Effective 28 Aug 1992

640.235. Damages received, use, limit, purpose — additional funds used, when — funds transferred, when, how much. — 1. Damages received pursuant to this act shall be used solely for the following purposes, subject to appropriation: Ten percent of each receipt of natural resources damages shall be deposited in the chemical emergency preparedness fund, established under section 292.607, not to exceed one hundred thousand dollars per year from all receipts of natural resources damages.

2. All remaining moneys received from damages after moneys have been made available for chemical emergency preparedness under subsection 1 of this section shall be deposited in the natural resources protection fund created by the provisions of section 640.220 and, subject to appropriation, shall be used solely for the following purposes:

(1) To pay for restoration or rehabilitation of the injured or destroyed natural resources by the state agency bringing the action for damages;

(2) To pay for the development of or restoration of a natural resource similar to that which was damaged or destroyed;

(3) To provide funds for the department of natural resources and the department of conservation for reasonable costs incurred in obtaining an assessment of such injury, destruction, or loss of natural resources, including expenses.

3. In addition, moneys in this fund may be used in conjunction with other funds, such as the hazardous waste fund created by the provisions of section 260.391, only for the purposes of subdivisions (1), (2) and (3) of subsection 1 of this section, except that sums recovered by the state under the provisions of Title 42, United States Code, part 9607(f), shall be available for use only to restore, replace or acquire the equivalent of such natural resources by the state.

4. Moneys in the subaccount referred to in section 640.220 may be transferred to the conservation commission fund as reimbursement for expenses incurred by the department of conservation in evaluating or rehabilitating natural resource damage and as reimbursement for damages directly attributable to wildlife, fisheries and forestry resources of the state of Missouri and caused by the specific incident for which natural resources damages were received.

5. Notwithstanding the provisions of section 33.080 to the contrary, moneys in the subaccount shall not be transferred to general revenue at the end of each biennium, except that any amount in the subaccount in excess of two million dollars at the end of each biennium may be transferred to general revenue by appropriation.

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(L. 1990 H.B. 1669, A.L. 1992 S.B. 480)