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Short bill would split two DEQ fee accounts to increase transparency
Summary
House Bill 40 would divide a single DEQ account that currently receives two separate fee streams into two accounts to improve transparency and prevent cross-subsidy between plan-review fees and public system water connection fees; DEQ said the change has no programmatic impact.
House Bill 40 would split an existing Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) treasury account that currently receives plan-review fees (typically paid by subdivision developers for review of water and sewer plans) and public system water connection fees (typically paid by local governments) into two separate accounts.
Sponsor Rep. John Fitzpatrick told the committee the change is administrative: it improves transparency and reduces the chance that one group of fee payers would be subsidizing the other. Lindsey Krivaruchka, water quality division administrator at DEQ, testified in support and said the split does not affect fee levels, how fees are collected, or program operations; it merely aligns statute with internal accounting practices.
Committee members had no substantive questions and the hearing concluded with no vote recorded.
DEQ provided a one-page handout to explain the mechanics of the split; the department said the change was required because the statute names a single account while the department treats the two fee streams separately for management purposes.
