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Senate advances cyanobacteria task force and funding bill with committee amendment
Summary
Senators advanced a bill to create a cyanobacteria mitigation fund and a task force to propose sustainable funding after DES described rising costs and dozens of blooms statewide; the committee amended membership and added a sunsetting report requirement before approving on consent.
Senate Bill 595, sponsored by Sen. Mark McConkie, would establish a cyanobacteria mitigation and grant fund and convene a task force to identify sustainable funding and recommend programs. McConkie said prior one‑time appropriations and ARPA funds have nearly exhausted the existing fund and estimated an ongoing need of $1–2 million per year for projects that often cost $200k–$500k.
Amy Smagula, chief aquatic biologist and Limnology Center director at the Department of Environmental Services, said DES took no position but described roughly 60 water bodies that experience harmful cyanobacteria blooms annually and emphasized that remediation projects frequently require substantial local and state coordination. "The last couple of projects we worked on were about $500,000 each," she told the committee.
Witnesses representing lake associations, marine trades and conservation groups widely supported forming a task force to identify recurring funding mechanisms and to coordinate state and local efforts. The committee debated task‑force membership and approved a committee amendment that refined appointments to include a director (or designee) of the rivers association and the lakes association rather than governor appointments for those seats, and added a sunset/repeal date tied to the task‑force report (report due Nov. 1; repeal Jan. 1 next year unless extended).
The committee adopted the amendment and then voted to report the bill as amended on consent. Proponents said the measure is an enabling, local‑assistance tool that can be paired with other statewide funding proposals already before the Legislature.
