Act No. 134

(H.759)

Executive branch fees

This act affects executive branch fees as follows:

1. Department of public safety.

a. Increases the cap on permit fees for construction in public buildings from $135,000.00 to $185,000.00.

b. Adds new fees for certifying individuals performing activities related to fire or life safety.

c. Adds a $1,000.00 fee for certifying cigarette brands as fire-safe.

d. Adds a new $150.00 fee for a three-year authorization to conduct boiler inspections.

e. Increases electrician license fees as follows: master electrician license from $120.00. to $150.00; journeyman's license from $90.00 to $115.00; and type-S journeyman's license from $90.00 to $115.00.

f. Increases plumber license fees as follows: master plumber license from $100.00 to $120.00; journeyman license from $70.00 to $90.00; and specialist license from $40.00 to $50.00.

g. Increases the fee for receiving a set of fingerprints from $15.00 to $25.00.

2. Agency of agriculture, food and markets.

a. Increases the fee for commercial feed registration from $70.00 to $75.00 per product registered.

b. Increases the fee for pesticide product registration from $92.00 to $100.00 per product registered.

c. Increases the fees for a pesticide dealer license as follows: for class A and B dealer licenses from $25.00 to $30.00; and for a pesticide company license from $50.00 to $60.00.

d. Changes the fee for meat inspections of food products derived from bison and cervidae from $20.00 per hour to a rate equal to the rate for reimbursable inspection services provided under the Vermont meat and poultry inspection program.

e. Adds a new license fee for meat-cutting vendors as follows: $30.00 for vendors with meat-cutting space of less than 300 square feet or meat display space of less than 20 linear feet and $60.00 for vendors with 300 or more square feet of meat-cutting space and 20 or more feet of meat display space.

f. Increases the license fee for a public weighmaster from $12.00 to $15.00.

g. Increases the licensing fee for dealers of weighing and measuring devices from $25.00 to $50.00.

h. Increases the license fee to operate hopper scales from $75.00 to $100.00.

i. Adds new fees for retail point-of-sale laser scanning devices of $10.00 per device in retail stores with more than three scanning points.

3. Department of banking, insurance, securities, and health care administration.

a. Adds a $50.00 license fee for mortgage loan originators.

b. Adds a $25.00 license fee on businesses providing money transmission services for each authorized delegate of the business.

c. Adds an annual assessment upon businesses providing money transmission services equal to $0.0001 per dollar volume of money-services activity performed for or sold or issued to Vermont customers.

d. Enacts a simplified licensing procedure for commercial lenders and adds a new $500.00 annual licensing fee for commercial lenders.

e. Increases the captive insurance licensing fee from $200.00 to $500.00.

4. Department of health.

a. Clarifies that hospital license fees are annual fees.

b. Changes the fee on X-ray equipment from a $300.00 triannual fee to an annual fee of $30.00 per piece of X-ray equipment.

5. Department of labor. Increases the workers' compensation administration fund employer/insurer contribution from 0.96 to 1.37 percent of annual workers' compensation premiums.

6. Department of fish and wildlife.

a. Increases hunting and fishing license fees for Vermont residents as follows:

i. Hunting and fishing licenses from $20.00 to $22.00.

ii. Combination hunting and fishing license from $32.00 to $35.00.

iii. Archery, muzzle-loader, and turkey licenses from $17.00 to $20.00.

b. Increases hunting and fishing license fees for nonresidents as follows:

i. Fishing license from $41.00 to $45.00.

ii. One-day fishing license from $15.00 to $20.00.

iii. Hunting license from $90.00 to $100.00.

iv. Combination hunting and fishing from $120.00 to $130.00.

v. Archery and turkey licenses from $25.00 to $35.00.

vi. Muzzle-loader license from $25.00 to $40.00.

vii. Small-game licenses from $40.00 to $50.00.

viii. Three-day fishing license from $20.00 to $22.00.

ix. Archery-only license from $60.00 to $75.00.

c. Increases from one to three the number of free moose-hunting permits awarded to children with life-threatening illnesses.

