Florida Senate - 2013                                     SB 244
       
       
       
       By Senator Dean
       
       
       
       
       5-00393-13                                             2013244__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to water management districts;
    3         amending s. 373.042, F.S.; requiring water management
    4         districts to include certain reservations and water
    5         bodies in priority lists and schedules; providing for
    6         the adoption of certain reservations and minimum flows
    7         and levels by the Department of Environmental
    8         Protection; requiring water management districts to
    9         apply, without adopting by rule, the reservations,
   10         minimum flows and levels, and recovery and prevention
   11         strategies adopted by the department; amending s.
   12         373.046, F.S.; authorizing water management districts
   13         to enter into interagency agreements for resource
   14         management activities under specified conditions;
   15         providing applicability; amending s. 373.171, F.S.;
   16         exempting cooperative funding programs from certain
   17         rulemaking requirements; amending s. 373.709, F.S.,
   18         relating to regional water supply planning; removing a
   19         reference to the Southwest Florida Water Management
   20         District; requiring a regional water supply authority
   21         and the applicable water management district to
   22         jointly develop the water supply component of the
   23         regional water supply plan; providing an effective
   24         date.
   25  
   26  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   27  
   28         Section 1. Subsections (4) and (5) of section 373.042,
   29  Florida Statutes, are renumbered as subsections (5) and (6),
   30  respectively, a new subsection (4) is added to that section, and
   31  subsection (2) of that section is amended, to read:
   32         373.042 Minimum flows and levels.—
   33         (2) By November 15, 1997, and annually thereafter, each
   34  water management district shall submit to the department for
   35  review and approval a priority list and schedule for the
   36  establishment of minimum flows and levels for surface
   37  watercourses, aquifers, and surface waters within the district.
   38  The priority list and schedule shall also identify those listed
   39  water bodies for which the district will voluntarily undertake
   40  independent scientific peer review; any reservations proposed by
   41  the district to be established pursuant to s. 373.223(4); and
   42  those listed water bodies that have the potential to be affected
   43  by withdrawals in an adjacent district for which the
   44  department’s adoption of a reservation pursuant to s. 373.223(4)
   45  or a minimum flow or level pursuant to subsection (1) may be
   46  appropriate. By March 1, 2006, and annually thereafter, each
   47  water management district shall include its approved priority
   48  list and schedule in the consolidated annual report required by
   49  s. 373.036(7). The priority list shall be based upon the
   50  importance of the waters to the state or region and the
   51  existence of or potential for significant harm to the water
   52  resources or ecology of the state or region, and shall include
   53  those waters which are experiencing or may reasonably be
   54  expected to experience adverse impacts. Each water management
   55  district’s priority list and schedule shall include all first
   56  magnitude springs, and all second magnitude springs within state
   57  or federally owned lands purchased for conservation purposes.
   58  The specific schedule for establishment of spring minimum flows
   59  and levels shall be commensurate with the existing or potential
   60  threat to spring flow from consumptive uses. Springs within the
   61  Suwannee River Water Management District, or second magnitude
   62  springs in other areas of the state, need not be included on the
   63  priority list if the water management district submits a report
   64  to the Department of Environmental Protection demonstrating that
   65  adverse impacts are not now occurring nor are reasonably
   66  expected to occur from consumptive uses during the next 20
   67  years. The priority list and schedule is shall not be subject to
   68  any proceeding pursuant to chapter 120. Except as provided in
   69  subsection (3), the development of a priority list and
   70  compliance with the schedule for the establishment of minimum
   71  flows and levels pursuant to this subsection satisfies shall
   72  satisfy the requirements of subsection (1).
   73         (4) A water management district shall provide the
   74  department with technical information and staff support for the
   75  development of a reservation, minimum flow or level, or recovery
   76  or prevention strategy to be adopted by the department by rule.
   77  A water management district shall apply any reservation, minimum
   78  flow or level, or recovery or prevention strategy adopted by the
   79  department by rule without the district’s adoption by rule of
   80  such reservation, minimum flow or level, or recovery or
   81  prevention strategy.
   82         Section 2. Subsection (7) is added to section 373.046,
   83  Florida Statutes, to read:
   84         373.046 Interagency agreements.—
   85         (7) If the geographic area of a resource management
   86  activity, study, or project crosses water management district
   87  boundaries, the affected districts may designate a single
   88  affected district to conduct all or part of the applicable
   89  resource management responsibilities under this chapter, with
   90  the exception of those regulatory responsibilities that are
   91  subject to subsection (6). If funding assistance is provided to
   92  a resource management activity, study, or project, the district
   93  providing the funding must ensure that some or all of the
   94  benefits accrue to the funding district. This subsection does
   95  not impair any interagency agreement in effect on July 1, 2013.
   96         Section 3. Subsection (5) is added to section 373.171,
   97  Florida Statutes, to read:
   98         373.171 Rules.—
   99         (5) Cooperative funding programs are not subject to the
  100  rulemaking requirements of chapter 120. However, any portion of
  101  an approved program which affects the substantial interests of a
  102  party is subject to s. 120.569.
  103         Section 4. Subsection (3) of section 373.709, Florida
  104  Statutes, is amended to read:
  105         373.709 Regional water supply planning.—
  106         (3) The water supply development component of a regional
  107  water supply plan which deals with or affects public utilities
  108  and public water supply for those areas served by a regional
  109  water supply authority and its member governments within the
  110  boundary of the Southwest Florida Water Management District
  111  shall be developed jointly by the authority and the applicable
  112  water management district. In areas not served by regional water
  113  supply authorities, or other multijurisdictional water supply
  114  entities, and where opportunities exist to meet water supply
  115  needs more efficiently through multijurisdictional projects
  116  identified pursuant to paragraph (2)(a), water management
  117  districts are directed to assist in developing
  118  multijurisdictional approaches to water supply project
  119  development jointly with affected water utilities, special
  120  districts, and local governments.
  121         Section 5. This act shall take effect July 1, 2013.