The Florida Senate

325.221  Motor vehicle air conditioners; legislative findings; intent.--The Legislature finds that:

(1)  The stratospheric ozone layer shields the earth's surface from dangerous solar ultraviolet radiation.

(2)  Manmade chemicals, including chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and halons, break ozone down, rendering it useless for screening deadly ultraviolet radiation and increasing the level of ultraviolet radiation striking the surface of the earth.

(3)  According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the destruction of the protective stratospheric ozone layer and the consequent increase in the level of ultraviolet radiation reaching the earth's surface could result in 150 million additional skin cancer cases over the next 80 years, and 18 million additional cataract cases before the year 2075, and could damage the human immune system, decrease yields of certain staple crops by 20 percent, and adversely affect the reproduction of vital marine phytoplankton, earth's primary source of lifegiving oxygen.

(4)  Twenty-five percent of the total amount of CFCs produced in this country every year is lost to the atmosphere because of poor maintenance, inappropriate servicing practices, and leaking motor vehicle air conditioners.

(5)  For all types of vehicles, leakage and repair service accounts for two-thirds of all CFC-12 emissions from motor vehicle air conditioners.

(6)  Florida should take appropriate steps toward reducing the emissions of CFCs and halons, promote the use of alternative chemicals where technologically feasible, advance the recovery and recycling of CFCs and halons wherever possible, eliminate the nonessential use of CFCs and halons, and encourage the development of substitutes which are more environmentally sound and which do not contribute to the depletion of the stratospheric ozone layer.

History.--s. 1, ch. 90-290; s. 3, ch. 91-201; s. 4, ch. 91-429.