HB 1319 2003
1	A bill to be entitled
2	An act relating to protection of manatees; amending s.
3	370.12, F.S.; providing that a portion of the proceeds of
4	the Save the Manatee Trust Fund shall be used for funding
5	law enforcement positions within the Fish and Wildlife
6	Conservation Commission for enforcement of laws designed
7	to protect manatee populations in certain counties;
8	requiring additional information to be included in an
9	annual report regarding expenditure of the funds in the
10	trust fund; providing an effective date.
11
12	Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
13
14	Section 1. Paragraphs (a) and (b) of subsection (4) of
15	section 370.12, Florida Statutes, are amended to read:
16	370.12 Marine animals; regulation.--
17	(4) ANNUAL FUNDING OF PROGRAMS FOR MARINE ANIMALS.--
18	(a) Each fiscal year the first $2 million of funds
19	deposited into the Save the Manatee Trust Fund shall be used
20	available to fund law enforcement positions within the Fish and
21	Wildlife Conservation Commission for the purpose of enforcing
22	laws designed to protect manatee populations. Persons employed
23	in such positions shall be assigned to perform their law
24	enforcement duties in counties having the highest incidences of
25	manatee deaths and injuries. The remainder shall be available to
26	fundan impartial scientific benchmark census of the manatee
27	population in the state. Weather permitting, the study shall be
28	conducted annually by the Fish and Wildlife Conservation
29	Commission and the results shall be made available to the
30	President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of
31	Representatives, and the Governor and Cabinet for use in the
32	evaluation and development of manatee protection measures. In
33	addition, the Save the Manatee Trust Fund shall be available for
34	annual funding of activities of public and private organizations
35	and those of the commission intended to provide manatee and
36	marine mammal protection and recovery effort; manufacture and
37	erection of informational and regulatory signs; production,
38	publication, and distribution of educational materials;
39	participation in manatee and marine mammal research programs,
40	including carcass salvage and other programs; programs intended
41	to assist the recovery of the manatee as an endangered species,
42	assist the recovery of the endangered or threatened marine
43	mammals, and prevent the endangerment of other species of marine
44	mammals; and other similar programs intended to protect and
45	enhance the recovery of the manatee and other species of marine
46	mammals. The commission shall annually solicit advisory
47	recommendations from the Save the Manatee Committee affiliated
48	with the Save the Manatee Club, as identified and recognized in
49	Executive Order 85-19, on the use of funds from the Save the
50	Manatee Trust Fund.
51	(b) By December 1 each year, the Fish and Wildlife
52	Conservation Commission shall provide the President of the
53	Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives a written
54	report, enumerating the amounts and purposes for which all
55	proceeds in the Save the Manatee Trust Fund for the previous
56	fiscal year are expended, in a manner consistent with those
57	recovery tasks enumerated within the manatee recovery plan as
58	required by the Endangered Species Act. Such report shall
59	identify the number of additional law enforcement positions
60	which were funded and shall provide a list of the counties to
61	which the personnel were assigned.
62	Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2003.