Section 2: Fees for use of dispensing facilities and underground storage tanks
Section 2. (A) A fee is hereby imposed on the use of a dispensing facility at the site of delivery of petroleum product. The fee imposed under this paragraph shall be adjusted at the beginning of each calendar year, by the percentage, if any, by which the consumer price index, as defined in section 1 of the Internal Revenue Code, pursuant to 26 U.S.C. section 1, for the preceding year exceeds the consumer price index for the calendar year that ends before such preceding year. Each owner or operator of a bulk facility on delivery of petroleum product to a dispensing facility shall collect from the person who orders or requests the delivery a fee in an amount of $50 for each delivery. The person delivering the petroleum product shall be responsible to the department for the collection of such fee and in the event it is unable to recover such fee from the person who ordered such petroleum product, such person delivering petroleum product shall nonetheless remit to the department the fee associated with such delivery. In the event of split-load or partial deliveries to dispensing facilities from the same tanker truck, this fee may be prorated among the dispensing facilities receiving such deliveries.
A fee is hereby imposed on the use or maintenance of an underground storage tank used to store petroleum product or any fraction thereof, except waste oil, at a dispensing facility. Each owner of an underground storage tank used to store petroleum products or any fraction thereof, except waste oil, at a dispensing facility shall annually pay to the department, as the holder of the list of registered underground storage tanks storing petroleum and other materials, a fee of $250 per tank. For the purposes hereof, each tank in an underground storage tank system shall be considered a separate underground storage tank. The department by regulation shall establish procedures for the collection of such delivery fee and such annual fee based on bills prepared and mailed by the department simultaneously to all owners and operators obligated to pay such fee.
(B) The board shall semi-annually review the adequacy of the aforementioned fees and shall by regulation adjust said fees to meet the financial needs of the fund. Within five days of approving any adjustment to a fee the board shall file said adjustment with the clerk of the house of representatives and the senate while the general court is in session, and said adjustment shall take effect within thirty days of such filing unless the general court has passed a resolve disapproving such a fee adjustment. Any such adjustments to be made for a reporting period shall be published in the Massachusetts register.
(C) In accordance with regulations to be promulgated hereunder, the fees shall be collected, reported and paid to the department as a separate line item entry, from time to time, by owners and operators charged with the collection, reporting and payment of gasoline and special fuels taxes pursuant to chapter 64A, 64E, and 64F, and such persons may be subject to audit by the department. The department shall deposit the receipts from the delivery fee imposed under the first paragraph of subsection (A) as follows: (i) the first $30,000,000 in receipts in a fiscal year shall be deposited into the Underground Storage Tank Petroleum Product Cleanup Fund established in section 2BBBBB of chapter 29; and (ii) the remainder shall be deposited into the Commonwealth Transportation Fund established in section 2ZZZ of said chapter 29. The department shall deposit the receipts from the annual storage tank fee imposed under the second paragraph of said subsection (A) into the General Fund. The department shall submit a monthly report to the board listing revenues generated by the delivery fees and the annual storage tank fees for the previous month and outlays from the fund, including reimbursements, agency appropriations and third party claims issued during the previous month.
[There is no subsection (D).]
(E) The fees established in this section shall not apply to a delivery of a petroleum product to distributors of petroleum products destined for export from this state that is delivered by a bulk facility owner or operator to a common or contract carrier or an oceangoing vessel including a ship, barge, or tanker, if the petroleum product is in continuous movement to a destination outside this state, or sales or deliveries to the United States Government, or sales or deliveries to the commonwealth or any of its political subdivisions.