Florida Senate - 2009                                     SB 118
       
       
       
       By Senator Constantine
       
       
       
       
       22-00122-09                                            2009118__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to the Wekiva Onsite Sewage Treatment
    3         and Disposal System Compliance Grant Program; creating
    4         the program in the Department of Health; providing
    5         purposes; authorizing low-income property owners in
    6         certain areas of the Wekiva basin to apply for grants
    7         to improve onsite sewage treatment and disposal
    8         systems; providing grant limitations; requiring the
    9         grant to be a rebate of costs incurred; requiring
   10         documentation of costs; requiring the department to
   11         adopt rules to administer the grant program; requiring
   12         continued evaluation of nitrogen levels due to onsite
   13         sewage treatment and disposal systems; providing an
   14         effective date.
   15         
   16  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   17         
   18         Section 1. Wekiva Onsite Sewage Treatment and Disposal
   19  System Compliance Grant Program.—
   20         (1) The Wekiva Onsite Sewage Treatment and Disposal System
   21  Compliance Grant Program is established in the Department of
   22  Health and shall be administered by the department. The purpose
   23  of the program is to provide grants to low-income property
   24  owners in the Wekiva Study Area or the Wekiva River Protection
   25  Area using onsite disposal systems to assist the property owners
   26  in complying with rules for onsite sewage treatment and disposal
   27  systems developed by the Department of Health, the Department of
   28  Environmental Protection, or the St. Johns River Water
   29  Management District and to enforce compliance with standards for
   30  onsite sewage treatment and disposal systems. The grant program
   31  is effective upon final adoption of department rules and may be
   32  applied to costs incurred on or after such date.
   33         (2) Any property owner in the Wekiva Study Area or the
   34  Wekiva River Protection Area having an income less than or equal
   35  to 200 percent of the federal poverty level who is required by
   36  rule of the Department of Health, the Department of
   37  Environmental Protection, or the St. Johns River Water
   38  Management District to alter, repair, or modify any existing
   39  onsite sewage treatment and disposal system to a nitrogen
   40  reducing performance-based treatment system on such property may
   41  apply to the Department of Health for a grant to assist the
   42  owner with the cost of compliance.
   43         (3) The amount of the grant is limited to the cost
   44  differential between the replacement of a comparable existing
   45  onsite sewage treatment and disposal system and that of an
   46  upgraded nitrogen-reducing performance-based treatment system,
   47  but may not exceed $10,000 per property.
   48         (4) The grant must be in the form of a rebate to the
   49  property owner for costs incurred in complying with the
   50  requirements for onsite sewage treatment and disposal systems.
   51  The property owner must provide documentation of those costs in
   52  the grant application to the Department of Health.
   53         (5) The Department of Health shall adopt rules providing
   54  forms, procedures, and requirements for applying for and
   55  disbursing grants, including bid requirements, and for
   56  documenting compliance costs incurred.
   57         (6) The Department of Health, in coordination with the
   58  Department of Environmental Protection and the St. Johns River
   59  Water Management District, shall continue to evaluate, by any
   60  means the department deems appropriate, the level of nitrogen
   61  deposited in the Wekiva Study Area by onsite sewage treatment
   62  and disposal systems.
   63         Section 2. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.