Florida Senate - 2010                             CS for SB 1952
       
       
       
       By the Committee on Environmental Preservation and Conservation;
       and Senator Detert
       
       
       
       592-02716-10                                          20101952c1
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to water management districts;
    3         amending s. 373.0693, F.S.; revising provisions
    4         relating to the membership of basin boards; specifying
    5         the terms of service for basin board members
    6         designated by district governing board chairs;
    7         providing that basin board members designated by
    8         district governing board chairs are voting members and
    9         counted for quorum purposes; providing for designated
   10         district governing board members to serve as basin
   11         board chairs and co-chairs; authorizing basin boards
   12         to transact official business under certain
   13         conditions; revising provisions relating to the
   14         membership of the Manasota Basin Board; providing for
   15         the designation of a member of the district governing
   16         board to serve on the basin board; amending s.
   17         373.171, F.S.; exempting cooperative funding programs
   18         from certain rulemaking requirements; providing an
   19         effective date.
   20  
   21  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   22  
   23         Section 1. Subsections (1) through (7) of section 373.0693,
   24  Florida Statutes, are amended to read:
   25         373.0693 Basins; basin boards.—
   26         (1)(a) Any areas within a district may be designated by the
   27  district governing board as subdistricts or basins. The
   28  designations of such basins shall be made by resolution of the
   29  district governing board by resolutions thereof. The district
   30  governing board of the district may change the boundaries of
   31  such basins, or create new basins, by resolution.
   32         (2) Each basin shall be under the control of a basin board
   33  which shall be composed of at least not less than three members,
   34  including one or more representatives but shall include one
   35  representative from each of the counties included in the basin.
   36         (3) Except for a member of the district governing board
   37  serving on a basin board pursuant to subsection (6), each member
   38  of a the various basin board boards shall be appointed serve for
   39  a period of 3 years or until a successor is appointed, but not
   40  more than 180 days after the end of the term., except that The
   41  board membership of each new basin board shall be divided into
   42  three groups as equally as possible, with members in such groups
   43  to be appointed for 1, 2, and 3 years, respectively. Each basin
   44  board shall choose a vice chair and a secretary to serve for a
   45  period of 1 year. The term of office of a basin board member
   46  shall be construed to commence on March 2 preceding the date of
   47  appointment and to terminate March 1 of the year of the end of a
   48  term or may continue until a successor is appointed, but not
   49  more than 180 days after the end of the expired term. A member
   50  of the district governing board serving on a basin board
   51  pursuant to subsection (6) shall serve for a period commensurate
   52  with his or her term on the governing board.
   53         (4) Except for a member of the district governing board
   54  serving on a basin board pursuant to subsection (6), members of
   55  a basin board boards shall be appointed by the Governor, subject
   56  to confirmation by the Senate at the next regular session of the
   57  Legislature; and the refusal or failure of the Senate to confirm
   58  an appointment shall create a vacancy in the office to which the
   59  appointment was made.
   60         (5) Basin board members shall serve without receive no
   61  compensation for services as such; but are entitled to
   62  reimbursement for per diem and travel expenses as provided in s.
   63  112.061, while officially on work for the district, they shall
   64  receive their actual travel expenses between their respective
   65  places of residence and the place where official district
   66  business is conducted, subsistence, lodging, and other expenses
   67  in the amount actually incurred. These expenses may not exceed
   68  the statutory amount allowed state officers and employees. This
   69  subsection applies retroactively to the effective date of the
   70  creation of each of the five separate water management
   71  districts.
   72         (6)(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of the
   73  provisions of any other general or special law to the contrary,
   74  a member of the district governing board of the district
   75  residing in the basin or, if no member resides in the basin, a
   76  member of the district governing board designated by the chair
   77  of the district governing board shall be a voting member of the
   78  basin board and counted for purposes of establishing a quorum.
   79         (b) A governing board member shall serve as the chair of
   80  the basin board. If more than one governing board member is
   81  designated to a basin board, each shall rotate as co-chair of
   82  the basin board. The chair or co-chair shall preside at all
   83  meetings of the basin board, except that the vice chair may
   84  preside in the his or her absence of the chair and co-chair. The
   85  chair shall be the liaison officer of the district in all
   86  affairs in the basin and shall be kept informed of all such
   87  affairs.
   88         (c) If a vacancy occurs on a basin board, a quorum of the
   89  total remaining members of the basin board may continue to
   90  transact official business until a successor is appointed.
   91         (d)(b) Basin boards within the Southwest Florida Water
   92  Management District shall meet regularly as determined by a
   93  majority vote of the basin board members. Subject to notice
   94  requirements of chapter 120, special meetings, both emergency
   95  and nonemergency, may be called either by the chair or the
   96  elected vice chair of the basin board or upon request of two
   97  basin board members. The district staff shall include on the
   98  agenda of any basin board meeting any item for discussion or
   99  action requested by a member of that basin board. The district
  100  staff shall notify any basin board, as well as their respective
  101  counties, of any vacancies occurring in the district governing
  102  board or their respective basin boards.
  103         (7) At 11:59 p.m. on December 31, 1976, the Manasota
  104  Watershed Basin of the Ridge and Lower Gulf Coast Water
  105  Management District, which is annexed to the Southwest Florida
  106  Water Management District by change of its boundaries pursuant
  107  to chapter 76-243, Laws of Florida, shall be formed into a
  108  subdistrict or basin of the Southwest Florida Water Management
  109  District, subject to the same provisions as the other basins in
  110  such district. Such subdistrict shall be designated initially as
  111  the Manasota Basin. The members of the governing board of the
  112  Manasota Watershed Basin of the Ridge and Lower Gulf Coast Water
  113  Management District shall become members of the governing board
  114  of the Manasota Basin of the Southwest Florida Water Management
  115  District. Notwithstanding other provisions in this section,
  116  beginning on July 1, 2010 2001, the membership of the Manasota
  117  Basin Board shall be comprised of two members from Manatee
  118  County, and two members from Sarasota County, and a member of
  119  the district governing board designated by the chair of the
  120  district governing board pursuant to subsection (6). Matters
  121  relating to tie votes shall be resolved pursuant to subsection
  122  (6) by the chair designated by the governing board to vote in
  123  case of a tie vote.
  124         Section 2. Subsection (5) is added to section 373.171,
  125  Florida Statutes, to read:
  126         373.171 Rules.—
  127         (5) Cooperative funding programs are not subject to the
  128  rulemaking requirements of chapter 120. However, any portion of
  129  an approved program which affects the substantial interests of a
  130  party shall be subject to s. 120.569.
  131         Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2010.