MN HF1994

Grants the Board of Water and Soil Resources authority to issue administrative penalty orders up to $500 for violations of water resources riparian protection requirements, with penalties commencing on day one of the 11th month after noncompliance notice is issued.

Requires the Board of Water and Soil Resources to adopt a plan containing procedures for issuance of administrative penalty orders by July 1, 2017, which becomes effective 30 days after publication in the State Register.

Establishes buffer requirements on public waters at 50-foot average width with 30-foot minimum width, or state shoreland standards (whichever is more restrictive), and 16.5-foot minimum width for public drainage systems, with compliance deadlines of November 1, 2017 for public waters and November 1, 2018 for drainage systems.

Allows landowners using property for cultivation farming to meet buffer requirements through alternative riparian water quality practices approved by the board, including retention ponds and measures preventing overland flow.

Requires counties and watershed districts to affirm jurisdiction and notify the Board of Water and Soil Resources by March 31, 2017, and mandates that enforcement cannot occur unless federal or state assistance is available to landowners to pay 100 percent of buffer establishment costs.