ARTICLE III. THE COMMISSION

     b. Each Commission member is entitled to one vote. Except as otherwise specifically provided in this compact, an action of the Commission is binding if a majority of the total membership casts its vote in the affirmative. A party state may direct its member or alternate member of the Commission how to vote or not vote on matters before the Commission.

     c. The Commission shall elect annually from among its members a chairperson. The Commission shall adopt and publish, in convenient form, bylaws and policies which are not inconsistent with this compact, including procedures for the use of binding arbitration under Article VI(o) of this compact and procedures which substantially conform with the provisions of the Federal Administrative Procedure Act (5 U.S.C. ss. 500 to 559) in regard to notice, conduct and recording of meetings; access by the public to records; provision of information to the public; conduct of adjudicatory hearings; and issuance of decisions.

     d. The Commission shall meet at least once annually and shall also meet upon the call of the chairperson or any other Commission member.

     e. All meetings of the Commission shall be open to the public with reasonable advance notice. The Commission may, by majority vote, close a meeting to the public for the purpose of considering sensitive personnel or legal strategy matters. However, all Commission actions and decisions shall be made in open meetings and appropriately recorded.

     f. The Commission may establish advisory committees for the purpose of advising the Commission on any matters pertaining to waste management.

     g. The office of the Commission shall be in a party state. The Commission may appoint or contract for and compensate such limited staff necessary to carry out its duties and functions. The staff shall have the responsibilities and authority delegated to it by the Commission in its bylaws. The staff shall serve at the Commission’s pleasure with the exception that staff hired as the result of securing federal funds shall be hired and governed under applicable federal statutes and regulations. In selecting any staff, the Commission shall assure that the staff has adequate experience and formal training to carry out the functions assigned to it by the Commission.

     h. The Commission may do any or all of the following:

1. Appear as an intervenor or party in interest before any court of law or any federal, state or local agency, board or commission in any matter related to waste management. In order to represent its views, the Commission may arrange for any expert testimony, reports, evidence or other participation.

2. Review any emergency closing of a compact facility, determine the appropriateness of that closing, and take whatever lawful actions are necessary to ensure that the interests of the region are protected.

3. Take any action which is appropriate and necessary to perform its duties and functions as provided in this compact.

4. Approve the disposal of naturally occurring and accelerator produced radioactive material at a compact facility. The Commission shall not approve the acceptance of such material without first making an explicit determination of the effect of the new waste stream on the compact facility’s maximum capacity. Such approval requires the affirmative vote of a majority of the Commission, including the affirmative vote of the member from the host state of the compact facility that would accept the material for disposal. Any such host state may, at any time, rescind its vote granting the approval and, thereafter, additional naturally occurring and accelerator produced radioactive material shall not be disposed of at a compact facility unless the disposal is again approved. All provisions of this compact apply to the disposal of naturally occurring and accelerator produced radioactive material that has been approved for disposal at a compact waste facility pursuant to Article III(h)(4) of this compact.

5. Enter into contracts in order to perform its duties and functions as provided in this compact.

6. When approved by the Commission, with the member from each host state in which an affected compact facility is operating or being developed or constructed voting in the affirmative, enter into agreements to do any of the following:

a. Import for disposal within the region, waste generated outside the region.

b. Export for disposal outside the region, waste generated inside the region.

c. Dispose of waste generated within the region at a facility within the region that is not a compact facility.

7. Authorize a host state to permanently close a compact facility located within its borders earlier than otherwise would be required by Article VI(i) of this compact. Such a closing requires the affirmative vote of a majority of the Commission, including the affirmative vote of the member from the state in which the affected compact facility is located.

     i. The Commission shall do all of the following:

1. Submit an annual report to, and otherwise communicate with, the governors and the appropriate officers of the legislative bodies of the party states regarding the activities of the Commission.

2. Adopt and amend, by a two-thirds vote of the membership, in accordance with the procedures and criteria developed pursuant to Article IV of this compact a regional disposal plan which designates host states for the establishment of needed compact facilities.

