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o ('~: ~ C:., ~ c"n 5-Minute Activity Report U7th Meeting of AWRBIAC Page 2 Legislative Activitv The First Session of the Forty Third Oklahoma Legislature has been particularly active for environmental interests. Legislative attention focused on a number of envirornnental and natural resources policy areas during the 1991 session. These changes will be enacted at a time when most state agencies are being asked to tighten their belts to accommodate the new priorities of Governor Walters' administration. The savings gleaned from agency budget cuts will be used to implement the changes mandated by the 1990 Education Reform Act (RB. 1017) and to increase funding for the State's Higher Education System. S.B. 28 revamped the Oklahoma Controlled Industrial Waste Management Act by removing the 5500,000 maximum annual fee which can be charged a hazardous waste disposal facility and amended the hazardous waste fee structure established last year. The Bill requires that 10% of the fees collected as a result of the new fee structure will be deposited in Special Economic Development Trust Funds established near waste facilities to be used to market and promote industrial development. House Bill 1415 consolidated responsibility for leaking underground storage tanks in two agencies -- the Oklahoma Corporation Commission and the OWRB. (This function was formerly shared by five agencies.) In an attempt to encourage industries to engage in recycling of recyclable materials House Bill 1340, the Manufacturer Recycling Incentive Act was passed. The measure grants manufacturers income tax credits based upon their investment costs. House Bill 1540 increases the rate at which waste tire recycling facilities are compensated in order to assume that such facilities pick up statewide used tires on a periodic basis. House Bill 1743 authorized the OWRB to negotiate a contract for sale of surplus water from Sardis Reservoir to North Texas Municipal Water District. Proceeds derived from the sale of water will be deposited in the Statewide Water Development Revolving Fund. The Bill is on the Governor's desk for his signature. Senate Joint Resolution 2 created the Red River Boundary Commission. A similar commission was also created by the Texas Legislature. Due to the ambulatory nature of the Red River, whose southern bank constitutes the boundary between the states, numerous conflicts have arisen over property ownership, tax collections, mineral royalty payments, etc. The purpose of this commission is to resolve the long-standing dispute between the States of Texas and Oklahoma concerning each state's boundary and to establish a permanent boundary between the two states.