Florida Senate - 2012                             CS for SB 1354
       
       
       
       By the Committee on Budget Subcommittee on General Government
       Appropriations; and Senator Detert
       
       
       
       601-02812-12                                          20121354c1
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to environmental resource permitting;
    3         creating s. 373.4131, F.S.; requiring the Department
    4         of Environmental Protection, in coordination with the
    5         water management districts, to adopt statewide
    6         environmental resource permitting rules for activities
    7         relating to the management and storage of surface
    8         waters; providing rule requirements; preserving an
    9         exemption from causes of action under the “Bert J.
   10         Harris, Jr., Private Property Rights Protection Act”;
   11         providing an exemption from the rulemaking provisions
   12         of ch. 120, F.S., for implementation of the rules by
   13         water management districts; requiring counties,
   14         municipalities, and delegated local pollution control
   15         programs to incorporate by reference certain rules;
   16         requiring counties, municipalities, and delegated
   17         local pollution control programs to amend ordinances
   18         and regulations within a specified timeframe to
   19         incorporate applicable rules; allowing counties,
   20         municipalities, and delegated local pollution control
   21         programs to have stricter regulations; requiring
   22         reconciliation of duplicative permitting processes;
   23         authorizing water management districts to adopt and
   24         retain specified rules; authorizing the department to
   25         incorporate certain rules; providing a presumption of
   26         compliance for specified design, construction,
   27         operation, and maintenance of certain stormwater
   28         management systems; providing exemptions for specified
   29         stormwater management systems and permitted
   30         activities; requiring the department to conduct or
   31         oversee staff assessment and training; reenacting s.
   32         70.001(12), F.S., relating to the “Bert J. Harris,
   33         Jr., Private Property Rights Protection Act,” for
   34         purposes of a cross-reference in s. 373.4131, F.S.;
   35         providing an effective date.
   36  
   37  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   38  
   39         Section 1. Section 373.4131, Florida Statutes, is created
   40  to read:
   41         373.4131 Statewide environmental resource permitting
   42  rules.—
   43         (1)(a) No later than October 1, 2012, the department shall
   44  initiate rulemaking to adopt, in coordination with the water
   45  management districts, statewide environmental resource
   46  permitting rules governing the construction, alteration,
   47  operation, maintenance, repair, abandonment, and removal of any
   48  stormwater management system, dam, impoundment, reservoir,
   49  appurtenant work, works, or any combination thereof, under this
   50  part.
   51         (b) The rules shall provide for statewide, consistent
   52  regulation of activities under this part and shall include, at a
   53  minimum:
   54         1. Criteria and thresholds for requiring permits.
   55         2. Types of permits.
   56         3. Procedures governing the review of applications and
   57  notices, duration and modification of permits, operational
   58  requirements, transfers of permits, provisions for emergencies,
   59  and provisions for abandonment and removal of systems.
   60         4. Exemptions and general permits that do not allow
   61  significant adverse impacts to occur individually or
   62  cumulatively.
   63         5. Conditions for issuance.
   64         6. General permit conditions, including monitoring,
   65  inspection, and reporting requirements.
   66         7. Standardized fee categories for activities under this
   67  part to promote consistency. The department and water management
   68  districts may amend fee rules to reflect the standardized fee
   69  categories but are not required to adopt identical fees for
   70  those categories.
   71         8. Application, notice, and reporting forms. To the maximum
   72  extent practicable, the department and water management
   73  districts shall provide for electronic submittal of forms and
   74  notices.
   75         9. An applicant’s handbook that, at a minimum, contains
   76  general program information, application and review procedures,
   77  a specific discussion of how environmental criteria are
   78  evaluated, and discussion of stormwater quality and quantity
   79  criteria.
   80         (c) The rules shall rely primarily on the rules of the
   81  department and water management districts in effect immediately
   82  prior to the effective date of this section, except that the
   83  department may:
   84         1. Reconcile differences and conflicts to achieve a
   85  consistent statewide approach.
   86         2. Account for different physical or natural
   87  characteristics, including special basin considerations, of
   88  individual water management districts.
   89         3. Implement additional permit streamlining measures.
   90         (d) The application of the rules shall continue to be
   91  governed by the first sentence of s. 70.001(12).
   92         (2)(a) Upon adoption of the rules, the water management
   93  districts shall implement the rules without the need for further
   94  rulemaking pursuant to s. 120.54. The rules adopted by the
   95  department pursuant to this section shall also be considered the
   96  rules of the water management districts. The districts and local
   97  governments shall have substantive jurisdiction to implement and
   98  interpret rules adopted by the department under this part,
   99  consistent with any guidance from the department, in any license
  100  or final order pursuant to s. 120.60 or s. 120.57(1)(l).
