House Bill 1437e1
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                                          HB 1437, First Engrossed
  1                      A bill to be entitled
  2         An act relating to metropolitan planning
  3         organizations; amending s. 339.175, F.S.;
  4         providing an additional method of selecting
  5         voting membership in an M.P.O. under certain
  6         circumstances; requiring a three-fourths vote
  7         of the MPO; providing an effective date.
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  9  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
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11         Section 1.  Subsection (2) of section 339.175, Florida
12  Statutes, 1998 Supplement, is amended to read:
13         339.175  Metropolitan planning organization.--It is the
14  intent of the Legislature to encourage and promote the
15  development of transportation systems embracing various modes
16  of transportation in a manner that will maximize the mobility
17  of people and goods within and through urbanized areas of this
18  state and minimize, to the maximum extent feasible, and
19  together with applicable regulatory government agencies,
20  transportation-related fuel consumption and air pollution.  To
21  accomplish these objectives, metropolitan planning
22  organizations, referred to in this section as M.P.O.'s, shall
23  develop, in cooperation with the state, transportation plans
24  and programs for metropolitan areas. Such plans and programs
25  must provide for the development of transportation facilities
26  that will function as an intermodal transportation system for
27  the metropolitan area.  The process for developing such plans
28  and programs shall be continuing, cooperative, and
29  comprehensive, to the degree appropriate, based on the
30  complexity of the transportation problems.
31         (2)  VOTING MEMBERSHIP.--
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                                          HB 1437, First Engrossed
  1         (a)  The voting membership of an M.P.O. shall consist
  2  of not fewer than 5 or more than 19 apportioned members, the
  3  exact number to be determined on an equitable
  4  geographic-population ratio basis by the Governor, based on an
  5  agreement among the affected units of general-purpose local
  6  government as required by federal rules and regulations. The
  7  Governor, in accordance with 23 U.S.C. s. 134, as amended by
  8  the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991,
  9  may also provide for M.P.O. members who represent
10  municipalities to alternate with representatives from other
11  municipalities within the designated urban area that do not
12  have members on the M.P.O. County commission members shall
13  compose not less than one-third of the M.P.O. membership,
14  except for an M.P.O. with more than 15 members located in a
15  county with a five-member county commission or an M.P.O. with
16  19 members located in a county with no more than 6 county
17  commissioners, in which case county commission members may
18  compose less than one-third percent of the M.P.O. membership,
19  but all county commissioners must be members. All voting
20  members shall be elected officials of general-purpose
21  governments, except that an M.P.O. may include, as part of its
22  apportioned voting members, a member of a statutorily
23  authorized planning board or an official of an agency that
24  operates or administers a major mode of transportation.  In
25  metropolitan areas in which authorities or other agencies have
26  been, or may be, created by law to perform transportation
27  functions that are not under the jurisdiction of a
28  general-purpose local government represented on the M.P.O.,
29  they shall be provided voting membership on the M.P.O.  The
30  county commission shall compose not less than 20 percent of
31  the M.P.O. membership if an official of an agency that
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                                          HB 1437, First Engrossed
  1  operates or administers a major mode of transportation has
  2  been appointed to an M.P.O.
  3         (b)  Any other provision of this section to the
  4  contrary notwithstanding, any county chartered under s. 6(e),
  5  Art. VIII of the State Constitution may elect to have its
  6  county commission serve as the M.P.O., if the M.P.O.
  7  jurisdiction is wholly contained within the county.  Any
  8  charter county that elects to exercise the provisions of this
  9  paragraph shall so notify the Governor in writing.  Upon
10  receipt of such notification, the Governor must designate the
11  county commission as the M.P.O.  The Governor must appoint
12  four additional voting members to the M.P.O., one of whom must
13  be an elected official representing a municipality within the
14  county, one of whom must be an expressway authority member,
15  one of whom must be a person who does not hold elected public
16  office and who resides in the unincorporated portion of the
17  county, and one of whom must be a school board member.
18         (c)  Any other provision of this section to the
19  contrary notwithstanding, a chartered county with over 1
20  million population may elect to reapportion the membership of
21  an M.P.O. whose jurisdiction is wholly within the county. The
22  charter county may exercise the provisions of this paragraph
23  if:
24         1.  The M.P.O. approves the reapportionment plan by a
25  3/4 vote of its membership;
26         2.  The M.P.O. and the charter county determine that
27  the reapportionment plan is needed to fulfill specific goals
28  and policies applicable to that metropolitan planning area;
29  and
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                                          HB 1437, First Engrossed
  1         3.  The charter county determines the reapportionment
  2  plan otherwise complies with all federal requirements
  3  pertaining to M.P.O. membership.
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  5  Any charter county that elects to exercise the provisions of
  6  this paragraph shall notify the Governor in writing.
  7         Section 2.  This act shall take effect upon becoming a
  8  law.
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