Florida Senate - 2011                          SENATOR AMENDMENT
       Bill No. CS for CS for CS for CS for HB 283
       
       
       
       
       
       
                                Barcode 678282                          
       
                              LEGISLATIVE ACTION                        
                    Senate             .             House              
                                       .                                
                                       .                                
                                       .                                
                 Floor: WD/2R          .                                
             05/02/2011 05:00 PM       .                                
       —————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————




       —————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
       Senator Latvala moved the following:
       
    1         Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
    2  
    3         Delete lines 48 - 59
    4  and insert:
    5         Section 1. Subsection (4) of section 310.002, Florida
    6  Statutes, is amended to read:
    7         310.002 Definitions.—As used in this chapter, except where
    8  the context clearly indicates otherwise:
    9         (4) “Port” means any place in the state into which vessels
   10  enter or depart and includes, without limitation, Fernandina,
   11  Nassau Inlet, Jacksonville, St. Augustine, Canaveral, Port
   12  Citrus, Ft. Pierce, Palm Beach, Port Everglades, Miami, Key
   13  West, Boca Grande, Charlotte Harbor, Punta Gorda, Tampa, Port
   14  Tampa, Port Manatee, St. Petersburg, Clearwater, Apalachicola,
   15  Carrabelle, Panama City, Port St. Joe, and Pensacola.
   16         Section 2. Paragraph (c) of subsection (1) of section
   17  374.976, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
   18         374.976 Authority to address impacts of waterway
   19  development projects.—
   20         (1) Each inland navigation district is empowered and
   21  authorized to undertake programs intended to alleviate the
   22  problems associated with its waterway or waterways, including,
   23  but not limited to, the following:
   24         (c) The district is authorized to aid and cooperate with
   25  the Federal Government; state; member counties; nonmember
   26  counties that contain any part of the intracoastal waterway
   27  within their boundaries; navigation districts; the seaports of
   28  Jacksonville, Port Canaveral, Port Citrus, Fort Pierce, Palm
   29  Beach, Port Everglades, Miami, Port Manatee, St. Petersburg,
   30  Tampa, Port St. Joe, Panama City, Pensacola, Key West, and
   31  Fernandina; and local governments within the district in
   32  planning and carrying out public navigation, local and regional
   33  anchorage management, beach renourishment, public recreation,
   34  inlet management, environmental education, and boating safety
   35  projects, directly related to the waterways. The district is
   36  also authorized to enter into cooperative agreements with the
   37  United States Army Corps of Engineers, state, and member
   38  counties, and to covenant in any such cooperative agreement to
   39  pay part of the costs of acquisition, planning, development,
   40  construction, reconstruction, extension, improvement, operation,
   41  and maintenance of such projects.
   42         Section 3. Subsection (9) of section 403.021, Florida
   43  Statutes, is amended to read:
   44         403.021 Legislative declaration; public policy.—
   45         (9)(a) The Legislature finds and declares that it is
   46  essential to preserve and maintain authorized water depth in the
   47  existing navigation channels, port harbors, turning basins, and
   48  harbor berths of this state in order to provide for the
   49  continued safe navigation of deepwater shipping commerce. The
   50  department shall recognize that maintenance of authorized water
   51  depths consistent with port master plans developed pursuant to
   52  s. 163.3178(2)(k) is an ongoing, continuous, beneficial, and
   53  necessary activity that is in the public interest; and it shall
   54  develop a regulatory process that shall enable the ports of this
   55  state to conduct such activities in an environmentally sound,
   56  safe, expeditious, and cost-efficient manner. It is the further
   57  intent of the Legislature that the permitting and enforcement of
   58  dredging, dredged-material management, and other related
   59  activities for Florida’s deepwater ports pursuant to this
   60  chapter and chapters 161, 253, and 373 shall be consolidated
   61  within the department’s Division of Water Resource Management
   62  and, with the concurrence of the affected deepwater port or
   63  ports, may be administered by a district office of the
   64  department or delegated to an approved local environmental
   65  program.
   66         (b) The provisions of paragraph (a) apply only to the port
   67  waters, dredged-material management sites, port harbors,
   68  navigation channels, turning basins, and harbor berths used for
   69  deepwater commercial navigation in the ports of Jacksonville,