  101         (b)1. A county, municipality, or local pollution control
  102  program that has been delegated an environmental resource permit
  103  program or that proposes a delegation of such authority under s.
  104  373.441 shall incorporate by reference the rules adopted
  105  pursuant to this section without modification.
  106         2. A county, municipality, or local pollution control
  107  program that has been delegated an environmental resource permit
  108  program under s. 373.441 must amend its local ordinances or
  109  regulations to incorporate by reference the applicable rules
  110  adopted pursuant to this section within 12 months after the
  111  effective date of such rules.
  112         3. Consistent with s. 373.441, this section does not
  113  prohibit a county, municipality, or local pollution control
  114  program from adopting or implementing regulations that are
  115  stricter than those adopted pursuant to this section.
  116         4. The department and each local program that is authorized
  117  to implement or that seeks to implement a delegation of
  118  authority for an environmental resource permit program under s.
  119  373.441 shall identify and reconcile any duplicative permitting
  120  processes as part of the delegation.
  121         (c) Until the rules adopted pursuant to this section become
  122  effective, existing rules adopted pursuant to this part remain
  123  in full force and effect. Existing rules that are superseded by
  124  the rules adopted pursuant to this section may be repealed
  125  without further rulemaking pursuant to s. 120.54 by publication
  126  of a notice of repeal in the Florida Administrative Weekly and
  127  subsequent filing of a list of the rules repealed with the
  128  Department of State.
  129         (3)(a) The water management districts, with department
  130  oversight, may continue to adopt rules governing design and
  131  performance standards for stormwater quality and quantity, and
  132  the department may incorporate the design and performance
  133  standards by reference for use within the geographic
  134  jurisdiction of each district.
  135         (b) If a stormwater management system is designed in
  136  accordance with the stormwater treatment requirements and
  137  criteria adopted by the department or a water management
  138  district under this part, the system design is presumed not to
  139  cause or contribute to violations of applicable state water
  140  quality standards.
  141         (c) If a stormwater management system is constructed,
  142  operated, and maintained for stormwater treatment in accordance
  143  with a valid permit or exemption under this part, the stormwater
  144  discharged from the system is presumed not to cause or
  145  contribute to violations of applicable state water quality
  146  standards.
  147         (4) Notwithstanding the adoption of rules pursuant to this
  148  section, the following activities shall continue to be governed
  149  by the rules adopted by the department, the water management
  150  districts, and delegated local programs under this part in
  151  effect before the effective date of the rules adopted pursuant
  152  to this section, unless the applicant elects review in
  153  accordance with the rules adopted pursuant to this section:
  154         (a) The operation and maintenance of any stormwater
  155  management system, dam, impoundment, reservoir, appurtenant
  156  work, works, or any combination thereof legally in existence
  157  before the effective date of the rules adopted pursuant to this
  158  section if the terms and conditions of the permit, exemption, or
  159  other authorization for such activity continue to be met.
  160         (b) The activities determined in writing by the department,
  161  a water management district, or a local government delegated
  162  local pollution control program authority under s. 373.441 to be
  163  exempt from the permitting requirements of this part, including
  164  self-certifications submitted to the department, a water
  165  management district, or a delegated local government before the
  166  effective date of the rules adopted pursuant to this section.
  167         (c) The activities approved in a permit issued pursuant to
  168  this part and the review of activities proposed in a permit
  169  application that is complete before the effective date of the
  170  rules adopted pursuant to this section. This paragraph applies
  171  to any modification of the plans, terms, and conditions of the
  172  permit, including new activities, within the geographical area
  173  to which the permit applies and to any modification that lessens
  174  or does not increase impacts. However, this paragraph does not
  175  apply to a modification that is reasonably expected to lead to
  176  additional or substantially different impacts.
  177         (5) To ensure consistent implementation and interpretation
  178  of the rules adopted pursuant to this section, the department
  179  shall conduct or oversee regular assessment and training of its
  180  staff and the staffs of the water management districts and local
  181  governments delegated local pollution control program authority
  182  under s. 373.441.
  183         Section 2. For the purpose of a cross-reference in section
  184  373.4131, Florida Statutes, as created by this act, subsection
  185  (12) of section 70.001, Florida Statutes, is reenacted to read:
  186         70.001 Private property rights protection.—
  187         (12) No cause of action exists under this section as to the
  188  application of any law enacted on or before May 11, 1995, or as
  189  to the application of any rule, regulation, or ordinance
  190  adopted, or formally noticed for adoption, on or before that
  191  date. A subsequent amendment to any such law, rule, regulation,
  192  or ordinance gives rise to a cause of action under this section
  193  only to the extent that the application of the amendatory
  194  language imposes an inordinate burden apart from the law, rule,
  195  regulation, or ordinance being amended.
  196         Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2012.