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Committee approves higher fees for Idaho drinking-water lab certifications, cites modest revenue increase
Summary
The Senate Health and Welfare Committee approved rule changes that incorporate EPA guidance by reference and increase annual certification fees for Idaho drinking-water labs; department estimates about $8,300 in additional annual revenue and said no public comments were received during an extended comment period.
BOISE — The Idaho Senate Health and Welfare Committee approved a rule docket that updates the State of Idaho Drinking Water Lab Certification Program by incorporating updated EPA guidance by reference and increasing annual base certification fees for laboratories that analyze drinking water.
Jared Larson, presenting for the Department of Health and Welfare, said the rule reduces the chapter's text by relying on the already-incorporated "Supplement 2 to the Manual for the Certification of Laboratories Analyzing Drinking Water, EPA, Fifth Edition." The supplement (published in 2012) adds requirements for testing for the parasites Giardia and Cryptosporidium; department staff said no Idaho laboratories are currently certified to perform those parasite tests.
The docket proposes the following fee changes (presented by the department): - Annual base certification fee for Idaho chemistry labs: $50 → $100 per chemistry discipline. - Annual base certification fee for Idaho microbiology testing: change from a base-plus-per-analyte structure to a flat annual fee of $150. - Annual base certification fee for out-of-state chemistry labs: $50 → $200.
Larson said the department estimates a net increase in receipts of approximately $8,300 annually and that the fee rule is the only fee rule the Department presented that year. He said the fee schedule had not been updated since 2011 and that the department extended the comment period by one month for the fee rule; no public comments were received.
Dr. Christopher Ball, chief of the Bureau of Laboratories, explained the EPA supplement's relevance and confirmed that the supplement was not published until 2012 and that incorporation by reference is an update to reflect the manual's content.
Senator Harris asked whether the department would be subject to future EPA changes by incorporating the manual by reference. Dr. Ball explained why the supplement was being added and that the incorporation clarifies certification criteria for specific parasite testing.
A motion to approve the docket was made by Senator Harris and seconded by Senator Wintrow; the committee approved the rule on a voice vote with one recorded opposition.
