BILL SUMMARY DETAILS

CS/CS/SB 882 (Brodeur) and HB 761 (Truenow) require each water management district governing board, in cooperation with local governments, to develop a list of critical wetlands for acquisition using funds from the Land Acquisition Trust Fund. The bill specifies criteria the water management districts should consider in designating a wetland for inclusion on the list. CS/CS/SB 882 passed the Senate (38-0) and is awaiting action by the House. (O'Hara)

HB 621 (Fine) and SB 1162 (Broxson) prohibit specified state agencies and water management districts from disbursing state funds (including grants) for local government infrastructure, water and resiliency projects if the local government transfers its utility revenues (other than the costs of administrative and support services under a cost allocation plan) for use in providing general government functions and services. (Branch)

SB 832 (Stewart) and HB 561 (Goff-Marcil) require onsite sewage treatment and disposal systems to be inspected once every five years and require the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to administer the inspection program and requirements. The bills also require DEP to assess the efficacy of projects listed within a basin management action plan having a total cost exceeding $1 million. (O'Hara)

SB 380 (Rodriguez) and HB 463 (Melo) prohibit state and regional agencies from adopting or enforcing state and regional programs to regulate greenhouse gas emissions without specific legislative authorization. (O'Hara)

CS/CS/HB 967 (Truenow) and CS/CS/SB 1556 (Gruters) direct the Department of Environmental Protection to work with the turfgrass science program at UF/IFAS to administer certification for golf course best management practices for fertilization and provide and approve training and testing programs. Certified persons would be exempt from additional local government training requirements and exempt from local ordinances relating to water and fertilizer use blackout periods or restrictions unless a state of emergency is declared. CS/CS/SB 1556 provides the certified person must continue to coordinate with the local government to ensure that he or she adheres to the comprehensive best practices for that specific community. The bills provide for the turfgrass science program to share information about certified persons with governmental entities and to create an online registry of certified persons. (O’Hara)

SB 932 (Rodriguez, A.) and HB 729 (Aloupis) require comprehensive plans and plan amendments that apply to any land within, or within 2 miles of, the Everglades Protection Area to follow the state coordinated review process for state agency compliance review under Part II, Chapter 163, Florida Statutes. The bill also requires the Department of Environmental Protection to coordinate with the affected local governments on mitigation measures for plans or plan amendments that would impact Everglades restoration. (O'Hara)

SB 548 (Polsky) and HB 491 (Skidmore) address a variety of energy and renewable energy issues. It establishes a tax credit for electricity produced from a renewable energy source located on a farm operation and authorizes the state to lease manmade stormwater systems for floating solar energy systems. The bill requires the state to adopt rules for a renewable and energy efficiency portfolio standard. (O'Hara)

HB 1257 (Casello) and SB 1666 (Polsky) prohibit the use of Class B firefighting foam (contains PFAS) beginning in 2023. The bills provide exceptions for the use of Class B foam in response to fire prevention or in an emergency firefighting operation. (O'Hara)

CS/SB 1210 (Albritton) and CS/HB 909 (Payne) specify that the Secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection has exclusive jurisdiction in setting standards or procedures for evaluating environmental conditions and assessing potential liability for the presence of contaminants on land that is classified as agricultural and is being converted to a nonagricultural use.  The bills prohibit the Secretary from delegating such authority to a city, county, or another unit of local government through a local pollution control program. (O’Hara)

HB 6027 (Sabatini) amends current law relating to the open burning of debris from agricultural, silvicultural, land-clearing or tree-cutting activities, which is regulated and authorized by the Florida Forest Service. Currently, the law specifies the debris must originate onsite. HB 6027 would remove the onsite requirement, which would authorize the open burning of debris originating offsite as well as onsite. (O'Hara)

