CS for SB 298                                    First Engrossed
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       2024298e1
       
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to saltwater intrusion vulnerability
    3         assessments; amending s. 380.093, F.S.; authorizing
    4         the Department of Environmental Protection to provide
    5         coastal counties, beginning on a specified date, with
    6         Resilient Florida Grant Program grants to fund
    7         saltwater intrusion vulnerability assessments;
    8         specifying the purpose of and requirements for the
    9         assessments; requiring the department to update the
   10         comprehensive statewide flood vulnerability and sea
   11         level rise data set and make certain information
   12         received from the saltwater intrusion vulnerability
   13         assessments publicly available on its website;
   14         requiring the department to provide cost-share funding
   15         up to a specified amount for awarded grants;
   16         specifying that certain coastal counties are not
   17         required to contribute to the cost-share funding;
   18         providing an effective date.
   19          
   20  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   21  
   22         Section 1. Paragraph (b) of subsection (3) of section
   23  380.093, Florida Statutes, is amended, and paragraph (e) is
   24  added to that subsection, to read:
   25         380.093 Resilient Florida Grant Program; comprehensive
   26  statewide flood vulnerability and sea level rise data set and
   27  assessment; Statewide Flooding and Sea Level Rise Resilience
   28  Plan; regional resilience entities.—
   29         (3) RESILIENT FLORIDA GRANT PROGRAM.—
   30         (b) Subject to appropriation, the department may provide
   31  grants to any each of the following entities:
   32         1. A county or municipality to fund:
   33         a. The costs of community resilience planning and necessary
   34  data collection for such planning, including comprehensive plan
   35  amendments and necessary corresponding analyses that address the
   36  requirements of s. 163.3178(2)(f).
   37         b. Vulnerability assessments that identify or address risks
   38  of inland or coastal flooding and sea level rise.
   39         c. For coastal counties beginning July 1, 2025, saltwater
   40  intrusion vulnerability assessments that analyze the effects of
   41  saltwater intrusion on the coastal county’s water supply and the
   42  preparedness of the coastal county to respond to such a threat.
   43         d. The development of projects, plans, and policies that
   44  allow communities to prepare for threats from flooding and sea
   45  level rise.
   46         e.d. Preconstruction activities for projects to be
   47  submitted for inclusion in the Statewide Flooding and Sea Level
   48  Rise Resilience Plan and that are located in a municipality that
   49  has a population of 10,000 or less fewer or a county that has a
   50  population of 50,000 or less fewer, according to the most recent
   51  April 1 population estimates posted on the Office of Economic
   52  and Demographic Research’s website.
   53         f.e. Feasibility studies and the cost of permitting for
   54  nature-based solutions that reduce the impact of flooding and
   55  sea level rise.
   56         2. A water management district identified in s. 373.069 to
   57  support local government adaptation planning, which may be
   58  conducted by the water management district or by a third party
   59  on behalf of the water management district. Such grants must be
   60  used for the express purpose of supporting the Florida Flood Hub
   61  for Applied Research and Innovation and the department in
   62  implementing this section through data creation and collection,
   63  modeling, and the implementation of statewide standards.
   64  Priority must be given to filling critical data gaps identified
   65  by the Florida Flood Hub for Applied Research and Innovation
   66  under s. 380.0933(2)(a).
   67         (e)1. A saltwater intrusion vulnerability assessment
   68  conducted pursuant to sub-subparagraph (b)1.c. must include an
   69  analysis of all of the following information:
   70         a. The coastal county’s primary water utilities.
   71         b. Current maps of the coastal county’s freshwater
   72  wellfields and latest saltwater intrusion impact lines.
   73         c. Projections of saltwater intrusion over the next decade,
   74  including specific wells that may be impacted during that
   75  timeframe.
   76         d. The costs necessary to relocate freshwater wellfields
   77  anticipated to be impacted, including current projects that are
   78  underway to relocate the freshwater wellfields.
   79         2. The department shall do all of the following:
   80         a. Use the information contained in a coastal county’s
   81  saltwater intrusion vulnerability assessment to update its
   82  comprehensive statewide flood vulnerability and sea level rise
   83  data set under subsection (4).
   84         b. Make publicly available on the department’s website any
   85  appropriate information from a saltwater intrusion vulnerability
   86  assessment it receives from coastal counties pursuant to this
   87  paragraph.
   88         c. Provide 50 percent cost-share funding up to $250,000 for
   89  each grant awarded under this paragraph. A coastal county with a
   90  population of 50,000 or less is not required to contribute to
   91  the cost share.
   92         Section 2. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.