Great Lakes Coordination and Oversight Act of 2006 - Establishes the Great Lakes Interagency Task Force, as created by Executive Order 13340, within the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Establishes the Great Lakes Regional Collaboration, which shall draft a strategy every three years to describe the health of the Great Lakes and to identify Great Lakes restoration goals.
Requires the the Collaboration's Executive Committee to: (1) establish a process for communicating with Collaboration members; (2) work with the Collaboration to develop its strategy; (3) develop a list of goals, identify the level of government that is best able to achieve them, hold semiannual public meetings to discuss them, and receive input relating to them from stakeholder groups; (4) submit to Congress and the Task Force a biennial report on progress in carrying out the restoration and meeting the Collaboration's goals and recommendations and on contributions made by Great Lakes states, municipal partners, and Great Lakes Tribes; and (5) ensure that the Collaboration has balanced representation of stakeholder groups and that its strategy is coordinated with the activities of the Lake Chaplain Basin Program.
Adds as duties of the Task Force to: (1) ensure that implementation of its programs is coordinated, effective, and cost-efficient; (2) submit to Congress a biennial report that describes the Collaboration's activities; (3) establish a regular means of communication with the Collaboration's Executive Committee to exchange information and recommendations for action; and (4) ensure that its activities are coordinated with Lake Chaplain Basin Program activities.
Requires the Administrator of the EPA to evaluate each committee of which the Administrator is a member and office within EPA's jurisdiction that oversees a Great Lakes program to identify overlapping duties and to develop recommendations to improve the efficiency of those committees and offices.
[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2912 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
109th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 2912
To establish the Great Lakes Interagency Task Force, to establish the
Great Lakes Regional Collaboration, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
May 19, 2006
Mr. DeWine (for himself, Mr. Voinovich, Mr. Levin, Ms. Stabenow, and
Mr. Feingold) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and
referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To establish the Great Lakes Interagency Task Force, to establish the
Great Lakes Regional Collaboration, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Great Lakes Coordination and
Oversight Act of 2006''.
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.
In this title:
(1) Collaboration.--The term ``Collaboration'' means the
Great Lakes Regional Collaboration established by section 4(a).
(2) Executive committee.--The term ``Executive Committee''
means the Great Lakes Regional Collaboration Executive
Committee established by section 4(b).
(3) Executive order.--The term ``Executive Order'' means
Executive Order 13340 (33 U.S.C. 1268 note; relating to
establishment of Great Lakes Interagency Task Force and
promotion of regional collaboration of national significance
for Great Lakes).
(4) Great lake.--The term ``Great Lake'' means--
(A) Lake Erie;
(B) Lake Huron (including Lake Saint Clair);
(C) Lake Michigan;
(D) Lake Ontario;
(E) Lake Superior; and
(F) the connecting channels of those Lakes,
including--
(i) the Saint Marys River;
(ii) the Saint Clair River;
(iii) the Detroit River;
(iv) the Niagara River; and
(v) the Saint Lawrence River to the
Canadian border.
(5) Great lakes tribe.--The term ``Great Lakes Tribe''
means any Indian tribe, band, village, nation, or other
organized group or community in the watershed basin of a Great
Lake that is recognized by the Bureau of Indian Affairs as
eligible for the special programs and services provided by the
United States to Indians because of their status as Indians.
(6) Task force.--The term ``Task Force'' means the Great
Lakes Interagency Task Force established by section 3.
SEC. 3. GREAT LAKES INTERAGENCY TASK FORCE.
(a) Interagency Coordination.--The Great Lakes Interagency Task
Force, as established by the Executive Order 13340 for administrative
purposes, is established as a task force within the Environmental
Protection Agency.
