Florida Senate - 2017 COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
Bill No. SB 928
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LEGISLATIVE ACTION
Senate . House
Comm: RCS .
03/28/2017 .
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The Committee on Environmental Preservation and Conservation
(Stargel) recommended the following:
1 Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
2
3 Delete everything after the enacting clause
4 and insert:
5 Section 1. This act may be cited as the “Heartland
6 Headwaters Protection and Sustainability Act.”
7 Section 2. Section 373.462, Florida Statutes, is created to
8 read:
9 373.462 Legislative findings and intent.—
10 (1) The Legislature recognizes that, in 1979, specified
11 portions of Lake and Polk Counties were designated by law as an
12 area of critical state concern, known as the Green Swamp Area,
13 in acknowledgment of their regional and statewide importance in
14 maintaining the quality and quantity of Florida’s water supply
15 and water resources for the public and the environment.
16 (2) The Legislature also recognizes that the entire Green
17 Swamp Area, which encompasses approximately 560,000 acres, is
18 located in a regionally significant high recharge area of the
19 Floridan Aquifer system, and that it helps protect coastal
20 communities from saltwater intrusion.
21 (3) The Legislature finds that the Green Swamp Area or Polk
22 County make up the headwaters or portions of the headwaters of
23 six major river systems in the state, the Alafia, Hillsborough,
24 Kissimmee, Ocklawaha, Peace, and Withlacoochee Rivers. In
25 addition, due to the area’s unique topography and geology, it
26 receives no water inputs other than rainfall. The area is
27 essential in maintaining the potentiometric head of the Floridan
28 Aquifer system, which directly influences the aquifer’s
29 productivity for water supply.
30 (4) The Legislature also finds that the Green Swamp Area
31 and surrounding areas are economically, environmentally, and
32 socially defined by some of the most important and vulnerable
33 water resources in the state.
34 (5) The Legislature recognizes that the Central Florida
35 Water Initiative Guiding Document, dated January 30, 2015, and
36 the Southern Water Use Caution Area Recovery Strategy, dated
37 March 2006, found that the surface water and groundwater
38 resources in the heartland counties of Hardee, Highlands, and
39 Polk are integral to the health, public safety, and economic
40 future of those regions.
41 (6) The Legislature declares that there is an important
42 state interest in partnering with regional water supply
43 authorities, local governments, and water management districts
44 in accordance with s. 373.705, to protect the water resources of
45 the headwaters of the Alafia, Hillsborough, Kissimmee,
46 Ocklawaha, Peace, and Withlacoochee Rivers and the areas that
47 surround them. The Legislature further declares that priority
48 state funding consideration must be given to funding solutions
49 that manage the water resources of these headwaters and the
50 local Floridan Aquifer system in the most efficient, cost
51 effective, and environmentally beneficial way.
52 Section 3. Section 373.463, Florida Statutes, is created to
53 read:
54 373.463 Heartland headwaters annual reports.—
55 (1) The Polk Regional Water Cooperative, in coordination
56 with all of its member county and municipal governments, shall
57 prepare a comprehensive annual report on water resource projects
58 identified for priority state funding within its members’
59 jurisdictions. The report must include, at a minimum:
60 (a) A list of projects identified by the cooperative for
61 priority state funding for each of the following categories. A
62 project may be listed in more than one category:
63 1. Drinking water supply.
64 2. Wastewater, including reuse.
65 3. Stormwater and flood control.
66 4. Environmental restoration.
67 5. Conservation.
68 (b) A priority ranking for each listed project that will be
69 ready to proceed in the upcoming fiscal year, identified by the
70 categories specified in paragraph (a).
71 (c) The estimated cost of each listed project.
72 (d) The estimated completion date of each listed project.
73 (e) The source and amount of financial assistance to be
74 provided by the cooperative, the member county or municipal
75 governments, or other entities for each listed project.
76 (2) By December 1, 2017, and each year thereafter, the
77 cooperative shall submit the comprehensive annual report to the
78 Governor, the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House
79 of Representatives, the department, and the appropriate water
80 management districts.
81 (3) The cooperative shall also annually coordinate with the
82 appropriate water management district to submit a status report
83 on projects receiving priority state funding for inclusion in
84 the consolidated water management district annual report
85 required by s. 373.036(7).
86 Section 4. Present paragraph (h) of subsection (2) of
87 section 212.055, Florida Statutes, is redesignated as paragraph
88 (i) of that subsection and amended, and a new paragraph (h) is
89 added to that subsection, to read:
90 212.055 Discretionary sales surtaxes; legislative intent;
91 authorization and use of proceeds.—It is the legislative intent
92 that any authorization for imposition of a discretionary sales
93 surtax shall be published in the Florida Statutes as a
94 subsection of this section, irrespective of the duration of the
95 levy. Each enactment shall specify the types of counties
96 authorized to levy; the rate or rates which may be imposed; the
97 maximum length of time the surtax may be imposed, if any; the
98 procedure which must be followed to secure voter approval, if
99 required; the purpose for which the proceeds may be expended;
100 and such other requirements as the Legislature may provide.
101 Taxable transactions and administrative procedures shall be as
102 provided in s. 212.054.
103 (2) LOCAL GOVERNMENT INFRASTRUCTURE SURTAX.—
104 (h) A county or municipality that receives proceeds under
105 the provisions of this subsection may transfer such proceeds to
106 an entity created under s. 373.713 whose purpose is to develop,
107 recover, store, and supply water. Such transferred proceeds must
108 be used for the purposes specified in paragraph (d).
109 (i)(h) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section,
110 a county may shall not levy local option sales surtaxes
111 authorized in this subsection and subsections (3), (4), and (5)
112 in excess of a combined rate of 1 percent.
113 Section 5. This act shall take effect July 1, 2017.
114
115 ================= T I T L E A M E N D M E N T ================
116 And the title is amended as follows:
117 Delete everything before the enacting clause
118 and insert:
119 A bill to be entitled
120 An act relating to water protection and
121 sustainability; creating the “Heartland Headwaters
122 Protection and Sustainability Act”; creating s.
123 373.462, F.S.; providing legislative findings and a
124 declaration of important state interest; creating s.
125 373.463, F.S.; requiring the Polk Regional Water
126 Cooperative, in coordination with its member county
127 and municipal governments, to prepare a comprehensive
128 annual report on certain water resource projects
129 within its members’ jurisdictions; specifying
130 requirements for such report; specifying to whom such
131 report must be submitted; requiring the Polk Regional
132 Water Cooperative, in coordination with appropriate
133 water management districts, to submit an annual status
134 report on projects receiving priority state funding;
135 requiring that such report be included in specified
136 annual reports; amending s. 212.055, F.S.; authorizing
137 local government infrastructure surtax proceeds to be
138 allocated to regional water supply authorities under
139 certain conditions; providing an effective date.