Lake management grants and river protection management grants for floating treatment wetlands

What it does

Summary by the Legislative Reference Bureau, the Legislature's nonpartisan drafting office. It's their wording, not ours.

This bill makes the placement of a floating treatment wetland eligible for a lake management grant and a river protection grant.

Under current law, the Department of Natural Resources administers the lake management grant program, under which it awards grants of up to $200,000 each for up to 75 percent of the cost of a lake management project that will improve or protect the quality of water in lakes or in their ecosystems. Nonprofit conservation organizations, most units of local government, and lake associations that meet certain requirements are eligible for these grants. Under current law, activities that are eligible for a grant include certain restoration, protection, or conservation activities. This bill adds to the list of eligible activities the placement of a floating treatment wetland in a lake. Under the bill, a floating treatment wetland is an artificial, buoyant platform for keeping plants afloat that mimics the function of natural wetlands and allows plants to grow in water that is typically too deep for them and that is placed below the ordinary high water mark in a navigable water.

Who's behind it

4 senators are its authors⁠. All 4 are Republicans.

10 more lawmakers signed on in support⁠.