   70  Tampa, Port Everglades, Miami, Port Canaveral, Port Citrus, Ft.
   71  Pierce, Palm Beach, Port Manatee, Port St. Joe, Panama City, St.
   72  Petersburg, Pensacola, Fernandina, and Key West.
   73         Section 4. Subsection (26) of section 403.061, Florida
   74  Statutes, is amended to read:
   75         403.061 Department; powers and duties.—The department shall
   76  have the power and the duty to control and prohibit pollution of
   77  air and water in accordance with the law and rules adopted and
   78  promulgated by it and, for this purpose, to:
   79         (26)(a) Develop standards and criteria for waters used for
   80  deepwater shipping which standards and criteria consider
   81  existing water quality; appropriate mixing zones and other
   82  requirements for maintenance dredging in previously constructed
   83  deepwater navigation channels, port harbors, turning basins, or
   84  harbor berths; and appropriate mixing zones for disposal of
   85  spoil material from dredging and, where necessary, develop a
   86  separate classification for such waters. Such classification,
   87  standards, and criteria shall recognize that the present
   88  dedicated use of these waters is for deepwater commercial
   89  navigation.
   90         (b) The provisions of paragraph (a) apply only to the port
   91  waters, spoil disposal sites, port harbors, navigation channels,
   92  turning basins, and harbor berths used for deepwater commercial
   93  navigation in the ports of Jacksonville, Tampa, Port Everglades,
   94  Miami, Port Canaveral, Port Citrus, Ft. Pierce, Palm Beach, Port
   95  Manatee, Port St. Joe, Panama City, St. Petersburg, Port Bartow,
   96  Florida Power Corporation’s Crystal River Canal, Boca Grande,
   97  Green Cove Springs, and Pensacola.
   98  
   99  The department shall implement such programs in conjunction with
  100  its other powers and duties and shall place special emphasis on
  101  reducing and eliminating contamination that presents a threat to
  102  humans, animals or plants, or to the environment.
  103         Section 5. Subsection (3) of section 403.813, Florida
  104  Statutes, is amended to read:
  105         403.813 Permits issued at district centers; exceptions.—
  106         (3) For maintenance dredging conducted under this section
  107  by the seaports of Jacksonville, Port Canaveral, Port Citrus,
  108  Fort Pierce, Palm Beach, Port Everglades, Miami, Port Manatee,
  109  St. Petersburg, Tampa, Port St. Joe, Panama City, Pensacola, Key
  110  West, and Fernandina or by inland navigation districts:
  111         (a) A mixing zone for turbidity is granted within a 150
  112  meter radius from the point of dredging while dredging is
  113  ongoing, except that the mixing zone may not extend into areas
  114  supporting wetland communities, submerged aquatic vegetation, or
  115  hardbottom communities.
  116         (b) The discharge of the return water from the site used
  117  for the disposal of dredged material shall be allowed only if
  118  such discharge does not result in a violation of water quality
  119  standards in the receiving waters. The return-water discharge
  120  into receiving waters shall be granted a mixing zone for
  121  turbidity within a 150-meter radius from the point of discharge
  122  during and immediately after the dredging, except that the
  123  mixing zone may not extend into areas supporting wetland
  124  communities, submerged aquatic vegetation, or hardbottom
  125  communities.
  126         (c) The state may not exact a charge for material that this
  127  subsection allows a public port or an inland navigation district
  128  to remove.
  129         (d) The use of flocculants at the site used for disposal of
  130  the dredged material is allowed if the use, including supporting
  131  documentation, is coordinated in advance with the department and
  132  the department has determined that the use is not harmful to
  133  water resources.
  134         (e) This subsection does not prohibit maintenance dredging
  135  of areas where the loss of original design function and
  136  constructed configuration has been caused by a storm event,
  137  provided that the dredging is performed as soon as practical
  138  after the storm event. Maintenance dredging that commences
  139  within 3 years after the storm event shall be presumed to
  140  satisfy this provision. If more than 3 years are needed to
  141  commence the maintenance dredging after the storm event, a
  142  request for a specific time extension to perform the maintenance
  143  dredging shall be submitted to the department, prior to the end
  144  of the 3-year period, accompanied by a statement, including
  145  supporting documentation, demonstrating that contractors are not
  146  available or that additional time is needed to obtain
  147  authorization for the maintenance dredging from the United
  148  States Army Corps of Engineers.
  149         Section 6. Section 403.816, Florida Statutes, is amended to
  150  read:
  151         403.816 Permits for maintenance dredging of deepwater ports
  152  and beach restoration projects.—
  153         (1) The department shall establish a permit system under
  154  this chapter and chapter 253 which provides for the performance,
