Senate Bill sb0318
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Florida Senate - 2001 SB 318
By Senator Campbell
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1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to water resources; amending s.
3 373.1501, F.S.; providing for restrictions on
4 the sale or transfer of water rights; creating
5 s. 373.255, F.S.; providing for restrictions on
6 permits for the consumptive use of water;
7 providing an effective date.
8
9 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
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11 Section 1. Present subsection (8) of section 373.1501,
12 Florida Statutes, is redesignated as subsection (9), and a new
13 subsection (8) is added to that section to read:
14 373.1501 South Florida Water Management District as
15 local sponsor.--
16 (8) Ownership rights to any water may not be conveyed
17 to a private person, including any right to sell or resell
18 water to other private persons or governmental entities, nor
19 may consumptive use permit rights to resell water be granted
20 to private or governmental persons in return for investment or
21 participation in any project component of the restudy.
22 Section 2. Section 373.255, Florida Statutes, is
23 created to read:
24 373.255 Consumptive use permits; restrictions.--
25 (1) The Legislature finds that:
26 (a) Water is a natural resource that is essential to
27 the economic health of the state and should remain as a
28 publicly owned and controlled resource;
29 (b) Because water is an essential natural resource,
30 private market economic forces acting on the supply and
31 allocation of water may not at all times operate consistently
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Florida Senate - 2001 SB 318
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1 with the best interests of the public at large, the natural
2 environment, and the state's industries and agriculture; and
3 (c) The role of water management districts in ensuring
4 that use of the state's water supply is consistent with the
5 immediate and long-term best interest of the public should be
6 preserved, notwithstanding benefits that may be derived from
7 any use of private market forces in the water supply which is
8 otherwise authorized by the Legislature.
9 (2) As used in this section, the term:
10 (a) "Permitted quantity" means the amount of water
11 which a user is allowed to withdraw under a permit issued by a
12 water management district, whether the withdrawals under the
13 permit are from the same or different wellheads or
14 surface-water withdrawal locations.
15 (b) "Permittee" means a user who has a valid
16 consumptive water use permit.
17 (c) "Proposed transferred permittee" means a user who
18 seeks to receive the transfer of all or part of the permitted
19 quantity from a permitted user.
20 (3) A permittee may not sell or transfer any rights it
21 has under a consumptive use permit, including any portion of a
22 permitted quantity, to a proposed transferred permittee. Any
23 attempted sale or transfer of a permitted quantity must be
24 considered a new use by the proposed transferred permittee for
25 which application for a new consumptive use permit is
26 required.
27 (4) The sale of any property to which a consumptive
28 use permit relates does not constitute a proposed transfer or
29 new use within the meaning of this section.
30 (5) A proposed transferred permittee must apply for a
31 new consumptive use permit as to any part of the permitted
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Florida Senate - 2001 SB 318
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1 quantity and the transfer does not create any presumption of
2 entitlement to a consumptive use permit or to any particular
3 terms of which applied to the original permit, permittee, or
4 permitted quantity.
5 (6) An application for a new consumptive use permit
6 sought by a proposed transferred permittee must be considered
7 based upon conditions as they exist at the time of the
8 application. Conditions may be imposed on any permit issued to
9 the proposed transferred permittee which were not previously
10 imposed on the existing permittee.
11 (7) Water management districts may not authorize the
12 sale or transfer of a permit or any rights under a permit to a
13 permitted quantity in any manner inconsistent with this
14 section.
15 (8) Water management districts may adopt rules to
16 implement this section.
17 Section 3. If any provision of this act or the
18 application thereof to any person or circumstance is held
19 invalid, the invalidity does not affect other provisions or
20 applications of the act which can be given effect without the
21 invalid provision or application, and, to this end, the
22 provisions of this act are declared severable.
23 Section 4. This act shall take effect upon becoming a
24 law.
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27 SENATE SUMMARY
28 Provides restrictions on the sale or transfer of water
resources.
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30
31
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CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.