Old Business The following four old business items were continued from the February 9th Work Session and March 6th Wednesday Agenda Meeting. Joe Vogel (Compliance & Enforcement), Ann McGinley (Compliance & Enforcement), John Young (Compliance & Enforcement), and Sharon Smith (Legal - Litigation Support) presented the issues.

1. Consideration of issues related to the Calculation of Administrative Penalties. The Commissioners expressed support of the workgroup's activities, but stated that they would like to avoid removing all of the flexibility from penalty calculations and that a matrix approach accomplishes this. The Commissioners also stated that staff should not consider the size of an entity in determining the base penalty. The size of a facility and ability to pay should be considered after the base penalty calculation and/or during negotiations. Staff were also directed to treat administrative penalties alike when feasible and to focus on the party's conduct first and foremost. Staff should also take into account "good faith efforts" from the point when an entity both knows there's a violation and takes action. The Executive Director made the point that permit language sometimes doesn't lend itself to self-awareness among the facilities. The Commissioners asked that staff limit the period of negotiation, require violators to pay for both compliance and any penalties when they can afford to do so, make sure that issues remain on an independent track, and continue the automatic 30% reduction for prompt payment. The use of penalties as a negotiating tool for settlement probably does not best serve the goal of correcting problems and preventing further pollution. Penalties should be kept separate from corrective action. The Commissioners stated that compliance history (repeat, like violations) should drive the decision of how to deal with the offense. The Commissioners individually may visit with John Riley (Legal - Litigation Support) regarding the idea of providing parties involved with enforcement orders with their compliance files prior to Agenda Meetings.

2. Consideration of issues related to Constraints on Enforcement Due to Federal Program Delegation/Authority. Because this issue was scheduled for briefing purposes only, the Commissioners chose not to take it up.

3. Consideration of issues related to Use of Bi-Lateral Compliance Agreements. The Commissioners directed staff to standardize these agreements across programs and to require signatures for such agreements.

4. Consideration of issues related to Environmental Audits and Compliance Management Systems. The Commissioners directed staff to track the progress under HB 2473 a little longer before making any decision on extending penalty mitigation to other methods of detection and associated self-disclosures.

1. Consideration of the Commissioners' priorities on rule and policy development. The Commissioners chose to take this item up in conjunction with item #4.

2. Consideration of issues related to Concrete Batch Plants. The Commissioners chose to take this issue up at a future Work Session.

3. Consideration of issues related to the proposed incentive to promote the use of Tire Shreds in Liner Systems for Municipal Solid Waste Landfills. This issue was resolved by the Commissioners during the March 20th Wednesday Agenda Meeting, negating the need for a Work Session discussion.

4. Planning for the next Commissioners' Work Session. The next Commissioners' Work Session is scheduled to be held in E-201S at the conclusion of the Wednesday Agenda Meeting on April 3rd. The Commissioners are tentatively scheduled to address the NPDES issue that was continued as old business from the March 20th Wednesday Agenda Meeting. Legal's Sharon Smith will prepare and deliver the necessary briefing materials for this Work Session, rather than OPRD. The Commissioners also scheduled Work Sessions for April 19th and April 29th. Finally, the Commissioners revised the list of issues waiting to be scheduled for future Work Sessions. "Texas Mesonet" was moved to a Wednesday Agenda Meeting in April. The "Communication/Incorporation of Regulatory Changes," "Speculative Permits," and "Houston/Galveston AERCO/SEPs" were eliminated from the list. "MACT Standards" was referred to the Executive Director for possible resolution. "Health Effects Modeling" and "General Standard Exemptions" were added to the list.