Florida Senate - 2020 CS for CS for SB 538
By the Committees on Community Affairs; and Infrastructure and
Security; and Senators Diaz, Book, Pizzo, and Perry
578-03431-20 2020538c2
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to emergency reporting; creating s.
3 252.351, F.S.; defining the term “office”; requiring
4 the State Watch Office within the Division of
5 Emergency Management to create a list of reportable
6 incidents; requiring a political subdivision to report
7 incidents contained on the list to the office;
8 authorizing the office to establish guidelines a
9 political subdivision must follow to report an
10 incident; requiring the office to annually provide the
11 list of reportable incidents to each political
12 subdivision; providing an effective date.
13
14 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
15
16 Section 1. Section 252.351, Florida Statutes, is created to
17 read:
18 252.351 Mandatory reporting of certain incidents by
19 political subdivisions.—
20 (1) For purposes of this section, the term “office” means
21 the State Watch Office established within the division pursuant
22 to s. 14.2016.
23 (2) The office, to aid in its mission of serving as a
24 clearinghouse for emergency-related information across all
25 levels of government, shall create and maintain a list of
26 reportable incidents. The list must include, but is not limited
27 to, the following events:
28 (a) Major fires, including wildfires, commercial or
29 multiunit residential fires, and industrial fires.
30 (b) Search and rescue operations, including structure
31 collapse or urban search and rescue response.
32 (c) Bomb threats or threats to inflict harm on a large
33 number of people or significant infrastructure, a suspicious
34 device, or device detonation.
35 (d) Natural hazards and severe weather, including
36 earthquakes, landslides, or ground subsidence or sinkholes.
37 (e) Public health and population protective actions,
38 including public health hazards, evacuation orders, or emergency
39 shelter openings.
40 (f) Animal or agricultural events, including suspected or
41 confirmed animal disease, suspected or confirmed agricultural
42 disease, crop failure, or food supply contamination.
43 (g) Environmental concerns, including an incident of
44 reportable pollution release as required in s. 403.077(2).
45 (h) Nuclear power plant events, including events in process
46 or that have occurred that indicate a potential degradation of
47 the level of safety of the plant or that indicate a security
48 threat to facility protection.
49 (i) Major transportation events, including aircraft or
50 airport incidents, passenger or commercial railroad incidents,
51 major road or bridge closures, or marine incidents involving a
52 blocked navigable channel of a major waterway.
53 (j) Major utility or infrastructure events, including dam
54 failure or overtopping, drinking water facility breach, or major
55 utility outages or disruptions involving transmission lines or
56 substations.
57 (k) Military events, when information regarding such
58 activity is provided to a political subdivision.
59 (3) As soon as practicable following its initial response
60 to an incident, a political subdivision shall provide
61 notification to the office that an incident specified on the
62 list of reportable incidents has occurred within its
63 geographical boundaries. The office may establish guidelines
64 specifying the method and format a political subdivision must
65 use when reporting an incident.
66 (4) Beginning December 1, 2020, and by December 1 every
67 year thereafter, the office must provide the list of reportable
68 incidents to each political subdivision.
69 Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2020.