II 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1880

To establish the Special Blue Ribbon Commission on Chesapeake Bay 

Nutrient Pollution Control Financing. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

NOVEMBER 18, 2003

Mr. SARBANES (for himself, Ms. MIKULSKI, Mr. WARNER, Mr. ALLEN, and 

Mr. SANTORUM) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 

referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works 

A BILL

To establish the Special Blue Ribbon Commission on 

Chesapeake Bay Nutrient Pollution Control Financing.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Special Blue Ribbon 

5 Commission on Chesapeake Bay Nutrient Pollution Con6 trol Financing Act’’. 

7 SEC. 2. PURPOSE. 

8 The purpose of this Act is to establish a commission 

9 to oversee development of a comprehensive plan to—
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1 (1) remove the Chesapeake Bay from the Envi2 ronmental Protection Agency listing of impaired wa3 terways by the year 2010; 

4 (2) reduce the sediment and nutrient loadings 

5 to the Chesapeake Bay to meet the water quality 

6 goals of the Chesapeake 2000 Agreement; 

7 (3)(A) identify the availability of Federal, state, 

8 and local financial resources to achieve the reduction 

9 of sediment and nutrient loadings to the Chesapeake 

10 Bay; and 

11 (B) recommend the allocation of those financial 

12 resources; and 

13 (4) identify the private and public partnerships 

14 that may be established to provide resources to the 

15 effort to reduce sediment and nutrient loadings to 

16 the Chesapeake Bay. 

17 SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF COMMISSION. 

18 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 60 days after 

19 the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator of 

20 the Environmental Protection Agency shall establish a 

21 commission to be known as the ‘‘Special Blue Ribbon 

22 Commission on Chesapeake Bay Nutrient Pollution Con23 trol Financing’’ (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Commis24 sion’’). 

25 (b) MEMBERSHIP.—
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1 (1) MEMBERS.—The Commission shall be com2 posed of 21 members, including—

3 (A) each of the signatories to the Chesa4 peake Bay Agreement; 

5 (B) each of the governors of the States of 

6 Delaware, New York, and West Virginia or 

7 their designees; and 

8 (C) not later than 60 days after the date 

9 of enactment of this Act, 12 members ap10 pointed by the Administrator of the Environ11 mental Protection Agency, in consultation with 

12 the other members of the Executive Council of 

13 the Chesapeake Bay program, that—

14 (i) include at least 3 members rep15 resenting local governments in Maryland, 

16 Pennsylvania, and Virginia; 

17 (ii) include, from the Chesapeake Bay 

18 watershed, at least—

19 (I) 1 member from an academic, 

20 technical, or scientific institution; 

21 (II) 1 member from the business 

22 community; 

23 (III) 1 member from the agricul24 tural community; and 
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1 (IV) 1 member from environ2 mental organizations; and 

3 (iii) are balanced by area of expertise 

4 and balanced geographically, to the extent 

5 consistent with maintaining the highest 

6 level of expertise on the Commission. 

7 (2) CHAIRPERSON.—The members of the Com8 mission shall elect a chairperson from among the 

9 members of the Commission. 

10 (c) MEETINGS.—

11 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall meet 

12 at the call of the Chairperson. 

13 (2) PUBLIC MEETINGS.—Any meetings of the 

14 Commission shall be open to the public. 

15 (3) NOTICE.—Notice of each meeting of the 

16 Commission shall be published in media outlets of 

17 the Chesapeake Bay watershed area in advance of 

18 the meeting. 

19 (4) RECORDKEEPING.—Minutes of any meet20 ings of the Commission shall be kept by the Com21 mission. 

22 (5) INITIAL MEETING.—Not later than 30 days 

23 after the date on which all members of the Commis24 sion have been appointed, the Commission shall hold 

25 the initial meeting of the Commission. 
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1 (6) REQUIRED MEETINGS.—The Commission 

2 shall hold not less than 1 meeting in each of—

3 (A) Virginia; 

4 (B) Maryland; and 

5 (C) Pennsylvania. 

