Modifying the department of fish and wildlife's habitat recovery pilot program.

2023-2024 Regular Session Introduced by Beth Doglio and 9 co-sponsors

HB 2085 lets Kansas water pollution permits run up to 10 years (from 5), with KDHE discretion to issue shorter terms; preserves fees and may save admin costs for many facilities.

Public hearing in the House Committee on Agriculture & Natural Resources at 8:00 AM.

Summary — HB 2085 (2025) — Water pollution control permit terms extended from 5 to 10 years

Status
- Approved by the Governor: March 26, 2025 (enrolled March 21, 2025).
- Introduced: January 24, 2025 (House Committee on Water; requested by KDHE/Director of Environment).
- Statutory change: amends K.S.A. 65-166a and repeals the existing section.

Purpose and intent
- To give the Secretary of Health and Environment authority to issue water pollution control permits with terms up to 10 years (rather than the current 5 years), while retaining discretion to issue shorter terms when valid cause exists. The change aims to reduce administrative burden and allow longer permit cycles for applicable waste-handling and wastewater facilities.

Key provisions
- Permit term extension: Any permit for which a fee is assessed “shall expire” 10 years from issuance (was 5 years).
- Secretary discretion: The Secretary may still issue permits for terms shorter than 10 years if valid cause exists.
- Fee rules retained:
- The minimum assessed fee remains for at least one year; permit fees may be collected annually.
- Nonpayment of fees remains grounds for revocation.
- Fees are nonrefundable and remitted to the Water Program Management Fund.
- Existing permitting requirements and fee caps for confined feeding facilities and truck‑washing facilities remain in the statutory text (examples: capped annual fees of $25–$400 for confined feeding facilities depending on animal unit capacity; truck wash fees up to $320 for commercial facilities).
- Technical and conforming edits are made to continuing law; the prior version of K.S.A. 65-166a is repealed.

Who is affected
- Entities regulated under the Kansas Water Pollution Control Permit System (K.S.A. 65-165 and 65-166a), including:
- Confined feeding operations (permit thresholds and fee caps retained).
- Non-overflowing wastewater facilities that do not discharge to surface water (KDHE administers permits for these facilities).
- Other treatment devices, facilities or discharges requiring state permits under the water pollution control statutes.
- KDHE (administration and permitting authority) — procedural discretion expanded but agency operational duties largely unchanged.

Fiscal and practical impacts
- KDHE and the Division of the Budget reported no fiscal effect: annual permit fees continue to be levied regardless of permit length, so state revenues and expenditures are expected to be unchanged.
- Potential cost savings for some permit holders by deferring application/renewal engineering and administrative costs over a longer permit term.
- Note: states have sought similar federal changes for permits that discharge to surface waters, but federal permit term extensions have not been enacted.

Effective date
- The act takes effect upon publication in the statute book (per the bill language).