455G.4 - GOVERNING BOARD.
455G.4 GOVERNING BOARD. 1. Members of the board. a. The Iowa comprehensive petroleum underground storage tank fund board is established consisting of the following members: (1) The director of the department of natural resources, or the director's designee. (2) The treasurer of state, or the treasurer's designee. (3) The commissioner of insurance, or the commissioner's designee. (4) Two public members appointed by the governor and confirmed by the senate to staggered four-year terms, except that, of the first members appointed, one public member shall be appointed for a term of two years and one for a term of four years. A public member shall have experience, knowledge, and expertise of the subject matter embraced within this chapter. Two public members shall be appointed with experience in either, or both, financial markets or insurance. (5) Two owners or operators appointed by the governor. One of the owners or operators appointed pursuant to this subparagraph shall have been a petroleum systems insured through the underground storage tank insurance fund as it existed on June 30, 2004, or a successor to the underground storage tank insurance fund and shall have been an insured through the insurance account of the comprehensive petroleum underground storage tank fund on or before October 26, 1990. One of the owners or operators appointed pursuant to this subparagraph shall be self-insured. (6) The director of the legislative services agency, or the director's designee. The director under this subparagraph shall not participate as a voting member of the board. b. A public member appointed pursuant to paragraph "a", subparagraph (4), shall not have a conflict of interest. For purposes of this section, a "conflict of interest" means an affiliation, within the twelve months before the member's appointment, with the regulated tank community, or with a person or property and casualty insurer offering competitive insurance or other means of financial assurance or which previously offered environmental hazard insurance for a member of the regulated tank community. c. The filling of positions reserved for public representatives, vacancies, membership terms, payment of compensation and expenses, and removal of members are governed by chapter 69. Members of the board are entitled to receive reimbursement of actual expenses incurred in the discharge of their duties within the limits of funds appropriated to the board or made available to the fund. Each member of the board may also be eligible to receive compensation as provided in section 7E.6. The members shall elect a voting chairperson of the board from among the members of the board. 2. Department cooperation with board. The director of the department of natural resources shall cooperate with the board in the implementation of this part so as to minimize unnecessary duplication of effort, reporting, or paperwork and maximize environmental protection. 3. Rules and emergency rules. a. The board shall adopt rules regarding its practice and procedures, develop underwriting standards, establish procedures for investigating and settling claims made against the fund, and otherwise implement and administer this chapter. b. Rules necessary for the implementation and collection of the environmental protection charge shall be adopted. c. Rules to facilitate and encourage the use of community remediation whenever possible shall be adopted. d. The board shall adopt rules relating to appeal procedures which shall require the administrator to deliver notice of appeal to the affected parties within fifteen days of receipt of notice, require that the hearing be held within one hundred eighty days of the filing of the petition unless good cause is shown for the delay, and require that a final decision be issued no later than one hundred twenty days following the close of the hearing. The time restrictions in this paragraph may be waived by mutual agreement of the parties. 4. Public bid. All contracts entered into by the board, including contracts relating to community remediation, shall be awarded on a competitive basis to the maximum extent practical. In those situations where it is determined that public bidding is not practical, the basis for the determination of impracticability shall be documented by the board or its designee. This subsection applies only to contracts entered into on or after July 1, 1992. 5. Contract approval. a. The board shall approve any contract entered into pursuant to this chapter if the cost of the contract exceeds seventy-five thousand dollars. b. A listing of all contracts entered into pursuant to this chapter shall be presented at each board meeting and shall be made available to the public. The listing shall state the interested parties to the contract, the amount of the contract, and the subject matter of the contract. c. The board shall be required to review and approve or disapprove the administrator's failure to approve a contract under section 455G.12A. Review by the board shall not be required for cancellation or replacement of a contract for a site included in a community remediation project or when an emergency situation exists. 6. Reporting. Beginning July 2003, the board shall submit a written report quarterly to the legislative council, the chairperson and ranking member of the committee on environment and energy independence in the senate, and the chairperson and ranking member of the committee on environmental protection in the house of representatives regarding changes in the status of the program including but not limited to the number of open claims by claim type; the number of new claims submitted and the eligibility status of each claim; a summary of the risk classification of open claims; the status of all claims at high-risk sites including the number of corrective action design reports submitted, approved, and implemented during the reporting period; total moneys reserved on open claims and total moneys paid on open claims; and a summary of budgets approved and invoices paid for high-risk site activities including a breakdown by corrective action design report, construction and equipment, implementation, operation and maintenance, monitoring, over excavation, free product recovery, site reclassification, reporting and other expenses, or a similar breakdown. In each report submitted by the board, the board shall include an estimated timeline to complete corrective action at all currently eligible high-risk sites where a corrective action design report has been submitted by a claimant and approved during the reporting period. The timeline shall include the projected year when a no further action designation will be obtained based upon the corrective action activities approved or anticipated at each claimant site. The timeline shall be broken down in annual increments with the number or percentage of sites projected to be completed for each time period. The report shall identify and report steps taken to expedite corrective action and eliminate the state's liability for open claims.
Section History: Recent Form 89 Acts, ch 131, § 45; 91 Acts, ch 252, § 13; 92 Acts, ch 1217, § 3, 4; 93 Acts, ch 155, §1; 98 Acts, ch 1068, §5; 2003 Acts, ch 35, §45, 49; 2003 Acts, ch 110, §2--4; 2005 Acts, ch 19, §63--65; 2006 Acts, ch 1010, §118; 2008 Acts, ch 1031, §114; 2009 Acts, ch 133, §155 Referred to in § 15G.201, 455G.5 Environmental protection charge, see chapter 424