(a) On or before April 1 of each year, the following persons shall report the total amount of such hazardous wastes generated or accepted to the Director of the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality, except as provided in this section, on forms prescribed by the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality:

(1) Every person who generated hazardous wastes in Arkansas during the preceding year; and

(2) Every person who accepted for treatment, storage, or disposal in Arkansas during the preceding year hazardous wastes generated outside the state.

(b) (1) (A) Except as provided in this section, there is assessed a fee to be collected by the department upon every person who generated hazardous wastes in Arkansas or who accepted hazardous wastes generated outside of the state which were subsequently received for treatment, storage, or disposal in Arkansas based upon the combined total of such wastes as are required to be reported pursuant to subsection (a) of this section.

(B) The fees shall be calculated and paid according to a schedule to be adopted by regulation of the Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission, not to exceed a maximum of ten thousand dollars ($10,000) annually per facility.

(2)

(A) No person shall be required to pay fees based on the quantity of hazardous wastes generated when such wastes are managed in a totally enclosed treatment facility, an elementary neutralization unit, or a wastewater treatment unit, or when the wastes are otherwise excluded by regulation from inclusion in a facility's determination of its compliance status or category as a generator.

(B) Any person who has paid such fees for wastes generated in 1997 or later years shall be entitled to a refund upon application for a refund.

(C) The department shall calculate the amount of fee refund due and provide the applicant with a copy of the calculation.

(D) The department shall promptly pay any refund due from the Hazardous Substance Remedial Action Trust Fund.

(c) On or before July 1 of each year, each person subject to subsection (a) of this section shall pay to the department the fee required by subsection (b) of this section.

(d) To the extent practicable, the department shall coordinate the reporting requirements of this section with the reporting requirements of the Arkansas Hazardous Waste Management Act of 1979, § 8-7-201 et seq., and the regulations adopted thereunder. The content of the reporting shall be consistent with federal reporting requirements pursuant to the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976, 42 U.S.C. § 6901 et seq., in all respects with the exception of frequency.

(e) The department shall prepare annually a statement of all revenues collected by the fees hereunder, as well as all other revenues to the fund, and all expenditures therefrom and obligations thereof and the current balance in the fund.