State water program reorganization project

The Water Agency Reorganization Plan is part of the Omnibus Agriculture and Environment funding act of the 2001 Special Session. This provision directs the Office of Strategic and Long-Range Planning (Minnesota Planning) to develop and present to the Legislature a plan to reorganize state water programs and functions. The Water Resources Committee of the Environmental Quality Board will direct development of the plan. The proposed reorganization is designed to ensure regulatory efficiency and program effectiveness by coordinating all efforts with the state water plan, assigning similar programs and functions to a single agency where appropriate, and avoiding inherent conflicts of interest between agency programs and missions.

The legislation requires three products:

1) A chart showing all agency water programs was delivered to the Legislature on August 15, 2001. Project Summary. (see above)

2) The preliminary report, with proposed changes, is due on November 15, 2001.

3) The final report, including legislative language, is due on February 15, 2002.

Input has been solicited from the basin teams working on the Governor’s Water Unification Initiative. Input received by the end of September 2001 will be reflected in the preliminary reorganization report due in November 2001. Progress on water reorganization will be reported in subsequent water reports, which are due to the Legislature in all even-numbered years