  155  for up to 25 years from the issuance of the original permit, of
  156  maintenance dredging of permitted navigation channels, port
  157  harbors, turning basins, harbor berths, and beach restoration
  158  projects approved pursuant to chapter 161. However, permits
  159  issued for dredging river channels which are not a part of a
  160  deepwater port shall be valid for no more than five years. No
  161  charge shall be exacted by the state for material removed during
  162  such maintenance dredging by a public port authority.
  163         (2) The provisions of s. 253.77 do not apply to a permit
  164  for maintenance dredging and spoil site approval when there is
  165  no change in the size or location of the spoil disposal site and
  166  when the applicant provides documentation to the department that
  167  the appropriate lease, easement, or consent of use for the
  168  project site issued pursuant to chapter 253 is recorded in the
  169  county where the project is located.
  170         (3) The provisions of this section relating to ports apply
  171  only to the port waters, spoil disposal sites, port harbors,
  172  navigation channels, turning basins, and harbor berths used for
  173  deepwater commercial navigation in the ports of Jacksonville,
  174  Tampa, Port Everglades, Miami, Port Canaveral, Port Citrus, Ft.
  175  Pierce, Palm Beach, Port Manatee, Port St. Joe, Panama City, St.
  176  Petersburg, Port Bartow, Florida Power Corporation’s Crystal
  177  River Canal, Boca Grande, Green Cove Springs, and Pensacola.
  178         Section 7. Subsection (1) of section 311.09, Florida
  179  Statutes, is amended, and subsection (13) is added that section,
  180  to read:
  181         311.09 Florida Seaport Transportation and Economic
  182  Development Council.—
  183         (1) The Florida Seaport Transportation and Economic
  184  Development Council is created within the Department of
  185  Transportation. The council consists of the following 18 17
  186  members: the port director, or the port director’s designee, of
  187  each of the ports of Jacksonville, Port Canaveral, Port Citrus,
  188  Fort Pierce, Palm Beach, Port Everglades, Miami, Port Manatee,
  189  St. Petersburg, Tampa, Port St. Joe, Panama City, Pensacola, Key
  190  West, and Fernandina; the secretary of the Department of
  191  Transportation or his or her designee; the director of the
  192  Office of Tourism, Trade, and Economic Development or his or her
  193  designee; and the secretary of the Department of Community
  194  Affairs or his or her designee.
  195         (13) Until July 1, 2014, Citrus County may apply for a
  196  grant through the Florida Seaport Transportation and Economic
  197  Development Council to perform a feasibility study regarding the
  198  establishment of a port in Citrus County. The council shall
  199  evaluate such application pursuant to subsections (5)–(9) and,
  200  if approved, the Department of Transportation shall include the
  201  feasibility study in its budget request pursuant to subsection
  202  (10). If the study determines that a port in Citrus County is
  203  not feasible, the membership of Port Citrus on the council shall
  204  terminate.
  205  
  206  ================= T I T L E  A M E N D M E N T ================
  207         And the title is amended as follows:
  208         Delete lines 2 - 8
  209  and insert:
  210         An act relating to seaports; amending s. 310.002,
  211         F.S.; redefining the term “port” to include Port
  212         Citrus; amending s. 374.976, F.S.; conforming
  213         provisions to include Port Citrus in provisions
  214         relating to the authority of inland navigation
  215         districts; amending s. 403.021, F.S.; conforming
  216         provisions to include Port Citrus in legislative
  217         declarations relating to environmental control;
  218         amending s. 403.061, F.S.; conforming provisions to
  219         include Port Citrus in provisions relating to powers
  220         of the Department of Environmental Protection;
  221         amending s. 403.813, F.S.; conforming provisions to
  222         include Port Citrus in provisions relating to permits
  223         issued at Department of Environmental Protection
  224         district centers; amending s. 403.816, F.S.;
  225         conforming provisions to include Port Citrus in
  226         provisions relating to certain maintenance projects at
  227         deepwater ports and beach restoration projects;
  228         amending s. 311.09, F.S.; including a representative
  229         of Port Citrus as a member of the Florida Seaport
  230         Transportation and Economic Development Council;
  231         providing that Citrus County may apply for a grant for
  232         a feasibility study through the Florida Seaport
  233         Transportation and Economic Development Council;
  234         providing for the evaluation of the application;
  235         requiring the Department of Transportation to include
  236         the study in its budget request under certain
  237         circumstances; terminating the membership of Port
  238         Citrus on the council under certain circumstances;
  239         amending s.