HARRY HUGHES, Governor                             2847

beginning July 1 immediately preceding. The collection of
license fees for any one year may not exceed the sum of
$250,000. Any excess over $250,000 shall be credited or
refunded to the licensees on a prorated basis.

(d) As a condition precedent to the issuance or
renewal of a license, the Department of [Health and Mental
Hygiene] NATURAL RESOURCES shall require satisfactory
evidence that the applicant has implemented or is in the
process of implementing State and federal plans and
regulations to control pollution related to oil, petroleum
products, and their by-products and the abatement thereof
when a discharge occurs.

(f)  There is a Maryland Oil Disaster Containment,
Clean-up and Contingency Fund for the Department to use to
develop equipment, personnel, and plans; for contingency
actions to respond to, contain, clean-up, and remove from
the land and waters of the State discharges of oil,
petroleum products, and their by-products into, upon, or
adjacent to the waters of the State; and restore natural
resources damaged by discharges. The cost of containment,
clean-up, removal, and restoration shall be reimbursed to
the State by the person responsible for the discharge. The
reimbursement shall be credited to the Fund. The Fund shall
be limited to the sum of $1,000,000. To this sum shall be
credited every license fee, fine, if imposed by the circuit
court for any county or the Criminal Court of Baltimore, as
the case may be, and any other charge related to this
subtitle. To this Fund shall be charged every expense the
Department of [Health and Mental Hygiene] NATURAL RESOURCES
has which relates to this section.

(g)  Money in the Fund not needed currently to meet the
Department of [Health and Mental Hygiene's] NATURAL
RESOURCES' obligations in the exercise of its responsibility
under this section shall be deposited with the State
Treasurer to the credit of the Fund, and may be invested as
provided by law. Interest received on the investment shall
be credited to the Fund. The Secretary of [Health and Mental
Hygiene] NATURAL RESOURCES shall determine the proper
allocation of the moneys credited to the Fund only for the
following purposes:

(1)  Administrative expenses, personnel expenses,
and equipment costs of the Department related to the
purposes of this section.

(2)  Prevention, control, containment, clean-up,
and removal of discharges into, upon, or adjacent to waters
of the State of discharges of oil, petroleum products and
their by-products, and the restoration of natural resources
damaged by such discharges.

(3)  Development of containment and clean-up
equipment, plans, and procedures in accordance with the
purposes of this section.