2001 Senate Bill 152 ↩

House Roll Call 297: Passed

To prohibit any new state grants, loans, or awards administered by the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) from going to the owners, operators, or companies that contract with any ship not on a list to be compiled by the department of vessels complying with certain specified ballast water management practices devised by industry groups. The legislation is an attempt to address, within the constraints of international treaties and the commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution, the problem of new aquatic nuisance species being introduced into the Great Lakes via ballast water discharged from cargo ships traveling from the oceans to the lakes.