39-8106. BASIN PROJECT COMMISSION — ESTABLISHMENT — COMPOSITION — POWERS — DUTIES — FUNDING. (1) The basin environmental improvement project commission is hereby created and shall become operational when the director of the department of environmental quality, by execution of an appropriate order, determines that:

(a) Significant funds from any source have been provided to the basin improvement fund and financing authority; or

(b) Any one (1) or more agreements or compacts have been entered into between the state of Idaho and the state of Washington, the Coeur d’Alene tribe or the United States of America providing for participation in the basin project commission and financing authority.

(2) Any agreement or compact providing for participation in the basin project commission and financing authority shall be consistent with the terms of this chapter.

(3) The board of commissioners of the basin project commission shall include one (1) representative of the state of Idaho and one (1) representative from each of the county commissions of Shoshone, Kootenai and Benewah counties of the state of Idaho as appointed by the governor of the state of Idaho. Upon participation of the state of Washington, the Coeur d’Alene tribe or the United States of America through agreement or compact, the board of commissioners shall also include, according to such participation: one (1) representative of the state of Washington appointed by the governor of Washington; one (1) tribal council member of the Coeur d’Alene tribe appointed by the council of the Coeur d’Alene tribe; and one (1) representative of the United States of America appointed by the president of the United States of America.

(4) The commission shall act by majority vote except that the vote of any commissioner representative of the state of Idaho, the Coeur d’Alene tribe or the United States of America, or the unanimous vote of all three (3) commissioners representing Shoshone, Kootenai and Benewah counties, may veto any majority vote, in which event the action is not valid. The fiduciary duties of each commissioner shall be to their respective federal, tribal, state, or local governmental entity and such duties shall not disqualify any commissioner from full participation in any commission action. The commission may establish an advisory group to provide local citizen input to the commission in the performance of its duties. The commission shall distribute and publish a public involvement policy, to include procedures to assure adherence to the open meeting law and the public records act.

(5) The commission shall adopt as the basin project workplan a record of decisions approved pursuant to the federal comprehensive environmental responsibility compensation and liability act of 1980 (CERCLA), as amended, by the environmental protection agency of the United States of America, the department of environmental quality of the state of Idaho and, upon its participation, the Coeur d’Alene tribe, for environmental remediation and related measures pertaining to contamination by heavy metals in the basin. Amendment of the basin project workplan shall be made by the commission upon approval of the United States environmental protection agency, the Idaho department of environmental quality and the Coeur d’Alene tribe.

(6) The commission shall, to the extent that funds are available from the financing authority and any other source, implement the basin project workplan.

(7) The commission may select institutional control measures in implementation of the basin project workplan. The measures shall be adopted and implemented by appropriate local and tribal governments as a condition of remediation or restoration activities within those jurisdictions.

(8) The commission shall appoint an executive director to administer the basin project.

(9) The commission shall annually fix and determine, consistent with the basin project workplan and its schedule, the priorities of the basin project, the amount of money required from the financing authority, federal grants and taxation for implementing the basin project priorities including costs of construction and other activities, costs of operation and maintenance of the work, equipment of the basin project, and costs of administration.

(10) The commission shall have, within the basin, the authority of a board of commissioners of a flood control district as provided in chapter 31, title 42, Idaho Code, and the authority of a board of commissioners of a drainage district as provided in chapters 29 and 30, title 42, Idaho Code.

(11) The commission shall have the following powers and duties which may be exercised through the executive director of the basin project commission:

(a) To employ personnel as may be necessary to carry out the purposes and objectives of the basin project commission;

(b) To sue and be sued in the name of the basin project commission and to make and execute contracts and other instruments necessary or convenient to the exercise of its power;

(c) To manage and conduct the business and affairs of the basin project commission, both within and without the basin;

(d) To design, construct, operate and maintain structural works and actions as provided by the basin project workplan or procure or contract for the performance of those works and actions or portions thereof by any local, state, tribal or federal governmental entity or any private entity or individual;

(e) To prescribe the duties of officers, agents and employees as may be required;

(f) To establish the fiscal year of the basin project commission, to keep records of all business transactions of the basin project commission and to provide an annual public accounting of all expenditures;

(g) To obtain options upon and acquire by purchase, exchange, lease, gift, grant, bequest, devise, or otherwise, any real or personal property, and improve any properties acquired; to receive income from properties and to expend the income in carrying out the purposes and provisions of the basin project commission; and to lease any of its property or interest therein in furtherance of the purposes and provisions of the basin project commission;

(h) To convey rights-of-way and easements for highways, public roads, public utilities, and for other purposes, over basin project property, as shall be determined by the commission to be in the best interests of the basin project;

(i) To convey by deed, bill of sale, or other appropriate instrument all of the estate and interest of the basin project commission, in any real or personal property;

(j) To enter into contracts or agreements with the United States of America or any of its agencies, the states of Idaho or Washington or any of their agencies or political subdivisions or the Coeur d’Alene tribe or any of its agencies or subdivisions or private entities or individuals and to cooperate with those governments, agencies, subdivisions, private entities or individuals in effectuating, promoting and accomplishing the purposes of the basin project;

(k) To bear its allocated share of the cost of any project resulting from any contract or agreement entered into as provided in this chapter;

(l) To assume, administer and maintain pursuant to any agreement or contract entered into in accordance with this chapter any environmental remediation or restoration measure within the basin undertaken by or in cooperation with the United States of America or any of its agencies, the states of Idaho or Washington or any of their agencies or subdivisions, or the Coeur d’Alene tribe or any of its agencies or subdivisions, or any combinations thereof;

(m) To accept donations, gifts and contributions in money, services, materials, or otherwise, from the United States of America or any of its agencies, or the states of Idaho or Washington or any of their agencies or political subdivisions, or the Coeur d’Alene tribe or any of its agencies or subdivisions, or private entities or individuals, or any combinations thereof, and to expend such moneys, services, or materials in carrying on its operations;

(n) To exercise all other powers necessary or helpful in carrying out the purposes and provisions of the basin project commission as provided in this chapter and by agreements or compacts between the states of Idaho and Washington, the Coeur d’Alene tribe and the United States of America.

History:

[39-8106, added 2001, ch. 371, sec. 2, p. 1299; am. 2002, ch. 39, sec. 1, p. 87; am. 2003, ch. 220, sec. 1, p. 570.]