HB 585 (Botana) prohibits the land application of septage from onsite sewage treatment and disposal systems within the Caloosahatchee River watershed. The bill directs the Department of Environmental Protection to adopt an updated Caloosahatchee estuary basin management action plan (BMAP), which shall include the following: an implementation schedule to achieve nutrient load reductions necessary to meet total maximum daily load requirements for wastewater treatment facilities by 2027; an onsite sewage treatment and disposal system remediation plan and implementation schedule to meet nutrient load reductions for such systems by 2027; and a municipal stormwater remediation plan that requires an implementation schedule to achieve stormwater nutrient load reductions by 2027. Lastly, the bill prohibits new domestic wastewater disposal facilities within the watershed, except for those facilities that meet advanced wastewater treatment standards and new septic systems on lots of less than 1 acre, if the addition of a specific system will conflict with the remediation plan. (O'Hara)

HB 473 (Casello) and SB 798 (Taddeo) impose an excise tax on bottled water operators and specify the tax proceeds must be used to provide grants and loans to local governmental agencies for water projects, with priority given to septic-to-sewer conversion projects. (O'Hara)

SB 904 (Farmer) and HB 807 (Rayner) require, rather than authorize, the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to develop and adopt rules for interim measures, best management practices or other measures to achieve certain levels of pollution reduction statewide. (O'Hara)

HB 145 (Hage) and SB 474 (Perry) – Recreational Off-Highway Vehicle Weight Limits

HB 157 (Andrade) and SB 398 (Hooper) – Transportation Projects

HB 737 (Borrero) and SB 920 (Perry) – Electric Vehicle Transportation Electrification Plan

SB 914 (Harrell) and HB 871 (Brannan) – Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles

SB 696 (Perry) and CS/HB 445 (Botana) limit the pickup fees that an airport or seaport may charge a transportation network company to $2 per pickup. (Branch)

SB 426 (Brandes) dissolves the Tampa Bay Area Regional Transit Authority. The bill requires the Authority to discharge its liabilities and settle and close its activities and affairs. The bill also provides for the distribution of the Authority's assets or the proceeds of such assets, such that each local general-purpose government represented on the Authority's board receives a distribution generally in proportion to each entity's contribution to the acquisition of the assets. (Branch)

SB 908 (Brandes) creates additional fees and a licensing tax for electric and hybrid vehicles. The bill provides criteria and timeframes for the collection and disbursements of fees. This bill is linked to SB 918. (Branch)

SB 918 (Brandes) creates the Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Grant Program to provide financial assistance to municipalities and other entities for the installation of electric vehicle charging infrastructure. The bill authorizes the Department of Transportation to develop and publish criteria for the grant application. (Branch)

CS/SB 728 (Harrell) and CS/HB 1005 (Fischer) create the Advanced Air Mobility Study Task Force adjunct to the Department of Transportation with the FDOT secretary, or the secretary's designee, serving as chair. The bills direct the task force to hold public hearings in locations throughout the state to assess and describe the current state of development of the advanced air mobility industry as well as collaborate with local governments to evaluate the potential integration of advanced air mobility into transportation plans. The bills list the Florida League of Cities as a member of this task force. CS/SB 728 passed the Senate (37-0) and is awaiting action by the House. (Branch)

CS/CS/CS/SB 974 (Gruters) and CS/HB 985 (Beltran) revise the statutory limits on liability for tort claims against the state and its agencies and subdivisions (which include cities). CS/HB 985 seeks to increase the current statutory limits for claims from $200,000 per person and $300,000 per incident to $1 million per person and no per-incident cap. Beginning July 1, 2023, the legislation would tie the revised limit to a consumer price index to automatically increase with inflation every year. CS/HB 985 was amended to shorten the timeframe for a government entity to make final disposition of a claim from six months to three months. The House bill will retroactively apply these new limits to any pending claims that have not been settled by the effective date of the bill (July 1, 2022).

CS/CS/CS/SB 974 was amended to change the current statutory limits for claims from $200,000 per person and $300,000 per incident to a tier system based on a population threshold. A city or county whose population is 50,000 or less maintains the current limits of $200,000 per person and $300,000 per occurrence. For a city or county whose population is between 50,001-250,000, the limits increase to $300,000 per person and $400,000 per occurrence. Lastly, for a city or county whose population is greater than 250,001, the limits would be increased to $400,000 per person and $600,000 per occurrence.   (Cruz)