Florida Senate - 2016                        COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
       Bill No. SB 552
       
       
       
       
       
       
                                Ì624264)Î624264                         
       
                              LEGISLATIVE ACTION                        
                    Senate             .             House              
                   Comm: WD            .                                
                  11/04/2015           .                                
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       The Committee on Environmental Preservation and Conservation
       (Soto) recommended the following:
       
    1         Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
    2  
    3         Delete lines 895 - 903
    4  and insert:
    5         (6)(a) The department shall contract with an independent,
    6  nongovernmental entity for an economic, environmental, and
    7  policy study analyzing water-use fees in Florida. This analysis
    8  should be modeled after the 1991 study by Chase Securities
    9  entitled “Capitalizing a Water Resource Trust Fund with Water
   10  Use Fee Revenues: Feasibility and Effects,” which analyzed
   11  possible implementation of Recommendation 18 of the report
   12  entitled “Governor’s Water Resource Commission Final Report,”
   13  submitted to Governor Bob Martinez, December 1, 1989.
   14         (b) The study must address the following:
   15         1. Projected water usage in the state and potential
   16  revenues from that usage, factoring in price elasticity and
   17  possible credits;
   18         2. Operating assumptions for a Water Resources Trust Fund,
   19  including the mix of loans and grants, interest rates, leverage,
   20  and capitalization requirements, and recommendations for
   21  allocation of trust fund revenues;
   22         3. Impact of various fee levels, by county, on residential
   23  use, industry, and agriculture;
   24         4. Pros and cons of applying fees universally or
   25  selectively;
   26         5. A review of water-conservation technologies in
   27  agriculture and industry and how their deployment might be
   28  affected by various fee levels;
   29         6. How to ensure that low-income residents would not be
   30  disadvantaged by water fees;
   31         7. Recommendations on how pricing might vary by region or
   32  type of usage;
   33         8. Recommendations on how fees might be collected from
   34  residential self-supply wells;
   35         9. Recommendations on how to ensure universal water
   36  metering; and
   37         10. Metering and billing options.
   38         (c) The study must be completed and made publicly available
   39  by July 1, 2017.
   40  
   41  ================= T I T L E  A M E N D M E N T ================
   42  And the title is amended as follows:
   43         Delete lines 67 - 68
   44  and insert:
   45         requiring the department to contract with an
   46         independent, nongovernmental entity for an economic,
   47         environmental, and policy study analyzing water-use
   48         fees; requiring the study to include certain
   49         information; requiring that the study be completed and
   50         made publicly available by a specified date;