SB 416 Summary

• Repeals 55 existing sections and replaces them with new provisions consolidating advisory councils and committees into the Department of Natural Resources, eliminating the separate State Oil and Gas Council, Land Survey Commission, Well Installation Board, Dam and Reservoir Safety Council, and other bodies.

• Transfers all rulemaking, permitting, and enforcement authority for oil and gas, dam and reservoir safety, well installation, and land surveying from abolished councils directly to the Department of Natural Resources and its director.

• Establishes the Administrative Hearing Commission as the single venue for all contested case appeals across environmental and natural resource programs (chapters 236, 256, 259, 260, 444, 640, 643, 644), with final decision authority retained by the respective departments.

• Permits applicants to request unified permitting processes for multiple environmental permits from the director, streamlining coordination and allowing waiver of certain procedural timing requirements while maintaining substantive legal protections.

• Creates or modifies various funds and grant programs (Oil and Gas Remedial Fund, Geologic Resources Fund, Solid Waste Management Fund) and reallocates revenue distribution among districts and municipalities for solid waste management and related environmental programs.