New DNR Oversight

--In advance of Wednesday's Natural Resources Board meeting to consider revised pier reg rules, Republican legislators today announced the formation of the Special Committee on DNR Regulatory Reform.

The committee will primarily focus on the content and enforcement of such issues as pier regulations, wetlands regulations, and land- use regulations

The committee, to be chaired by Senate President Alan Lasee, will include Republican Sens. Zien and Stepp as well as two Democratic senators.

The committee hopes to achieve greater legislative oversight of the DNR, which they perceive as having excessive arbitrary authority over Wisconsin land and property owners.

“The DNR continues to get consistently more complaints than any other state agency,” according to Lasee. Lasee said his concerns with the DNR stem from numerous individual complaints from constituents. He pointed to cases in which citizens were fined for building with appropriate permits.

“It’s a situation where people want to enjoy their property.”

Zien said the committee would chart the positive work of the DNR as well as individual “atrocities.”