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1995 SESSION
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That § 62.1-44.15:6 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:
§ 62.1-44.15:6. Permit fee regulations.
A. The Board shall promulgate regulations establishing a fee assessment and collection system to recover a portion of the State Water Control Board's, the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries' and the Department of Conservation and Recreation's direct and indirect costs associated with the processing of an application to issue, reissue, amend or modify any permit or certificate, which the Board has authority to issue under this chapter and Chapters 24 (§ 62.1-242 et seq.) and 25 (§ 62.1-254 et seq.) of this title, from the applicant for such permit or certificate for the purpose of more efficiently and expeditiously processing permits. The fees shall be exempt from statewide indirect costs charged and collected by the Department of Accounts. The Board shall have no authority to charge such fees where the authority to issue such permits has been delegated to another agency which imposes permit fees.
B. Permit fees charged an applicant shall reflect the average time and complexity of processing a permit in each of the various categories of permits and permit actions. However, notwithstanding any other provision of law, in no instance shall the Board charge a fee for a permit pertaining to a farming operation engaged in production for market or for a permit pertaining to maintenance dredging for federal navigation channels or other Corps of Engineers sponsored dredging projects, and in no instance shall the Board exceed the following amounts for the processing of each type of permit/certificate category:
Type of Permit/Certificate Category Maximum Amount
1. Virginia Pollutant Discharge Elimination System
Major $ 8,000 Minor $ 3,500 General $ 400 2. Virginia Pollution Abatement Industrial/Wastewater $ 5,000 Industrial/Sludge $ 2,500 Municipal/Wastewater $ 5,000 Municipal/Sludge $ 2,500 Other $ 250 3. 401 Certification/Virginia Water Protection Individual $ 3,000 General $ 400 Waiver $ 400 4. Ground Water Withdrawal $ 2,000 5. Surface Water Withdrawal $ 4,000
When modifications in these permits or certificates have been initiated by the Board, the fee for the modified permit or certificate shall not exceed seventy-five percent of the maximum amount established by this subsection. Payments for the costs of processing applications by the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries and the Department of Conservation and Recreation shall be limited to the lesser of twenty-five percent of the fees prescribed by regulation or $100 per permit or certificate and shall further be limited to those permits or certificates these agencies are required to review by the Code of Virginia.
C. When promulgating regulations establishing permit fees, the Board shall take into account the permit fees charged in neighboring states and the importance of not placing existing or prospective industries in the Commonwealth at a competitive disadvantage.
D. On January 1, 1993, and January 1 of every even-numbered year thereafter, the Board shall make an evaluation of the implementation of the permit fee program and provide this evaluation in writing to the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources, the Senate Committee on Finance, the House Committee on Appropriations, the House Committee on Conservation and Natural Resources and the House Committee on Finance. This evaluation shall include a report on the total fees collected, the amount of general funds allocated to the Board, the Board's use of the fees and the general funds, the number of permit applications received, the number of permits issued, the progress in eliminating permit backlogs, and the timeliness of permit processing.
E. Fees collected pursuant to this section shall not supplant or reduce in any way the general fund appropriation to the Board.
F. Permit fee schedules shall apply to permit programs in existence on July 1, 1992, any additional permits which may be required by the federal government and administered by the Board, or any new permit required pursuant to any law of the Commonwealth.
G. The Board is authorized to promulgate regulations establishing a schedule of reduced permit fees for facilities which have established a record of compliance with the terms and requirements of their permits.