[§6D-6]  Commercial entry.  (a)  Any person allowing or establishing commercial entry to a cave shall obtain from the board a permit to open the cave for public entry.  The department shall charge a reasonable permit processing fee and adopt rules pursuant to chapter 91 necessary to carry out the purposes of this section.

     (b)  Any person that receives compensation in conjunction with a use or activity and seeks to be excluded from the permit requirement under subsection (a) shall have the burden of establishing to the satisfaction of the department that its use or activity does not constitute a commercial entry under this chapter.

     (c)  Commercial entry to caves shall be limited to operations in place at the time of the passage of this Act; provided the operations are in compliance with all applicable state and county statutes, ordinances, and rules.  No new operations may be established until the adoption of rules by the department to implement this section.

     (d)  Any person allowing commercial entry at the time of the passage of this Act shall file a declaration of the person's use with the department within sixty days of the enactment of this Act.  Existing operations, as recognized by the department through the declaration, within one year of the adoption of rules by the department, shall conform to the rules and all applicable state and county statutes, ordinances, and rules. [L 2002, c 241, pt of §2]

 

Note

 

  The effective date of Act 241 is June 28, 2002.