Senate committee advances environment supplemental with battery-stewardship changes, infectious-waste study and zoo funding

The Senate Environment, Climate and Legacy Committee on April 14 adopted several amendments to Senate File 44214 and voted to refer the supplemental environment bill to the Finance Committee for further consideration.

Senator Hur, the bill author, said the package collects language previously heard in the committee and contains mostly noncontroversial, urgent items with fiscal notes. The committee first adopted an A1 “delete-all” amendment and later a technical A7 amendment from the Department of Natural Resources to clarify effective dates tied to DNR’s phased electronic licensing system (ELS).

Mr. Miller, who walked members through the amendment, said Article 1 makes multiple appropriation changes and one-year extensions. Among the changes, a public-art grant’s recipient is changed to the City of Saint Paul and extended to 2028. The bill extends multiple legacy and parks-and-trails appropriations by one year (to 06/30/2027), including a $750,000 unobligated Mesabi Trail grant, an Oxbow Park grant with about $349,000 remaining, a Stearns County grant (~$1,176,000), a Plum Creek Park grant to Redwood County (originally $818,000 with about $524,000 remaining) and a City of Sandstone grant (originally $2,257,000 with roughly $918,000 remaining). The bill also extends remaining ELS appropriations (about $469,000 left of an original $2.6 million appropriation).

The committee added a study and a small appropriation to address unlawful shipments of infectious or pathological waste. Senator Hur described the provision as requesting that the Pollution Control Agency study the scope of unlawful shipments and recommend policy changes and fines; the bill includes a $75,000 one-time appropriation from the environmental fund to support the study.

John Froehlich, director of the Minnesota Zoo, told the committee the zoo faces a structural operating gap and urged support for Section 4, a $3.8 million one-time general fund appropriation to bridge the biennium: “Our current budget’s unhealthy right now and running on reserves. This would be a supplemental funding for this critical one-time bridge to get us through this biennium.”

Trista Martinson of Ramsey Washington Recycling and Energy described repeated incidents of untreated infectious waste and rising fire and insurance costs at recycling facilities driven by loose lithium-ion batteries. “We have learned through our conversations with the MPCA that they currently have 0 staff dedicated to enforcing this law,” Martinson said, urging the committee to treat the issue as an urgent risk to workers and the public.

On the battery stewardship program in Article 2, the committee adopted an A19 amendment that, among other stakeholder-driven changes, removes large-format batteries from the program, clarifies reimbursement language, allows retailers a six-month sell-through window for existing stock if a manufacturer becomes noncompliant, and clarifies that a retailer cannot be forced to act as a collector through negotiations with manufacturers. Kurt Koudelka, assistant commissioner at the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, summarized stakeholder changes and said the amendment contained technical corrections and policy clarifications requested by retailers and the waste industry.

Assistant Commissioner Bob Myers (DNR) and Lieutenant Colonel Robert Recchie (DNR enforcement) briefed members on the ELS timing and enforcement funding. Recchie said shortfalls in general fund support would constrain DNR enforcement work and listed activities that depend on those funds, from aquatic vegetation enforcement to timber-theft investigations.

Senator Hur said the measure is a supplemental budget bill and asked members to be mindful of fiscal impacts as the package moves to Finance. The referral motion carried by voice vote.

The committee’s action moves the omnibus supplemental forward with adopted technical and stakeholder changes while asking state agencies to study enforcement options for infectious waste and adjusting implementation timelines for electronic licensing.

The committee referred SF 44214, as amended, to the Finance Committee; no recorded roll-call tallies were provided in committee minutes.