Florida Senate - 2011 CS for SB 882
By the Committee on Governmental Oversight and Accountability;
and Senator Detert
585-03446-11 2011882c1
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to water management districts;
3 amending s. 373.0693, F.S.; revising provisions
4 relating to the membership of basin boards; specifying
5 the terms of service for basin board members
6 designated by district governing board chairs;
7 providing that basin board members designated by
8 district governing board chairs are voting members and
9 counted for quorum purposes; providing for designated
10 district governing board members to serve as basin
11 board chairs and co-chairs; providing that a quorum of
12 remaining members may conduct business if there is a
13 vacancy on the board; revising provisions relating to
14 the membership of the Manasota Basin Board; providing
15 for the designation of a member of the district
16 governing board to serve on the basin board; amending
17 s. 373.171, F.S.; exempting cooperative funding
18 programs from certain rulemaking requirements;
19 amending s. 373.609, F.S.; providing that local
20 governments may adopt restrictions on landscape
21 irrigation as set forth in district rules or orders;
22 amending s. 373.707, F.S.; authorizing water
23 management districts to use certain moneys in the
24 Water Protection and Sustainability Program Trust Fund
25 for water resource development projects; providing an
26 effective date.
27
28 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
29
30 Section 1. Subsections (1) through (7) of section 373.0693,
31 Florida Statutes, are amended to read:
32 373.0693 Basins; basin boards.—
33 (1)(a) Any areas within a district may be designated by the
34 district governing board as subdistricts or basins. The
35 designations of such basins shall be made by resolution of the
36 district governing board by resolutions thereof. The governing
37 board of the district may change the boundaries of such basins,
38 or create new basins, by resolution.
39 (b) No subdistrict or basin in the St. Johns River Water
40 Management District other than established by this act is shall
41 become effective until approved by the Legislature.
42 (2) Each basin shall be under the control of a basin board
43 which shall be composed of at least not less than three members,
44 including one or more representatives but shall include one
45 representative from each of the counties included in the basin.
46 (3) Except for a member of the district governing board
47 serving on a basin board pursuant to subsection (6), each member
48 of a the various basin board boards shall be appointed serve for
49 a period of 3 years or until a successor is appointed, but not
50 more than 180 days after the end of the term., except that The
51 board membership of each new basin board shall be divided into
52 three groups as equally as possible, with members in such groups
53 to be appointed for 1, 2, and 3 years, respectively. Each basin
54 board shall choose a vice chair and a secretary to serve for a
55 period of 1 year. The term of office of a basin board member
56 shall be construed to commence on March 2 preceding the date of
57 appointment and to terminate March 1 of the year of the end of a
58 term or may continue until a successor is appointed, but not
59 more than 180 days after the end of the expired term. A member
60 of the district governing board serving on a basin board
61 pursuant to subsection (6) shall serve for a period commensurate
62 with his or her term on the governing board.
63 (4) Except for a member of the district governing board
64 serving on a basin board pursuant to subsection (6), members of
65 a basin board boards shall be appointed by the Governor, subject
66 to confirmation by the Senate at the next regular session of the
67 Legislature.; and The refusal or failure of the Senate to
68 confirm an appointment shall create a vacancy in the office to
69 which the appointment was made.
70 (5) Basin board members shall serve without receive no
71 compensation for services as such; but are entitled to
72 reimbursement for per diem and travel expenses as provided in s.
73 112.061, while officially on work for the district, they shall
74 receive their actual travel expenses between their respective
75 places of residence and the place where official district
76 business is conducted, subsistence, lodging, and other expenses
77 in the amount actually incurred. These expenses may not exceed
78 the statutory amount allowed state officers and employees. This
79 subsection applies retroactively to the effective date of the
80 creation of each of the five separate water management
81 districts.
82 (6)(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of the
83 provisions of any other general or special law to the contrary,
84 a member of the district governing board of the district
85 residing in the basin, or, if no member resides in the basin, a
86 member of the district governing board designated by the chair
87 of the district governing board, shall be a voting member of the
88 basin board and counted for purposes of establishing a quorum.