3. Adopt an annual budget.

4. Establish and implement a procedure for determining the capacity of a compact facility. The capacity of a compact facility shall be established as soon as reasonably practical after the host state of the facility is designated and shall not be changed thereafter without the consent of the host state. The capacity of a compact facility shall be based on the projected volume, radioactive characteristics, or both, of the waste to be disposed of at the facility during the period set forth in Article VI(i) of this compact.

5. Provide a host state with funds necessary to pay reasonable development expenses incurred by the host state after it is designated to host a compact facility.

6. Establish and implement procedures for making payments from the remedial action fund provided for in Article III(p) of this compact.

7. Establish and implement procedures to investigate any complaint joined in by two or more party states regarding another party state’s performance of its obligations under this compact.

8. Adopt policies promoting source reduction and the environmentally sound treatment of waste in order to minimize the amount of waste to be disposed of at compact facilities.

9. Establish and implement procedures for obtaining information from generators regarding the volume and characteristics of waste projected to be disposed of at compact facilities and regarding generator activities with respect to source reduction, recycling, and treatment of waste.

10. Prepare annual reports regarding the volume and characteristics of waste projected to be disposed of at compact facilities.

     j. Funding for the Commission shall be provided as follows:

1. When no compact facility is operating, the Commission may assess fees to be collected from generators of waste in the region. The fees shall be reasonable and equitable. The Commission shall establish and implement procedures for assessing and collecting the fees. The procedures may allow the assessing of fees against less than all generators of waste in the region; provided that if fees are assessed against less than all generators of waste in the region, generators paying the fees shall be reimbursed the amount of the fees, with reasonable interest, out of the revenues of operating compact facilities.

2. When a compact facility is operating, funding for the Commission shall be provided through a surcharge collected by the host state as part of the fee system provided for in Article VI(j) of this compact. The surcharge to be collected by the host state shall be determined by the Commission and shall be reasonable and equitable.

3. In the aggregate, the fees or surcharges, as the case may be, shall be no more than is necessary to:

a. cover the annual budget of the Commission;

b. provide a host state with the funds necessary to pay reasonable development expenses incurred by the host state after it is designated to host a compact facility;

c. provide moneys for deposit in the remedial action fund established pursuant to Article III(p) of this compact; and

d. provide moneys to be added to an inadequately funded long-term care fund as provided in Article VI(o) of this compact.

     k. Financial statements of the Commission shall be prepared according to generally accepted accounting principles. The Commission shall contract with an independent certified public accountant to annually audit its financial statements and to submit an audit report to the Commission. The audit report shall be made a part of the annual report of the Commission required by Article III of this compact.

     l. The Commission may accept for any of its purposes and functions and may utilize and dispose of any donations, grants of money, equipment, supplies, materials and services from any state or the United States (or any subdivision or agency thereof) or interstate agency, or from any institution, person, firm, or corporation. The nature, amount and condition, if any, attendant upon any donation or grant accepted or received by the Commission together with the identity of the donor, grantor or lender, shall be detailed in the annual report of the Commission.

     m. The Commission is a legal entity separate and distinct from the party states. Members of the Commission and its employees are not personally liable for actions taken by them in their official capacity. The Commission is not liable or otherwise responsible for any costs, expenses, or liabilities resulting from the development, construction, operation, regulation, closing, or long-term care of any compact facility or any noncompact facility made available to the region by any contract or agreement entered into by the Commission under Article III(h)(6) of this compact. Nothing in Article III(m) of this compact relieves the Commission of its obligations under Article III of this compact or under contracts to which it is a party. Any liabilities of the Commission are not liabilities of the party states.

     n. Final decisions of the Commission shall be made, and shall be subject to judicial review, in accordance with all of the following conditions:

1. Every final decision shall be made at an open meeting of the Commission. Before making a final decision, the Commission shall provide an opportunity for public comment on the matter to be decided. Each final decision shall be reduced to writing and shall set forth the Commission’s reasons for making the decision.

