A controversial bill that could have restricted environmental regulators’ abilities to react to crises was struck down last week in the wake of the Flint water crisis.
Gov. Mike Pence vetoed House Bill 1082, called “No More Stringent Than,” on Thursday, and cited public concern about water safety.
“Our Indiana Department of Environmental Management is vigilant about requiring regular testing of water systems across the state for lead and working with any systems that are out of compliance to implement plans that will return the water to safe levels,” Pence said in a statement. “IDEM must have the necessary flexibility.”
The original version of the bill would have stopped IDEM from passing any environmental regulations that are more stringent than federal regulations.
Pence said the bill would over-restrict IDEM and delay its rule-making process.
HB 1082, written by Rep. David Wolkins, R-Winona Lake, went through several changes during the legislative session.
Sen. Ed Charbonneau, R-Valparaiso, chair of the Senate Committee on Environmental Affairs, oversaw much of the reworking.
Charbonneau said although the final draft of the bill allowed IDEM to respond to environmental crises, Pence’s concerns overruled the changes.
“Looming in the background of all of this is what went on in Flint, Michigan,” he said. “The governor has always been concerned with the ability to react to an emergency.”
The Senate committee removed the “more stringent than” language from the bill as well as most of the restrictions.
After the two versions of the bill were resolved, the final draft called for IDEM to report new regulations to the General Assembly for review.
Charbonneau said he opposed the “no more stringent than” language because he was not “comfortable with a state giving up its rights” to the federal government.
He said he thought the reworked bill had appeased both environmentalists and interested businesses, while reaffirming the legislature’s responsibility to make policy and IDEM’s job of carrying it out.
“But when it all totally got to the governor’s desk, he was concerned about the publicity of signing something like that,” Charbonneau said.
The Hoosier Environmental Council opposed the bill throughout the legislative session.
Jesse Kharbanda, the executive director for the HEC, said his organization was pleased Pence vetoed the bill and hoped it won’t re-emerge next session.
HB 1082 was intended to stop environmental regulators from infringing on businesses’ rights, which Kharbanda said has never been a problem.
The IDEM has never overreached its authority, Kharbanda said, as existing legislature is full of checks on its ability to impose regulations on businesses.
“This bill is just intensely divisive,” Kharbanda said. “We, as an organization, do not know what problem it’s trying to solve.”
He said the lead found in Flint’s water likely convinced senators to keep IDEM relatively free of legislative constraints.
“In the backdrop of these drinking water episodes in other states ... I think that implicitly signaled sensitivity to the fact that it’s not a good idea to weaken Indiana’s experts from doing their jobs,” Kharbanda said.
Kharbanda and Charbonneau both acknowledged the Republican-controlled General Assembly could call a special session to override Pence’s veto.
But Kharbanda said that move seemed unlikely because there are campaigns and work outside the legislative session to focus on.
Kharbanda said continuing to debate the bill was an “unwise expenditure of taxpayer money.”
“We’ve got some really tangible environmental issues in our state,” he said. “If the environment community and business community got together, we could begin solving these things.”
