Appropriates $67,899,900 to the Department of Environmental Quality for fiscal year 2018; limits the number of authorized full-time equivalent positions to 382; transfers $1.5 million from the Water Pollution Control Fund to the Environmental Remediation Basin Fund; expresses legislative intent regarding the Environmental Remediation Basin Fund and requires an annual report; expresses legislative intent regarding uses of the Water Pollution Control Fund; expresses legislative intent regarding certain moneys appropriated for agricultural best management practices; and expresses legislative intent regarding uses of the Hazardous Waste Emergency Fund.

This is the FY 2018 budget for the Department of Environmental Quality in the amount of $19,621,100 from the General Fund, $11,814,500 in dedicated funds, and $36,464,300 in federal funds for a total of $67,899,900. FTPs are capped at 382. The budget includes $318,000 for benefit costs, $662,500 for replacement items, a reduction of $29,000 for statewide cost allocation and $765,400 for a 3% change in employee compensation. It includes six line items. Line item 1 includes funding for 9 FTPs, $895,000 from the General Fund, $280,000 from dedicated funds and a reduction of $75,100 in federal funds for a total of $1,099,900 for the Idaho Pollutant Discharge Elimination System. Line item 2 includes $88,700 for an air quality permitting staff engineer. Line item 3 shifts a portion of the declining federal funding for the underground storage tank program to fees and makes the 1.5 positions permanent, that were funded one-time last session. The fourth line item moves appropriation from operating expenditures to personnel costs and increases the state support to meet the obligations for cleanup of the Coeur d'Alene basin contaminated by mining. The fifth line item incorporates the transfer of $1.5 million from the Water Pollution Control Fund to the Environmental Remediation Fund. These annual transfers are anticipated each year for the next 17 years as we build up the match for cleanup of the Coeur d'Alene Basin. The 6th line item adds $500,000 ongoing General Fund moneys for a statewide agricultural best management program. Over the last four years, the DEQ has experienced a decline of over $1 million in federal 319 funding available for grants to support agricultural best management practices. These grants are matched by farmers and ranchers to reduce sediment and phosphorous in Total Maximum DailyLoadimpairedstreamsandrivers. Thebudgetisan9.6%increaseintheGeneralFund,a4.6%increase in dedicated funds, and a 4.4% decrease in federal funds for a total increase of 0.8% in a