| 1 | The Civil Justice Committee recommends the following: |
| 2 |
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| 3 | Council/Committee Substitute |
| 4 | Remove the entire bill and insert: |
| 5 | A bill to be entitled |
| 6 | An act relating to sinkhole investigation reports; |
| 7 | requiring licensed professional geologists or licensed |
| 8 | professional geotechnical engineers contracted to conduct |
| 9 | a sinkhole investigation of property to file an |
| 10 | investigation report with the clerk of court if a sinkhole |
| 11 | is present; requiring the clerk to record the report with |
| 12 | the certificate of title for the property; providing for |
| 13 | payment of recording costs; requiring notification of the |
| 14 | property owner of the recording requirement; limiting the |
| 15 | cost of filing and recording the report; providing an |
| 16 | effective date. |
| 17 |
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| 18 | Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: |
| 19 |
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| 20 | Section 1. Whenever the owner of property contracts with a |
| 21 | licensed professional geologist or a licensed professional |
| 22 | geotechnical engineer qualified in geology to inspect the |
| 23 | property and investigate for the presence or absence of a |
| 24 | sinkhole, after completing the investigation, if the geologist |
| 25 | or engineer finds evidence of the presence of a sinkhole on the |
| 26 | property, the geologist or engineer shall file a report of the |
| 27 | investigation with the clerk of the court for that property and |
| 28 | the clerk shall record such investigation report with the |
| 29 | certificate of title or deed for that property. The geologist or |
| 30 | engineer shall pay for the costs of filing and recording such |
| 31 | report and shall disclose to the property owner the requirement |
| 32 | to file and record such investigation report with the |
| 33 | certificate of title or deed for such property. The cost of |
| 34 | filing and recording the report shall not exceed $10. |
| 35 | Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2005. |