Senate Bill sb1174e1

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  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         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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    CS for CS for CS for SB 1174                   First Engrossed



 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 19 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. In addition,

29  the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of

30  Representatives shall each appoint two members from their

31  respective chambers to serve as voting members of the


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 1  commission. The Governor shall select a chair from his or her

 2  appointees. The secretaries of the Department of

 3  Transportation, the Department of Community Affairs, and the

 4  Department of Environmental Protection, the Commissioner of

 5  Agriculture, and the executive director of the Fish and

 6  Wildlife Conservation Commission, or their designees, shall

 7  serve as nonvoting ex officio members of the commission.

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

 9  2004, and the first meeting of the commission shall be held by

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

11  manner as the original appointment.  The Governor's

12  appointments shall include one representative from each of the

13  following categories:

14         (a)  Business interests, including development and real

15  estate;

16         (b)  Agricultural interests, including farming,

17  aquaculture, ranching, and forestry;

18         (c)  Municipal and county governments;

19         (d)  Environmental interests, including nonprofit

20  organizations that promote conservation or protection of

21  natural resources; and

22         (e)  Citizen organizations, including community

23  associations, citizen groups, and affordable housing groups.

24  

25  The appointments of voting members by the President of the

26  Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives must

27  also include one representative from each of the categories in

28  paragraphs (a)-(e).

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

30  unless otherwise specified in this section. Action of the

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


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

 2  all voting members are present.

 3         (4)  The commission shall review the operation and

 4  implementation of the state's growth management programs and

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

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

 7  recommendations relating to:

 8         (a)  Determining methods to substantially improve,

 9  modify, or replace the current system of controls and

10  incentives for managing growth with alternatives that have a

11  higher likelihood of significantly improving the

12  growth-management system;

13         (b)  Implementing programs that provide necessary

14  incentives, including financial incentives, to promote and

15  encourage the redevelopment, improvement and, where

16  appropriate, infill of existing developed areas;

17         (c)  Determining the most appropriate agency,

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

19  effectively implement a partnership and appropriate oversight

20  role with local and regional governments for growth

21  management;

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

23  readily and at less cost participate at all levels of

24  decisionmaking involving growth management;

25         (e)  Providing development interests with necessary

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

27  encouraged and promoted;

28         (f)  Providing coordination, incentives, and funding

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

30  government entities, the responsibility for relieving the

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


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 1  congestion on highways in the state, and protecting the

 2  state's natural resources;

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

 4  process to streamline and reduce duplication in the

 5  application for development approval and to make any necessary

 6  changes to the criteria used in determining whether a proposed

 7  change constitutes a substantial deviation requiring further

 8  review; and

 9         (h)  Maintaining existing private property rights in a

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

11  share in an improved quality of life.

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

13  hearings, conducted every 60 days, at different locations

14  throughout the state.  At each hearing the commission shall

15  solicit input from the public on the effectiveness of

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

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

18  governments can better coordinate growth-management programs.

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

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

21  of the House of Representatives, a report with specific

22  recommendations concerning all issues identified in paragraphs

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

24  legislative recommendations consistent with the commission's

25  report for consideration by the 2006 Legislature.

26         (7)  The commission may appoint technical advisory

27  committees. Commission members, and the members of any

28  technical advisory committee that is appointed, may not

29  receive remuneration for their services, but members other

30  than public officers and employees are entitled to be

31  reimbursed by the Department of Community Affairs for travel


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 1  or per diem expenses in accordance with section 112.061,

 2  Florida Statutes. Public officers and employees shall be

 3  reimbursed by their respective agencies in accordance with

 4  section 112.061, Florida Statutes.

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

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

 7  The Department of Community Affairs shall provide the

 8  commission and the executive director with staff assistance.

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

10  reimburse consultants if such costs can be funded from the

11  appropriation provided for in this act.

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

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

14  assistance and cooperation to the commission.

15         (10)  The commission shall continue in existence until

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

17  later than January 1, 2006.

18         Section 2.  This act shall take effect upon becoming a

19  law.

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