Florida Senate - 2021 COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
Bill No. SB 7062
Ì828060~Î828060
LEGISLATIVE ACTION
Senate . House
Comm: RCS .
04/17/2021 .
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The Committee on Appropriations (Brodeur) recommended the
following:
1 Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
2
3 Delete lines 43 - 133
4 and insert:
5 Water Initiative Area,” as published on November 19, 2020,
6 in the Florida Administrative Register, Vol. 46, No. 226, pages
7 5019-5025; February 9, 2021, in the Florida Administrative
8 Register, Vol. 47, No. 26, pages 733-734; and March 26, 2021, in
9 the Florida Administrative Register, Vol. 47, No. 59, pages
10 1506-1507.
11 (2) This section serves no other purpose and shall not be
12 codified in the Florida Statutes. After this act becomes a law,
13 its enactment and effective dates shall be noted in the Florida
14 Administrative Code or the Florida Administrative Register, or
15 both, as appropriate. This section does not constitute
16 legislative preemption of or exception to any provision of law
17 governing adoption or enforcement of the rule cited, and is
18 intended to preserve the status of any cited rule as a rule
19 under chapter 120, Florida Statutes. This section does not cure
20 any rulemaking defect or preempt any challenge based on a
21 violation of the legal requirements governing the adoption of
22 any rule cited.
23 (3) The Legislature determines and declares that this
24 section fulfills an important state interest.
25 Section 2. Paragraph (d) of subsection (2) of section
26 373.0465, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
27 373.0465 Central Florida Water Initiative.—
28 (2)
29 (d) The department, in consultation with the St. Johns
30 River Water Management District, the South Florida Water
31 Management District, the Southwest Florida Water Management
32 District, and the Department of Agriculture and Consumer
33 Services, shall adopt uniform rules for application within the
34 Central Florida Water Initiative Area that include:
35 1. A single, uniform definition of the term “harmful to the
36 water resources” consistent with the term’s usage in s. 373.219;
37 2. A single method for calculating residential per capita
38 water use;
39 3. A single process for permit reviews;
40 4. A single, consistent process, as appropriate, to set
41 minimum flows and minimum water levels and water reservations;
42 5. A goal for residential per capita water use for each
43 consumptive use permit; and
44 6. An annual conservation goal for each consumptive use
45 permit consistent with the regional water supply plan;.
46 7. A drought allocation for supplemental irrigation for
47 agricultural uses which is based on a 2-in-10-year rainfall
48 condition or, if the applicant so requests, is based on a 5-in
49 10-year rainfall condition alone or combined with the 2-in-10
50 year condition. The applicable water management district may
51 also condition, for information only purposes, consumptive use
52 permits to advise permittees that their annual use of water
53 should be less than the drought allocation in all years except
54 for the drought condition that is the basis for the allocation
55 or a more severe drought; and
56 8. A process for the applicable water management district
57 to annually examine an agricultural user’s 5-year moving average
58 supplemental irrigation water use against the annual
59 supplemental irrigation needs in the 5-in-10-year rainfall
60 condition beginning no earlier than 5 years following the
61 effective date of the rules adopted under this section. If this
62 annual examination indicates that the agricultural user’s 5-year
63 moving average use exceeds that needed in such rainfall
64 condition for reasons other than prolonged periods of below
65 average rainfall, the water management district may modify the
66 agricultural user’s permit to include an annual supplemental
67 irrigation allocation based on both the amount of supplemental
68 irrigation required during a 2-in-10-year rainfall condition and
69 the amount of supplemental irrigation required during a 5-in-10
70 year rainfall condition as provided in rules adopted pursuant to
71 this section. In such case, the supplemental irrigation
72 allocation based on the 5-in-10-year rainfall condition shall be
73 valid for only 5 years unless the agricultural user’s 5-year
74 moving average use continues to exceed the amount of
75 supplemental irrigation needed during a 5-in-10-year rainfall
76 condition for reasons other than prolonged periods of drought.
77
78 Subparagraphs 7. and 8. may not be construed to limit the
79 ability of the department or a water management district to
80 establish different supplemental irrigation requirements as part
81 of an existing or future recovery or prevention strategy adopted
82 pursuant to s. 373.0363, s. 373.042, or s. 373.0421. The uniform
83 rules must include existing recovery strategies within the
84 Central Florida Water Initiative Area adopted before July 1,
85 2016. The department may grant variances to the uniform rules if
86 there are unique circumstances or hydrogeological factors that
87 make application of the uniform rules unrealistic or
88 impractical.
89 Section 3. Section 373.0466, Florida Statutes, is created
90 to read:
91 373.0466 Central Florida Water Initiative grant program.—
92 Subject to appropriation, a grant program for the Central
93 Florida Water Initiative is established within the Department of
94 Environmental Protection.
95 (1) The department, in cooperation with the relevant water
96 management districts, shall provide grants for projects that
97 benefit the Central Florida Water Initiative Area which promote
98 alternative water supplies and protect groundwater resources.
99 (2) In allocating such funds, priority must be given to
100 projects that use reclaimed water, create new surface water
101 storage, enhance natural systems, recharge groundwater, optimize
102 beneficial uses of water, expand water conservation programs, or
103 are able to demonstrate that a significant financial hardship
104 exists as a result of complying with rules applicable to the
105 Central Florida Water Initiative Area.
106
107 ================= T I T L E A M E N D M E N T ================
108 And the title is amended as follows:
109 Delete lines 10 - 29
110 and insert:
111 providing a declaration of important state interest;
112 amending s. 373.0465, F.S.; requiring the department, in
113 consultation with specified water management districts, to adopt
114 rules that include an annual drought allocation for supplemental
115 irrigation for agricultural uses and a process for examining an
116 agricultural user’s supplemental irrigation needs as weighed
117 against certain factors; providing for the applicability of
118 specified rules to areas with certain existing recovery
119 strategies; creating s. 373.0466, F.S.; establishing, subject to
120 appropriation, a Central Florida Water Initiative grant program
121 within the department; requiring the department, in cooperation
122 with the relevant water management districts, to distribute
123 appropriated funds for certain projects that benefit the Central
124 Florida Water Initiative Area;
125