Florida Senate - 2020                        COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
       Bill No. SB 702
       
       
       
       
       
       
                                Ì1538162Î153816                         
       
                              LEGISLATIVE ACTION                        
                    Senate             .             House              
                  Comm: RCS            .                                
                  01/27/2020           .                                
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       The Committee on Environment and Natural Resources (Albritton)
       recommended the following:
       
    1         Senate Amendment (with directory amendment)
    2  
    3         Delete lines 28 - 76
    4  and insert:
    5  implement a cost-sharing cleanup program to provide
    6  rehabilitation funding assistance for all property contaminated
    7  by discharges of petroleum or petroleum products from a
    8  petroleum storage system occurring before January 1, 1995,
    9  subject to a copayment provided for in a Petroleum Cleanup
   10  Participation Program site rehabilitation agreement. Eligibility
   11  is subject to an annual appropriation from the fund.
   12  Additionally, funding for eligible sites is contingent upon
   13  annual appropriation in subsequent years. Such continued state
   14  funding is not an entitlement or a vested right under this
   15  subsection. Eligibility shall be determined in the program,
   16  notwithstanding any other provision of law, consent order,
   17  order, judgment, or ordinance to the contrary.
   18         (a)1. The department shall accept any discharge reporting
   19  form received before January 1, 1995, as an application for this
   20  program, and the facility owner or operator need not reapply.
   21         2. Regardless of whether ownership has changed, owners or
   22  operators of property that is contaminated by petroleum or
   23  petroleum products from a petroleum storage system may apply for
   24  such program by filing a written report of the contamination
   25  incident, including evidence that such incident occurred before
   26  January 1, 1995, with the department. Incidents of petroleum
   27  contamination discovered after December 31, 1994, at sites which
   28  have not stored petroleum or petroleum products for consumption,
   29  use, or sale after such date shall be presumed to have occurred
   30  before January 1, 1995. An operator’s filed report shall be an
   31  application of the owner for all purposes.
   32         (b) Subject to annual appropriation from the fund, sites
   33  meeting the criteria of this subsection are eligible for up to
   34  $400,000 of site rehabilitation funding assistance in priority
   35  order pursuant to subsections (5) and (6). Sites meeting the
   36  criteria of this subsection for which a site rehabilitation
   37  completion order was issued before June 1, 2008, do not qualify
   38  for the 2008 increase in site rehabilitation funding assistance
   39  and are bound by the pre-June 1, 2008, limits. Sites meeting the
   40  criteria of this subsection for which a site rehabilitation
   41  completion order was not issued before June 1, 2008, regardless
   42  of whether they have previously transitioned to nonstate-funded
   43  cleanup status, may continue state-funded cleanup pursuant to
   44  this section until a site rehabilitation completion order is
   45  issued or the increased site rehabilitation funding assistance
   46  limit is reached, whichever occurs first. The department may not
   47  pay expenses incurred beyond the scope of an approved contract.
   48         (c) The department may also approve supplemental funding of
   49  up to $100,000 for additional remediation and monitoring if such
   50  remediation and monitoring is necessary to achieve a
   51  determination of “No Further Action.”
   52         (d) Upon notification by the department that rehabilitation
   53  funding assistance is available for the site pursuant to
   54  subsections (5) and (6), the property owner, operator, or person
   55  otherwise responsible for site rehabilitation shall provide the
   56  department with a limited contamination assessment report and
   57  shall enter into a Petroleum Cleanup Participation Program site
   58  rehabilitation agreement with the department. The limited
   59  contamination assessment report must be sufficient to support
   60  the proposed course of action and to estimate the cost of the
   61  proposed course of action. The agreement must provide for a 25
   62  percent cost savings to the department, a copayment by the
   63  owner, operator, or person otherwise responsible for conducting
   64  site rehabilitation, or a combination of cost savings and a
   65  copayment. Cost savings to the department may be demonstrated in
   66  the form of reduced rates by the proposed agency term contractor
   67  or the difference in cost associated with a Risk Management
   68  Options Level I closure versus a Risk Management Options Level
   69  II closure. For the purpose of this paragraph, the term:
   70         1. Risk Management Options Level I means a No Further
   71  Action closure without institutional controls or without
   72  institutional and engineering controls. This closure option
   73  applies subject to conditions in department rules and
   74  agreements.
   75         2. Risk Management Options Level II means a No Further
   76  Action closure where institutional controls and, if
   77  appropriate, engineering controls apply if the controls are
   78  protective of human health, public safety, and the environment.
   79  This closure option applies subject to conditions in department
   80  rules and agreements. The owner, operator, or person otherwise
   81  responsible for conducting site rehabilitation shall adequately
   82  demonstrate the ability to meet the copayment obligation. The
   83  limited contamination assessment report and the copayment costs
   84  may be reduced or eliminated if the owner and all operators
   85  responsible for restoration under s. 376.308 demonstrate that
   86  they cannot financially comply with the copayment and limited
   87  contamination assessment report requirements. The department
   88  shall take into consideration the owner’s and operator’s net
   89  worth in making the determination of financial ability. In the
   90  event the department and the owner, operator, or person
   91  otherwise responsible for site rehabilitation cannot complete
   92  negotiation of the cost-sharing agreement within 120 days after
   93  beginning negotiations, the department shall terminate
   94  negotiations and the site shall be ineligible for state funding
   95  under this subsection and all liability protections provided for
   96  in this subsection shall be revoked.
   97         (e) A report of a discharge made to the department by a
   98  person pursuant to this subsection or any rules adopted pursuant
   99  to this subsection may not be used directly as evidence of
  100  liability for such discharge in any civil or criminal trial
  101  arising out of the discharge.
  102         (f) This subsection does not preclude the department from
  103  pursuing penalties under s. 403.141 for violations of any law or
  104  any rule, order, permit, registration, or certification adopted
  105  or issued by the department pursuant to its lawful authority.
  106         (g) Upon the filing of a discharge reporting form under
  107  paragraph (a), the department or local government may not pursue
  108  any judicial or enforcement action to compel rehabilitation of
  109  the discharge. This paragraph does not prevent any such action
  110  with respect to discharges determined ineligible under this
  111  subsection or to sites for which rehabilitation funding
  112  assistance is available pursuant to subsections (5) and (6).
  113         (h) The following are excluded from participation in the
  114  program:
  115         1. Sites at which the department has been denied reasonable
  116  site access to implement this section.
  117         2. Sites that were active facilities when owned or operated
  118  by the Federal Government.
  119         3. Sites that are identified by the United States
  120  Environmental Protection Agency to be on, or which qualify for
  121  listing on, the National Priorities List under Superfund. This
  122  exception does not apply to those sites for which eligibility
  123  has been requested or granted as of the effective date of this
  124  act under the Early Detection Incentive Program established
  125  pursuant to s. 15, chapter 86-159, Laws of Florida.
  126         4. Sites for which contamination is covered under the Early
  127  Detection Incentive Program, the Abandoned Tank Restoration
  128  Program, or the Petroleum Liability and Restoration Insurance
  129  Program, in which case site rehabilitation funding assistance
  130  shall continue under the respective program.
  131         Section 2. Subsection (2) of section 376.30713, Florida
  132  Statutes, is amended to read:
  133  
  134  ====== D I R E C T O R Y  C L A U S E  A M E N D M E N T ======
  135  And the directory clause is amended as follows:
  136         Delete line 20
  137  and insert:
  138         Section 1. Subsection (13) of section