Senate Bill sb1174c3

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    Florida Senate - 2004             CS for CS for CS for SB 1174

    By the Committees on Governmental Oversight and Productivity;
    Natural Resources; Comprehensive Planning; and Senators
    Bennett and Lynn



    302-2636-04

  1                      A bill to be entitled

  2         An act relating to the 2005 Planning and

  3         Development Study Commission; creating the

  4         commission; providing for its membership and

  5         requirements for voting; providing for

  6         appointments by the Governor, the President of

  7         the Senate, and the Speaker of the House of

  8         Representatives; requiring the Secretary of

  9         Transportation, the Secretary of Community

10         Affairs, the Secretary of Environmental

11         Protection, the Commissioner of Agriculture,

12         and the executive director of the Fish and

13         Wildlife Conservation Commission, or their

14         designees, to serve as ex officio nonvoting

15         members; requiring the commission to review the

16         state's growth management programs and laws and

17         make recommendations; requiring public

18         hearings; requiring the Department of Community

19         Affairs to provide staff support; providing for

20         expiration of the commission; providing an

21         appropriation; providing an effective date.

22  

23         WHEREAS, economic growth is critical to Florida's

24  residents' quality of life and protection of Florida's

25  irreplaceable natural resources is of great importance to all

26  residents, and

27         WHEREAS, the Florida Legislature enacted laws in 1972,

28  1975, 1984, and 1985 to effectively manage growth and

29  development, and

30         WHEREAS, current growth patterns have resulted in

31  crowded schools and roads, inadequate funds to provide for

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    Florida Senate - 2004             CS for CS for CS for SB 1174
    302-2636-04




 1  needed infrastructure, and increasing threats and damage to

 2  our unique natural areas, and

 3         WHEREAS, the valuable and necessary role of the public

 4  in working with elected and appointed bodies to manage growth

 5  has become increasingly more difficult due to time

 6  constraints, costs, and legal complexities, and

 7         WHEREAS, the Legislature has regularly convened study

 8  commissions to review, examine, and make recommendations for

 9  improving the effectiveness of growth management programs at

10  local, state, and regional levels of government, and

11         WHEREAS, the Legislature is not satisfied to continue

12  the pattern of piecemeal revisions to existing growth

13  management programs and believes a new direction for managing

14  growth must be in place as Florida assumes its position as the

15  nation's third-largest state within the next 15 years, and

16         WHEREAS, the Legislature sees a need to convene an

17  informed body to comprehensively review alternatives to better

18  manage the state's projected growth while effectively

19  addressing the impacts of existing development not currently

20  being addressed, NOW, THEREFORE,

21  

22  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

23  

24         Section 1.  (1)  The 2005 Planning and Development

25  Study Commission is created.  The commission shall be composed

26  of 15 voting members, five appointed by the Governor, five

27  appointed by the President of the Senate, and five appointed

28  by the Speaker of the House of Representatives.  The Governor

29  shall select a chair from his or her appointees, but the chair

30  shall vote only in case of a tie vote.  The secretaries of the

31  Department of Transportation, the Department of Community

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    Florida Senate - 2004             CS for CS for CS for SB 1174
    302-2636-04




 1  Affairs, and the Department of Environmental Protection, the

 2  Commissioner of Agriculture, and the executive director of the

 3  Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, or their designees,

 4  shall serve as nonvoting ex officio members of the commission.

 5  In addition, the President of the Senate and the Speaker of

 6  the House of Representatives shall each appoint two members

 7  from their respective chambers to serve on the commission as

 8  nonvoting ex officio members.

 9         (2)  Initial appointments shall be made by July 1,

10  2004, and the first meeting of the commission shall be held by

11  September 1, 2004.  Any vacancy shall be filled in the same

12  manner as the original appointment.  The Governor's

13  appointments shall include one representative from each of the

14  following categories:

15         (a)  Business interests, including development and real

16  estate;

17         (b)  Agricultural interests, including farming,

18  aquaculture, ranching, and forestry;

19         (c)  Municipal and county governments;

20         (d)  Environmental interests, including nonprofit

21  organizations that promote conservation or protection of

22  natural resources; and

23         (e)  Citizen organizations, including community

24  associations, citizen groups, and affordable housing groups.

25  

26  The appointments of voting members by the President of the

27  Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives must

28  also include one representative from each of the categories in

29  paragraphs (a)-(e).

