HF3000 Summary

• Board of Water and Soil Resources and local authorities may issue administrative penalty orders up to $500 for violations of riparian protection requirements on public waters and drainage ditches, with penalties commencing on day one of the 11th month after noncompliance notice.

• Landowners must maintain buffers adjacent to public waters (50-foot average width with 30-foot minimum or state shoreland standards) and public drainage systems (16.5-foot minimum width) by November 1, 2017 for public waters and November 1, 2018 for drainage systems, or adopt alternative riparian water quality practices for cultivated farmland.

• Board of Water and Soil Resources must adopt a plan by July 1, 2017 containing procedures for issuing administrative penalty orders by local governments, with local authorities affirming jurisdiction and providing notice to the board by March 31, 2017.

• Soil and water conservation districts may issue compliance validations and must notify county or watershed districts of noncompliance; counties or watersheds may enforce through administrative penalties or ordinance authority, with penalties potentially forgiven if noncompliance is resolved.

• State board may withhold funding from local water management authorities and soil and water conservation districts that fail to implement buffer requirements, with funding restored upon approval of a corrective action plan.