WATER POLLUTER INFORMANT: AWARD - S.B. 568 (S-1): FLOOR ANALYSIS
sans-serif">Senate Bill 568 (Substitute S-1 as amended by the Senate)
Sponsor: Senator Bruce Patterson
Committee: Natural Resources and Environmental Affairs
CONTENT
The bill would amend the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act to permit the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to pay an award of up to $10,000 to a person who provided information that materially contributed to the assessment of a civil fine as the result of an action brought by the Attorney General, or the arrest and conviction of a person, under Part 31 (Water Resources Protection) of the Act.
The following people would not be eligible for payment of the award:
-- An officer or employee of the United States.
-- An officer of the State.
-- A full- or part-time employee of the DEQ, the Department of Attorney General, or the Department of Natural Resources.
-- A person who furnished the information in the performance of an official duty.
-- A person wholly or partly responsible for the violation resulting in the civil fine or conviction.
An award could not be made until the DEQ promulgated rules prescribing the criteria for making awards.
If a person, in an effort to obtain an award, knowingly provided false information, the DEQ could order the person to pay the Department for some or all of the expenses that it incurred as a result of the false information, or to pay the person against whom the false information was provided some or all of his or her expenses, including reasonable attorney fees resulting from the false information.
Proposed MCL 324.3115b - Legislative Analyst: Claire Layman
The bill could increase fine revenue collected by the State by an indeterminate amount. The payment of awards would partially offset the increased fine revenue received from violators and expenses recovered from individuals who provided false information.
Date Completed: 10-8-03 - Fiscal Analyst: Jessica Runnels
floor\sb568 - Analysis
available @ http://www.michiganlegislature.org
This analysis was prepared by nonpartisan Senate staff for use by the Senate in its deliberations and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent.