alaska is amended by adding a new section to 10 read: 11 TRANSITION: REGULATIONS. The Department of Environmental Conservation 12 shall adopt regulations necessary to implement this Act. The regulations take effect under 13 AS 44.62 (Administrative Procedure Act), but not before the effective date of the law 14 implemented by the regulation. 15 * Sec. 21. The uncodified law of the State of Alaska is amended by adding a new section to 16 read: 17 RETROACTIVITY. Section 18 of this Act is retroactive to April 1, 2020. 18 * Sec. 22. Sections 18, 20, and 21 of this Act take effect immediately under 19 AS 01.10.070(c). 20 * Sec. 23. Except as provided in secs. 21 and 22 of this Act, this Act takes effect January 1, 21 2023.