(b) Duties.--In addition to the duties described in the Executive
Order, the Task Force shall--
(1) ensure that implementation of programs and projects
under the authority of Task Force members is coordinated,
effective, and cost-efficient;
(2) submit to Congress a biennial report that describes the
projects and activities carried out by the Collaboration during
the 2-year period covered by the report, including a
description of--
(A) any actions that Federal agencies can take to
address the biennial restoration goals;
(B) Federal expenditures to meet the restoration
goals and the amount of non-Federal funding leveraged
by those Federal expenditures; and
(C) the indicators and monitoring used to determine
whether the goals will be met;
(3) establish a regular means of communication with the
Executive Committee to exchange information and recommendations
for action; and
(4) ensure that the activities of the Task Force are
coordinated with the activities of the Lake Champlain Basin
Program.
SEC. 4. GREAT LAKES REGIONAL COLLABORATION.
(a) Establishment.--There is established a Great Lakes Regional
Collaboration.
(1) Membership.--
(A) Composition.--The Collaboration shall be
composed of--
(i) the members of the Executive Committee;
and
(ii) each other individual or entity that
notifies the Executive Committee, in writing,
of the desire and intent of the individual or
entity to participate in the Collaboration.
(B) Balanced representation of stakeholder
groups.--The Collaboration shall have a balanced
representation of interested stakeholder groups,
including--
(i) members of academia;
(ii) municipalities;
(iii) nongovernmental organizations;
(iv) property owners;
(v) recreational boaters;
(vi) recreational fisheries;
(vii) representatives of environmental
interests; and
(viii) representatives of industry.
(2) Duties of the collaboration.--Not later than 3 years
after the date of enactment of this Act, and every 3 years
thereafter, the Collaboration shall draft a strategy using the
best available science--
(A) to describe the health of the Great Lakes; and
(B) to identify Great Lakes restoration goals.
(b) The Executive Committee.--
(1) Composition.--The Executive Committee shall be composed
of--
(A) the Chairperson of the Task Force;
(B) a representative of the Council of Great Lakes
Governors, as agreed upon by the Governors;
(C) a representative of the Great Lakes and Saint
Lawrence Cities Initiative, as agreed upon by the
majority of mayors of those cities; and
(D) a designated representative of the Great Lakes
Tribes, as agreed upon by those Tribes.
(c) Duties.--The Executive Committee shall--
(1) establish a process for communicating with the members
of the Collaboration;
(2) work with the members of the Collaboration to develop a
strategy for the restoration of the Great Lakes as required in
subsection (a)(2);
(3) after completing the strategy, develop a list of short-
term and long-term goals and identify the level of government
that is best able to achieve each goal;
(4) hold semiannual public meetings to discuss--
(A) Great Lakes restoration goals; and
(B) the progress in carrying out those goals;
(5) receive input and consider recommendations relating to
the proposed goals described in paragraph (3) from interested
stakeholder groups described in subsection (a)(1)(B);
(6) submit to the Congress and the Task Force a biennial
report that includes--
(A) an analysis of progress in--
(i) carrying out the restoration of the
Great Lakes; and
(ii) meeting the goals and the
recommendations of the strategy developed by
the Great Lakes Regional Collaboration and
under this Act; and
(B) contributions made by--
(i) Great Lakes States;
(ii) municipal partners; and
(iii) Great Lakes Tribes; and
(7) ensure that--
(A) the Collaboration has a balanced representation
of interested stakeholder groups described in
subsection (a)(1)(B); and
(B) the strategy developed by the Collaboration is
coordinated with the activities of the Lake Champlain
Basin Program.
(d) Subcommittees.--The members of the Executive Committee may
designate representatives to work as 1 or more subcommittees to provide
staff support and otherwise assist in carrying out responsibilities of
the Executive Committee relating to the Collaboration.
SEC. 5. EFFICIENCY EVALUATIONS OF COMMITTEES AND OFFICES.
The Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency shall
evaluate each committee and office that oversees a Great Lakes
program--
(1) to identify overlapping duties; and
(2) to develop recommendations to improve the efficiency of
those committees and offices.
<all>
Introduced in Senate
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
Committee on Environment and Public Works. Ordered to be reported with an amendment favorably.
Committee on Environment and Public Works. Reported by Senator Inhofe with an amendment. With written report No. 109-338.
Committee on Environment and Public Works. Reported by Senator Inhofe with an amendment. With written report No. 109-338.
Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 618.
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