“We’d like this bill to move people’s ability to do things on and around water forward and to protect our environment,” said Lasee. Lasee authored the legislation with Rep. Adam Jarchow, R-Balsam Lake. Both noted they are committed to working with the DNR and conservation groups to come up with a bill that achieves everyone's goals.

The DNR would be prohibited under the new rules from requiring a person to collect sediment, which can contain toxins, as a part of a permit application. It would also create exemptions in the permit for some types of shoreline maintenance activity and dredging in an artificial water body that is not connected to a navigable waterway.

Robert Welch, a lobbyist for the Riparian Owners for Fox Valley, which has spent $18,000 lobbying on the bill, according to the Government Accountability Board, said the bill only seeks to better clarify the sensitive riverbanks that should be protected and deserve a more rigorous permitting and review process. The Wisconsin Realtors Association and Wisconsin Builders Association also support the bill.

Sensitive areas need to be treated as such, he said. But "in the vast majority of these bodies of water they’re not sensitive,” he said.