An Act to increase the minimum fee required with an application for construction of an energy conversion and transmission facility.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of South Dakota:
Section 1. That 49-41B-12 be AMENDED:
49-41B-12.
At the time of
filing an application as required in 49-41B-11
or as subsequently required by the commission,
an applicant
shall
must deposit
the minimum fee
with the commission.
If required by the commission,
an
applicant must remit
initial
an amount
to be determined by the commission
based upon the
estimated
actual cost of
investigating, reviewing, processing, and serving notice of an
application. The amount
shall
must be
deposited with the state treasurer and credited to a subfund within
the designated revenue fund and
shall
must be
disbursed on vouchers approved by the commission for the actual cost
of investigating, reviewing, processing, and serving notice of the
application.
The maximum fee chargeable may not exceed one-quarter of one percent
of the first one hundred million dollars of estimated construction
cost plus one-twentieth of one percent of all additional estimated
construction costs of the facility.
However,
the
The minimum
total fee chargeable may not be less than
eight
twenty thousand
dollars.
The minimum fee is nonrefundable unless ordered by the commission.
If the commission determines that
an environmental impact statement should be prepared,
as provided under chapter 34A-9,
before taking final action on an application under this chapter,
the maximum fee chargeable above may be increased to an amount not to
exceed one-half of one percent of the first one hundred million
dollars of estimated construction cost plus one-twentieth of one
percent of all additional estimated construction costs of the
facility
the applicant must pay the actual costs of preparation and review of
the environmental impact statement.
However, the provisions of this paragraph do not apply in cases in
which a detailed environment impact study has been completed pursuant
to the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969
as amended to January 1, 2009, and implementing regulations thereto
if
such a
statement is available to the commission at least thirty days prior
to the time the commission is required to render a decision under
49-41B-24
or 49-41B-25.
The provisions of this section apply to all pending permit
applications and future permit applications before the commission.
Section 2. That 49-41B-26 be AMENDED:
49-41B-26.
The commission
shall
must provide
the applicant with a full financial accounting relating to the
expenditures of the amount received pursuant to 49-41B-12.
Except for the
eight
twenty thousand
dollar minimum fee required pursuant to 49-41B-12,
unused moneys
shall
must be
refunded to the applicant within thirty days of the commission's
decision on the application.