89 (b) A governing board member shall serve as the chair of
90 the basin board. If more than one governing board member is
91 designated to a basin board, each shall rotate as co-chair of
92 the basin board. The chair or co-chair shall preside at all
93 meetings of the basin board, except that the vice chair may
94 preside in the his or her absence of the chair and co-chair. The
95 chair shall be the liaison officer of the district in all
96 affairs in the basin and shall be kept informed of all such
97 affairs.
98 (c) If a vacancy occurs on a basin board, a quorum of the
99 total remaining members may continue to transact official
100 business until a successor is appointed.
101 (d)(b) Basin boards within the Southwest Florida Water
102 Management District shall meet regularly as determined by a
103 majority vote of the basin board members. Subject to the notice
104 requirements of chapter 120, special meetings, both emergency
105 and nonemergency, may be called either by the chair or the
106 elected vice chair of the basin board or upon request of two
107 basin board members. The district staff shall include on the
108 agenda of any basin board meeting any item for discussion or
109 action requested by a member of that basin board. The district
110 staff shall notify any basin board, as well as their respective
111 counties, of any vacancies occurring in the district governing
112 board or their respective basin boards.
113 (7) At 11:59 p.m. on December 31, 1976, the Manasota
114 Watershed Basin of the Ridge and Lower Gulf Coast Water
115 Management District, which is annexed to the Southwest Florida
116 Water Management District by change of its boundaries pursuant
117 to chapter 76-243, Laws of Florida, shall be formed into a
118 subdistrict or basin of the Southwest Florida Water Management
119 District, subject to the same provisions as the other basins in
120 such district. Such subdistrict shall be designated initially as
121 the Manasota Basin. The members of the governing board of the
122 Manasota Watershed Basin of the Ridge and Lower Gulf Coast Water
123 Management District shall become members of the governing board
124 of the Manasota Basin of the Southwest Florida Water Management
125 District. Notwithstanding other provisions in this section,
126 beginning on July 1, 2011 2001, the membership of the Manasota
127 Basin Board shall be comprised of two members from Manatee
128 County, and two members from Sarasota County, and any members of
129 the district governing board designated by the chair of the
130 district governing board pursuant to subsection (6). Matters
131 relating to tie votes shall be resolved pursuant to subsection
132 (6) by the chair designated by the governing board to vote in
133 case of a tie vote.
134 Section 2. Subsection (5) is added to section 373.171,
135 Florida Statutes, to read:
136 373.171 Rules.—
137 (5) Cooperative funding programs are not subject to the
138 rulemaking requirements of chapter 120. However, any portion of
139 an approved program which affects the substantial interests of a
140 party is subject to s. 120.569.
141 Section 3. Section 373.609, Florida Statutes, is amended to
142 read:
143 373.609 Enforcement; city and county officers to assist.—It
144 is shall be the duty of every state and county attorney,
145 sheriff, police officer, and other appropriate city and county
146 official, upon request, to assist the department, the governing
147 board of any water management district, or any local board, or
148 any of their agents in the enforcement of the provisions of this
149 law and the rules and regulations adopted thereunder.
150 Notwithstanding s. 373.217, local governments may adopt
151 ordinances that implement restrictions on landscape irrigation
152 as set forth in water management district rules or orders.
153 Section 4. Paragraph (c) of subsection (8) of section
154 373.707, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
155 373.707 Alternative water supply development.—
156 (8)
157 (c) The Financial assistance for alternative water supply
158 projects allocated in each district’s budget as required in
159 subsection (6) shall be combined with the state funds and used
160 to assist in funding the project construction costs of
161 alternative water supply projects and the project costs of
162 conservation projects that result in quantifiable water savings
163 selected by the governing board. If the district has not
164 completed any regional water supply plan, or the regional water
165 supply plan does not identify the need for any alternative water
166 supply projects, Funds deposited in the Water Protection and
167 Sustainability Program Trust Fund to the credit of the Suwannee
168 River Water Management District that district’s trust fund may
169 also be used for regional water supply planning, water resource
170 development, and water resource projects, including, but not
171 limited to, springs protection.
172 Section 5. This act shall take effect July 1, 2011.