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House Appropriations committee questions DEP and DCNR on budget increases and agency priorities
Summary
In a joint appropriations hearing, lawmakers reviewed the governor's funding requests for the Department of Environmental Protection and the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, asked about permitting reform, emergency responses and program rollouts, and pressed agencies on implementation and staffing needs.
The House Appropriations Committee held a joint hearing with the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) to review the governor's fiscal-year funding requests and agency priorities.
Acting DEP Secretary Jessica Shirley told legislators the governor's request for DEP, including the Environmental Hearing Board, is roughly $262,600,000 — an increase of about $27,000,000 — while DCNR's general-fund request is about $198,500,000, up roughly $23,000,000 from the prior year. Committee members were reminded that both agencies also administer substantial federal and other funds and that combined resources total about $4.6 billion, the committee noted.
Lawmakers focused on several cross-cutting issues that could affect how those funds are used: upgrades to DEP's permitting systems, DCNR capital backlogs for parks and visitor facilities, expansion of lab capacity for PFAS testing, and federal funding for orphan-well plugging. Shirley said DEP has launched information-technology upgrades including a permit-tracker and selected Salesforce as the platform for a phased e-permitting rollout. DCNR Secretary Cindy Dunn described a $112 million infusion to address park and forest infrastructure needs and highlighted outdoor-recreation initiatives that the department says support local jobs and broader economic activity.
Committee members pressed both secretaries on staffing and implementation timelines. Several members sought detail on how quickly permitting changes would shorten review times; Shirley said DEP has pilot programs and third-party review options and expects incremental improvements as the new platform and pilot processes are deployed.
The hearing concluded with requests from the committee for written follow-ups on staffing and monitoring gaps, and a planned reconvening later in the day.