30         (3)  Each commission member is entitled to one vote

31  unless otherwise specified in this section. Action of the

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    Florida Senate - 2004             CS for CS for CS for SB 1174
    302-2636-04




 1  commission requires a two-thirds vote of the voting members

 2  present. Action may not be taken if fewer than a majority of

 3  all voting members are present.

 4         (4)  The commission shall review the operation and

 5  implementation of the state's growth management programs and

 6  laws, including, but not limited to, chapters 163, 186, 187

 7  and 380, Florida Statutes, for the purpose of making specific

 8  recommendations relating to:

 9         (a)  Determining methods to substantially improve,

10  modify, or replace the current system of controls and

11  incentives for managing growth with alternatives that have a

12  higher likelihood of significantly improving the

13  growth-management system;

14         (b)  Implementing programs that provide necessary

15  incentives, including financial incentives, to promote and

16  encourage the redevelopment, improvement and, where

17  appropriate, infill of existing developed areas;

18         (c)  Determining the most appropriate agency,

19  combination of agencies, or the creation of a new agency to

20  effectively implement a partnership and appropriate oversight

21  role with local and regional governments for growth

22  management;

23         (d)  Enhancing the ability of state residents to more

24  readily and at less cost participate at all levels of

25  decisionmaking involving growth management;

26         (e)  Providing development interests with necessary

27  certainty regarding where, when, and how development will be

28  encouraged and promoted;

29         (f)  Providing coordination, incentives, and funding

30  programs that jointly share, among state, regional, and local

31  government entities, the responsibility for relieving the

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    Florida Senate - 2004             CS for CS for CS for SB 1174
    302-2636-04




 1  crowded conditions in the state's schools, easing the

 2  congestion on highways in the state, and protecting the

 3  state's natural resources;

 4         (g)  Revising the development-of-regional-impact

 5  process to streamline and reduce duplication in the

 6  application for development approval and to make any necessary

 7  changes to the criteria used in determining whether a proposed

 8  change constitutes a substantial deviation requiring further

 9  review; and

10         (h)  Maintaining existing private property rights in a

11  growing economy so that all sectors of the state's economy

12  share in an improved quality of life.

13         (5)  The commission shall hold at least eight public

14  hearings, conducted every 60 days, at different locations

15  throughout the state.  At each hearing the commission shall

16  solicit input from the public on the effectiveness of

17  Florida's growth-management system, with particular attention

18  to suggestions for how local, state, and regional agencies and

19  governments can better coordinate growth-management programs.

20         (6)  By January 1, 2006, the commission shall provide

21  to the Governor, the President of the Senate, and the Speaker

22  of the House of Representatives, a report with specific

23  recommendations concerning all issues identified in paragraphs

24  (4)(a)-(h). The Department of Community Affairs shall prepare

25  legislative recommendations consistent with the commission's

26  report for consideration by the 2006 Legislature.

27         (7)  The commission may appoint technical advisory

28  committees. Commission members, and the members of any

29  technical advisory committee that is appointed, may not

30  receive remuneration for their services, but members other

31  than public officers and employees are entitled to be

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    Florida Senate - 2004             CS for CS for CS for SB 1174
    302-2636-04




 1  reimbursed by the Department of Community Affairs for travel

 2  or per diem expenses in accordance with section 112.061,

 3  Florida Statutes. Public officers and employees shall be

 4  reimbursed by their respective agencies in accordance with

 5  section 112.061, Florida Statutes.

 6         (8)  The commission may appoint an executive director,

 7  who shall report to the commission and serve at its pleasure.

 8  The Department of Community Affairs shall provide the

 9  commission and the executive director with staff assistance.

10  The department may, upon the request of the commission,

11  reimburse consultants if such costs can be funded from the

12  appropriation provided for in this act.

13         (9)  All agencies under the control of the Governor are

14  directed, and all other agencies are requested, to render

15  assistance and cooperation to the commission.

16         (10)  The commission shall continue in existence until

17  its public hearings and written report are complete, but not

18  later than January 1, 2006.

19         Section 2.  The sum of $300,000 is appropriated from

20  the General Revenue Fund to the Department of Community

21  Affairs for the purpose of implementing this act.

22         Section 3.  This act shall take effect upon becoming a

23  law.

24  

25          STATEMENT OF SUBSTANTIAL CHANGES CONTAINED IN
                       COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR
26                          CS/CS/SB 1174

27                                 

28  Changes the name of the commission from the "Smart Growth"
    Commission to the "Planning and Development" Commission.
29  
    Reduces the types of governments from which the Governor is to
30  make appointments to the commission from local and regional
    governments to municipal and county governments.
31  

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