2. Before making a final decision, the Commission may conduct an adjudicatory hearing on the proposed decision.

3. Judicial review of a final decision shall be initiated by filing a petition in the United States district court for the district in which the person seeking the review resides or in which the Commission’s office is located not later than sixty days after issuance of the Commission’s written decision. Concurrently with filing the petition for review with the court, the petitioner shall serve a copy of the petition on the Commission. Within five days after receiving a copy of the petition, the Commission shall mail a copy of it to each party state and to all other persons who have notified the Commission of their desire to receive copies of such petitions. Any failure of the Commission to so mail copies of the petition does not affect the jurisdiction of the reviewing court. Except as otherwise provided in Article III(n)(3) of this compact, standing to obtain judicial review of final decisions of the Commission and the form and scope of the review are subject to and governed by 5 U.S.C.A. 706.

4. If a party state seeks judicial review of a final decision of the Commission that does any of the following, the facts shall be subject to trial de novo by the reviewing court unless trial de novo of the facts is affirmatively waived in writing by the party state:

a. Imposes financial penalties on a party state.

b. Suspends the right of a party state to have waste generated within its borders disposed of at a compact facility or at a noncompact facility made available to the region by an agreement entered into by the Commission under Article III(h)(6) of this compact.

c. Terminates the designation of a party state as a host state.

d. Revokes the membership of a party state in this compact.

e. Establishes the amounts of money that a party state that has withdrawn from this compact or had its membership in this compact revoked is required to pay under Article VIII(e) of this compact.

Any such trial de novo of the facts shall be governed by the federal Rules of Civil Procedure and the federal Rules of Evidence.

5. Preliminary, procedural, or intermediate actions by the Commission that precede a final decision are subject to review only in conjunction with review of the final decision.

6. Except as provided in Article III(n)(5) of this compact, actions of the Commission that are not final decisions are not subject to judicial review.

     o. Unless approved by a majority of the Commission, with the member from each host state in which an affected compact facility is operating or is being developed or constructed voting in the affirmative, no person shall do any of the following:

1. Import waste generated outside the region for management within the region.

2. Export waste generated within the region for disposal outside the region.

3. Manage waste generated outside the region at a facility within the region.

4. Dispose of waste generated within the region at a facility within the region that is not a compact facility.

     p. The Commission shall establish a remedial action fund to pay the costs of reasonable remedial actions taken by a party state if an event results from the development, construction, operation, closing, or long-term care of a compact facility that poses a threat to human health, safety, or welfare or to the environment. The amount of the remedial action fund shall be adequate to pay the costs of all reasonably foreseeable remedial actions. A party state shall notify the Commission as soon as reasonably practical after the occurrence of any event that may require the party state to take a remedial action. The failure of a party state to so notify the Commission does not limit the rights of the party state under Article III(p) of this compact.

     If the moneys in the remedial action fund are inadequate to pay the costs of reasonable remedial actions, the amount of the deficiency is a liability with respect to which generators shall provide indemnification under Article VII(g) of this compact. Generators who provide the required indemnification have the rights of contribution provided in Article VII(g) of this compact. Article III(p) of this compact applies to any remedial action taken by a party state regardless of whether the party state takes the remedial action on its own initiative or because it is required to do so by a court or regulatory agency of competent jurisdiction.

     q. If the Commission makes payment from the remedial action fund provided for in Article III(p) of this compact, the Commission is entitled to obtain reimbursement under applicable rules of law from any person who is responsible for the event giving rise to the remedial action. Such reimbursement may be obtained from a party state only if the event giving rise to the remedial action resulted from the activities of that party state as a generator of waste.

     r. If this compact is dissolved, all moneys held by the Commission shall be used first to pay for any ongoing or reasonably anticipated remedial actions. Any remaining moneys shall be distributed in a fair and equitable manner to those party states that have operating or closed compact facilities within their borders and shall be added to the long-term care funds maintained by those party states.

[Pre-1996 Recodification Citation: 13-5-9-3.]

As added by P.L.1-1996, SEC.19. Amended by P.L.131-1996, SEC.4.