Vermont S 303: An act relating to automobile minimum liability coverage

Bill Text

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S.303 1
Introduced by Senators Williams, Beck, Benson, Brennan, Brock, Collamore, 2
Heffernan, Ingalls, Major, Mattos, Morley, Norris, Weeks and 3
Westman 4
Referred to Committee on 5
Date: 6
Subject: Conservation and development; real property; stormwater; three-acre 7
stormwater discharge permit 8
Statement of purpose of bill as introduced: This bill proposes to amend 9
requirements related to the administration and implementation by the Agency 10
of Natural Resources (ANR) of the three-acre stormwater discharge permit. 11
The bill would require ANR to visit every parcel identified by geographic 12
information system data as subject to the three-acre stormwater discharge 13
permit to verify each parcel has three or more acres of impervious surface. 14
The bill also would require ANR to rank each parcel subject to the three-acre 15
stormwater discharge permit according to the severity of impact each parcel 16
has to water quality in the State. The bill would repeal the current permitting 17
schedule for discharges of stormwater from three-acre parcels and instead 18
would require a permit for a parcel ranked in the top 10 percent of severity of 19
impact to water quality to continue to require a permit. ANR would then be 20
directed to establish a schedule for the remaining parcels subject to permitting 21

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based on severity of impact to water quality posed by a parcel. In addition, the 1
bill would provide that failure to obtain a three-acre stormwater discharge 2
permit when necessary does not create an encumbrance on the title to the 3
property subject to the parcel. The bill also would require ANR to conduct a 4
public hearing in each county of the State to explain application of the three-5
acre stormwater discharge permit and the changes made to the permit by the 6
bill. 7
An act relating to administration of the three-acre stormwater discharge 8
permit 9
It is hereby enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Vermont: 10
Sec. 1. FINDINGS 11
The General Assembly finds that: 12
(1) The three-acre stormwater discharge permit established under 2015 13
Acts and Resolves No. 64 has relied primarily on geographic information 14
system data without on-site verification, resulting in inaccuracies and required 15
permitting for properties that do not meet the statutory permit threshold. 16
(2) Requiring compliance from all properties subject to the three-acre 17
stormwater discharge permit, regardless of actual water quality impact, 18
imposes undue financial costs on property owners and creates inefficiencies in 19
the use of State resources. Vermonters are already subject to considerable 20

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expenses and tax burdens. The State should not impose additional, substantial 1
costs on property owners that do not significantly contribute to the State’s 2
water quality impairments. 3
(3) Public roads maintained by municipalities or the State should not be 4
calculated as impervious surface for private properties when determining if a 5
property is subject to the three-acre stormwater discharge permit. 6
(4) The designation of a property under the three-acre stormwater 7
discharge permit has been treated in practice as a cloud on title, complicating 8
or impeding property sales and property financing, even though designation of 9
a parcel as subject to the permit was never intended to serve as a lien or legal 10
encumbrance. 11
(5) Vermont’s stormwater management resources must be prioritized 12
toward the properties that pose the greatest risk to water quality, while 13
preserving flexibility and fairness in implementation of stormwater discharge 14
permitting. 15
(6) Public outreach and education are necessary to restore public trust in 16
stormwater permitting and to ensure that property owners understand both the 17
history of the three-acre stormwater discharge permit and the amendments to 18
the permit required under this act. 19

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Sec. 2. 10 V.S.A. § 1264 is amended to read: 1
§ 1264. STORMWATER MANAGEMENT 2
* * * 3
(b) Definitions. As used in this section: 4
* * * 5
(6) “Impervious surface” means those manmade surfaces, including 6
paved and unpaved roads, parking areas, roofs, driveways, and walkways, from 7
which precipitation runs off rather than infiltrates. 8
* * * 9
(10) “Regulated stormwater runoff” means precipitation, snowmelt, and 10
the material dissolved or suspended in precipitation and snowmelt that runs off 11
impervious surfaces and discharges into surface waters or into groundwater via 12
infiltration. 13
* * * 14
(14) “Stormwater runoff” means precipitation and snowmelt that does 15
not infiltrate into the soil, including material dissolved or suspended in it, but 16
does not include discharges from undisturbed natural terrain or wastes fr