HB 705

            
2020 SESSION

20107564D

HOUSE BILL NO. 705

AMENDMENT IN THE NATURE OF A SUBSTITUTE

(Proposed by the House Committee on Agriculture, Chesapeake and
Natural Resources

on February 5, 2020)

(Patron Prior to Substitute--Delegate Keam)

A BILL to direct the Department of Environmental Quality to
review the authority of environmental boards.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. � 1. That the Virginia Department of Environmental
Quality (the Department) shall, in consultation with the Office of the Attorney
General, review the authority and processes utilized by the State Air Pollution
Control Board, the Virginia Waste Management Board, and the State Water Control
Board (the environmental boards) in issuing, reissuing, amending, or modifying
permits and shall review (i) the timeframe and requirements regarding public
comment in relation to the environmental boards; (ii) the efficiency of the
Commonwealths permitting processes; (iii) the demands the environmental boards
place on the staff of the Department; (iv) the average time required for
issuing, reissuing, amending, or modifying permits, from the time a permit is
first noticed; (v) the predictability and consistency of the permitting
process; (vi) the nature and relationship of the environmental boards with
local governments in the permitting process; (vii) how other states,
particularly those states that participate in the Regional Greenhouse Gas
Initiative (RGGI), handle the permitting process and if those states utilize
citizen boards for such purpose; (viii) the functions of citizen boards in
states that participate in RGGI; (ix) the authority citizen boards have in
states that participate in RGGI; (x) for a state, if any, that participates in
RGGI but does not have a citizen board, who makes decisions for an individual
permit; (xi) the process such states use for appeal of a permit decision and
how such process is funded; and (xii) any other issues deemed relevant or
appropriate by the Department in consultation with the Office of the Attorney
General. The Department, in consultation with the Office of the Attorney
General, shall report to the Chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture,
Chesapeake and Natural Resources and the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture,
Conservation and Natural Resources by December 1, 2020, with the results of the
review and the Departments recommendations.