7. Department of environmental conservation. Increases department of environmental conservation fees as follows:

a. Air contaminant fees:

i. Permit to construct or modify major stationary source from $11,500.00 to $12,500.00; and permit to construct or modify nonmajor stationary source from $750.00 to $1,000.00.

ii. Engineering review fee for nonmajor stationary source from $1,460.00 to $1,750.00.

iii. Air quality impact analysis fee from $1,170.00 to $1,250.00.

iv. Annual registration base fee from $924.00 to $1,000.00.

b. Stormwater permits:

i. Stormwater discharges into class B waters operating permit from $300.00 to $360.00 per acre of impervious area; minimum fee increased from $150.00 to $180.00 per application.

ii. Permit for construction activities:

A. Low risk to waters of the state from $30.00 to $36.00 per project.

B. Moderate risk to waters of the state from $250.00 to $300.00.

C. Projects requiring an individual permit from $500.00 to $600.00.

iii. Stormwater discharges associated with industrial activities from $150.00 to $180.00 per facility.

iv. New $1,000.00 fee for permits for stormwater discharges associated with municipal sewer systems.

c. Discharge permit annual operating fees:

i. For industrial, cooling water, and thermal discharges fee increased from $0.0009 to $0.001 per gallon of design capacity; maximum fee cap increases from $27,500.00 to $105,000.00.

ii. For municipal discharges from $0.0027 to $0.003 per gallon of actual flows; fee cap increases from $11,000.00 to $12,500.00.

iii. Pretreatment discharges from $0.0315 to $0.0385 per gallon of design capacity.

iv. Stormwater discharges:

A. Discharges to class B waters from $55.00 to $66.00 per acre of impervious area.

B. Discharges associated with industrial activities from $55.00 to $66.00 per facility.

C. New fee for discharges associated with municipal sewer systems $66.00 per system.

d. Sewage individual permits from $385.00 to $400.00; and from $0.0317 to $0.035 per gallon of design capacity above 6,500 gallons.

e. Water source permit applications:

i. Adds new transient noncommunity water permit application fee of $250.00 per source.

ii. Adds new nontransient, noncommunity water permit application fee of $500.00 per source.

f. Bottled water permit fee increased from $550.00 to $900.00 per permitted facility.

g. Adds a new annual groundwater withdrawal permit of $1,500.00 per facility.

h. Lakes and ponds permit fees increased as follows:

i. Structural erosion control permit from $155.00 to $250.00 per application.

ii. All other encroachment permits from $155.00 to $300.00 per application.

i. Stream alteration permit fee increased from $105.00 to $225.00 per application.

j. Sludge or septic facility permit fees increased as follows:

i. For facilities that reduce pathogens from $840.00 to $950.00 per application.

ii. For all other types of facilities from $95.00 to $110.00 per application.

k. Wetland permit fees increased as follows:

i. From $0.07 to $0.12 per square foot of proposed impact to Class I or II wetlands.

ii. From $0.05 to $0.09 per square foot of proposed impact to Class I or II wetland buffers.

l. Adds new salvage yard fees as follows:

i. $1,250.00 for facilities that crush or shred junk motor vehicles.

ii. $750.00 for facilities that accept or dismantle junk motor vehicles.

iii. $350.00 for facilities that manage junk onsite excluding motor vehicles.

iv. $300.00 for facilities the primary activity of which is handling total-loss vehicles from insurance companies.

m. Reduces fee for facilities that burn wood using an electrostatic precipitator from $0.103 to $0.025 per ton burned.

8. Natural resource board fees:

Act 250 fees increased as follows:

a. For projects involving construction from $4.75 to $5.40 for each $1,000.00 of the first $15,000,000.00 of construction costs and from $2.25 to $2.50 for each $1,000.00 of costs above $15,000,000.00.

b. For projects involving extraction of earth resources from $0.10 to $0.20 per cubic yard of maximum estimated annual extraction.

c. Cap on maximum permit fee increased from $135,000.00 to $150,000.00.

The act also places the "fee bill" back on its annual three-year cycle; requires the department of finance and management to make a report to the committees on ways and means and on finance regarding the use of bill-backs in state government; and expresses the general assembly's intent that excess funds raised by the cigarette certification fee be used for the purpose of smoking cessation.

Date Signed by the Governor:  May 29, 2010

Effective Date:  The act is effective July 1, 2010. The fish and wildlife hunting and fishing fees are effective January 1, 2011. The salvage yard fees are effective on passage (May 29, 2010, the date on which the governor signed the bill).