SALEM — Lawmakers are moving forward with a bill allowing Oregon environmental regulators to increase certain fees without legislative approval while scrapping a similar proposal for another agency.

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality could hike fees up to 3% a year for certain water-related permits without permission from the Legislature under House Bill 3208.

“When these adjustments are not made on a routine basis to keep pace with increased costs over time, programs do not receive sufficient revenue unless we reduce staffing and associated services — which can affect our ability to issue quality permits in a timely manner,” said Rian Hooff, DEQ’s senior policy and legislative analyst.

The Senate Natural Resources Committee is considering the bill, which passed the House 34-23 last month despite the concerns of some lawmakers.

While the 3% annual increases allowed under HB 3208 appear “benign,” the proposal concerns lawmakers who believe they should retain authority over fee increases, said Rep. Mark Owens, R-Crane.

The ability of farmers and others to pay for increasingly expensive fees is also worrisome, Owens said. “Some of these permit fees are going to price takers who don’t have the luxury of increasing their income by 3% or the cost of inflation.”

The DEQ already has the authority to increase some fees through an administrative process and HB 3208 would expand that list to include additional permits, such as those for septic systems and dredging and filling.

Lawmakers who support the bill say it’s better to allow DEQ to incrementally raise fees to avoid major jumps.

Faced with asking for money amid political resistance, regulators may delay such requests until they’re forced to seek substantial hikes.

“They put these off and then you have a crisis at the end,” said Rep. Pam Marsh, D-Ashland.

The same logic compelled the Oregon Department of State Lands to support House Bill 2238, which would allow the agency to administratively increase fees for fill-removal projects in wetlands and waterways.

Farmers may require fill-removal permits for such activities as replacing tide gates and culverts or reinforcing stream banks to avoid erosion of their land.

Fees collected by DSL for such permits only pay for about 25% of the program’s administrative costs, said Bill Ryan, the agency’s deputy director.

Permits are based on the amount of material moved and don’t correspond well with the amount of work required of DSL officials, he said. The maximum fill-removal permit fee is $1,470.

“That doesn’t give you very much staff time for a controversial or complex project,” Ryan said.

Government regulations over wetlands and waterways are convoluted, with some activities requiring permits from DSL if they occur in state waterways and wetlands.

Other activities are exempt from permitting or overseen by state farm regulators.

Dredge and fill permits, meanwhile, are required from DEQ acting under the federal government’s jurisdiction for certain national waters.

The fill-removal fees charged by DSL can already be raised to track inflation without legislative approval, but that authority hasn’t proven sufficient, said Ryan, its deputy director.

“Because the fee is not adequate now, that 3% or whatever percent on an annual basis will never catch us up,” he said.

The Oregon Farm Bureau opposes HB 2238 because affected parties weren’t consulted on the concept and because the group doesn’t believe the Legislature should delegate its fee authority to agencies.

The provisions giving DSL authority over fill-removal fees were stripped from a version of HB 2238 recently approved by the House Agriculture Committee.

The bill is now entirely dedicated to rules for disposing property found on state lands during cleanup projects and is awaiting a vote on the House floor.