Committee adopts narrow DNR amendments, declines two amendments and sends agency bill on to tax and fiscal

The Senate Natural Resources Committee advanced House Bill 16-16, the Department of Natural Resources agency bill, after adopting two amendments and withdrawing or declining to adopt several others; the bill was recommitted to the Senate Committee on Tax and Fiscal Policy.

Committee staff described the adopted changes. Amendment 4 removes a requirement that county auditors provide electronic access to notice through the Department of Local Government Finance’s computer gateway, noting the platform is not fully operational; counties will use alternative notice methods. Amendment 9 adjusts timing and approval language for a residential historic rehabilitation tax credit, allowing some credits for expenditures approved before March 10, 2025, to be claimed in the first taxable year beginning December 31, 2024, and addressing a backlog the Department of Revenue identified.

Committee members discussed but did not adopt amendment 6, which would have given DNR emergency access to private property to address certain low-head dam emergencies; members expressed concerns about authority over private property and noted a related bill (Senate Enrolled Act 477) was already moving through the process. The committee also declined to adopt amendment 12, which would have created a class B misdemeanor for knowingly discharging a firearm within 300 feet of the shoreline of certain city parks adjacent to Lake Michigan; members argued the issue intersects existing discharge and criminal statutes and may be more appropriate to address in other forums.

After adopting amendments 4 and 9 by consent and removing other amendments from consideration, the committee voted to pass House Bill 16-16 as amended. The clerk recorded eight yeas and one excused; the measure will be recommitted to the Senate Committee on Tax and Fiscal Policy for further review.