6 SEC. 4. DUTIES. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall oversee de8 velopment of a comprehensive implementation plan to ad9 dress—

10 (1) the funding needs for reducing, by not later 

11 than 2010, nutrient pollution loads in the Chesa12 peake Bay to a level sufficient to comply with the 

13 nutrient and sediment reduction goals of the Chesa14 peake 2000 Agreement; 

15 (2) the appropriate responsibilities of the Fed16 eral Government and State and local governments—

17 (A) in financing—

18 (i) sewage treatment plant upgrades; 

19 (ii) agricultural and other nonpoint 

20 source runoff controls; and 

21 (iii) urban stormwater management; 

22 and 

23 (B) in adopting, or facilitating the adop24 tion of, an appropriate variety of financial in-
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1 centives and regulatory measures to achieve 

2 that goal; and 

3 (3) opportunities for enhancing the role of the 

4 private sector in financial support for the restoration 

5 of the Chesapeake Bay, either directly or through 

6 public-private partnerships. 

7 (b) REPORT.—

8 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 

9 the date on which the Commission is established, the 

10 Commission shall submit to the President and Con11 gress a report that contains—

12 (A) a detailed statement of the findings 

13 and conclusions of the Commission, including 

14 recommendations of the Commission for admin15 istrative or legislative actions at the Federal, 

16 State, and local levels that are necessary and 

17 expedient to implement the comprehensive plan 

18 described in section 4(a) to restore the water 

19 quality of the Chesapeake Bay; and 

20 (B) a summary of the public comments re21 ceived in accordance with the notice in para22 graph (2). 

23 (2) NOTICE AND PUBLIC COMMENT.—Before 

24 submitting the report in paragraph (1), the Commis25 sion shall publish in appropriate publications a no-
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1 tice that a draft report is available for public review 

2 and comment. 

3 SEC. 5. POWERS. 

4 (a) INFORMATION FROM FEDERAL AGENCIES.—

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission may secure 

6 directly from a Federal agency such information as 

7 the Commission considers necessary to carry out this 

8 Act. 

9 (2) PROVISION OF INFORMATION.—On request 

10 of the Chairperson of the Commission, the head of 

11 the agency shall provide the information to the Com12 mission. 

13 (b) MULTIDISCIPLINARY SCIENCE AND TECHNICAL

14 ADVISORY PANEL.—

15 (1) IN GENERAL.—To assist the Commission in 

16 carrying out the duties of the Commission under 

17 section 4, the Commission may establish a multi18 disciplinary science and technical advisory panel 

19 composed of members appointed by the Commission 

20 that are experts in—

21 (A) the science and technology of—

22 (i) water quality improvement; or 

23 (ii) sediment and nutrient removal; 

24 and 

25 (B) public financing. 
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1 (2) USE OF BEST AVAILABLE DATA.—The 

2 science advisory panel shall ensure that the scientific 

3 information considered by the Commission is based 

4 on the best available scientific, technical, and public 

5 financing data. 

6 (c) CONTRACTS.—The Commission may, subject to 

7 the availability of appropriations, enter into such contracts 

8 as are necessary to carry out the duties of the Commis9 sion. 

10 (d) STAFF.—

11 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Chairperson of the 

12 Commission may, without regard to the civil service 

13 laws (including regulations), appoint and terminate 

14 an executive director and such other additional per15 sonnel as are necessary to enable the Commission to 

16 perform the duties of the Commission. 

17 (2) CONFIRMATION OF EXECUTIVE DIREC18 TOR.—The employment of an executive director shall 

19 be subject to confirmation by the Commission. 

20 SEC. 6. TERMINATION OF COMMISSION. 

21 The Commission shall terminate 30 days after the 

22 date on which the Commission submits the final report 

23 of the Commission under section 4(b)(1).

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