[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>