SB 443

Under current law, the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has bonding

authority to provide funding for a financial assistance program for projects that

ensure dam safety by maintaining, repairing, removing, or abandoning dams. Dam

owners, including cities, villages, towns, counties, and public inland lake protection

and rehabilitation districts, are eligible to receive assistance only if DNR has issued

a directive or order that the owner take action to ensure the dam's safety. The

maximum amount of financial assistance for a dam safety project is $400,000. The

program is supported by bonding authority with the debt service being paid from

both the general fund and the conservation fund.

In addition to this bonding authority, current law requires that, beginning with

fiscal year 2011-12 and ending with fiscal year 2019-20, at least $6,000,000 in

bonding authority must be set aside from the land acquisition subprogram of the

Warren Knowles-Gaylord Nelson Stewardship 2000 Program for providing financial

assistance to counties for these dam safety projects (stewardship assistance). To be

eligible for stewardship assistance, a county must be under a DNR order to safeguard

a dam that the county owns, and the order must have been in effect on July 1, 2011.

The maximum amount of stewardship assistance that may be provided for a dam

safety project is $2,500,000. This bill expands the entities that are eligible for

stewardship assistance to include towns.