Florida Senate - 2022                        COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
       Bill No. SB 1764
       
       
       
       
       
       
                                Ì244354(Î244354                         
       
                              LEGISLATIVE ACTION                        
                    Senate             .             House              
                  Comm: RCS            .                                
                  02/16/2022           .                                
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       Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Environment, and
       General Government (Albritton) recommended the following:
       
    1         Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
    2  
    3         Delete everything after the enacting clause
    4  and insert:
    5         Section 1. Section 377.814, Florida Statutes, is created to
    6  read:
    7         377.814Municipal Solid Waste-to-Energy Program.—
    8         (1)CREATION AND PURPOSE OF THE PROGRAM.—The Municipal
    9  Solid Waste-to-Energy Program is created within the department.
   10  The purpose of the program is to provide financial assistance
   11  grants and incentive grants to municipal solid waste-to-energy
   12  facilities to incentivize the production and sale of energy from
   13  municipal solid waste-to-energy facilities while also reducing
   14  the amount of waste that would otherwise be disposed of in a
   15  landfill.
   16         (2) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section, the term:
   17         (a) “Department” means the Department of Agriculture and
   18  Consumer Services.
   19         (b) Municipal solid waste-to-energy facility” means a
   20  publicly owned or government affiliate-owned facility that uses
   21  an enclosed device using controlled combustion to thermally
   22  break down solid waste to an ash residue that contains little or
   23  no combustible material and that produces electricity, steam, or
   24  other energy as a result. The term does not include facilities
   25  that primarily burn fuels other than solid waste even if such
   26  facilities also burn some solid waste as a fuel supplement. The
   27  term does not include facilities that primarily burn vegetative,
   28  agricultural, or silvicultural wastes, bagasse, clean dry wood,
   29  methane or other landfill gas, wood fuel derived from
   30  construction or demolition debris, or waste tires, alone or in
   31  combination with fossil fuels.
   32         (3)FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE GRANT PROGRAM.—The department,
   33  subject to appropriation, shall provide annual financial
   34  assistance grants to municipal solid waste-to-energy facilities
   35  that entered into a power purchase agreement with an electric
   36  utility before January 1, 2022, which included capacity and
   37  energy payments, and the owner of the municipal solid waste-to
   38  energy facility has entered into a new or amended power purchase
   39  agreement that either no longer includes capacity payments or
   40  includes capacity and energy payments in an amount less than the
   41  total of the capacity and energy payments the municipal solid
   42  waste-to-energy facility received under the power purchase
   43  agreement entered into before January 1, 2022.
   44         (a) To apply for an annual financial assistance grant, the
   45  owner of a municipal solid waste-to-energy facility must submit
   46  an application to the department. The application must include
   47  the name of the applicant’s municipal solid waste-to-energy
   48  facility, the name of the utility purchasing the electric power
   49  from the municipal solid waste-to-energy facility, the total
   50  capacity and energy payment the municipal solid waste-to-energy
   51  facility received during the last year of the power purchase
   52  agreement entered into before January 1, 2022, and the amount of
   53  energy delivered to and the total amount paid for such power by
   54  an electric utility pursuant to a new or amended power purchase
   55  agreement during the preceding state fiscal year.
   56         (b) The department shall distribute funds, subject to
   57  appropriation, to each qualifying applicant at a rate of 2 cents
   58  per kilowatt-hour of electric power purchased by an electric
   59  utility during the preceding state fiscal year, not to exceed
   60  the difference between the total capacity and energy payment the
   61  municipal solid waste-to-energy facility received during the
   62  last year of the power purchase agreement entered into before
   63  January 1, 2022, and the total of the capacity and energy
   64  payment the municipal solid waste-to-energy facility received
   65  under a new or amended power purchase agreement during the
   66  preceding state fiscal year. To the extent that funds are not
   67  available to provide financial assistance to each qualifying
   68  applicant for every qualifying kilowatt-hour purchased, the
   69  department shall prorate the funds on an equitable basis.
   70         (c) The department shall establish a process to verify the
   71  amount of electric power purchased from a municipal solid waste
   72  to-energy facility by an electric utility during each preceding
   73  state fiscal year. The Public Service Commission shall provide
   74  assistance to the department to help verify the information
   75  provided pursuant to paragraph (a).
   76         (4)INCENTIVE GRANT PROGRAM.—The department, subject to
   77  appropriation, shall provide incentive grants to municipal solid
   78  waste-to-energy facilities to assist with the planning and
   79  designing for constructing, upgrading, or expanding a municipal
   80  solid waste-to-energy facility, including necessary legal or
   81  administrative expenses.
   82         (a)To qualify for an incentive grant, the owner of a
   83  municipal solid waste-to-energy facility must apply to the
   84  department for funding; provide matching funds on a dollar-for
   85  dollar basis; and demonstrate that the project is cost
   86  effective, permittable, and implementable and complies with s.
   87  403.7061.
   88         (b) The Department of Environmental Protection shall
   89  provide assistance to the department in determining the
   90  eligibility of grant applications and establishing requirements
   91  to ensure the long-term and efficient operation and maintenance
   92  of facilities constructed or expanded under an incentive grant.
   93         (c)The department shall perform adequate overview of each
   94  grant application and grant award, including technical review,
   95  regular inspections, disbursement approvals, and auditing, to
   96  implement this section.
   97         (d) The department shall require the termination or
   98  repayment of incentive grant funds if the department determines
   99  that program requirements are not being met.
  100         (5)FUNDING.—Funds appropriated for the Municipal Solid
  101  Waste-to-Energy Program must first be used for financial
  102  assistance grants. Any funds remaining in a state fiscal year
  103  after disbursement to all qualifying applicants may be used to
  104  fund the incentive grant program.
  105         (6) RULES.—The department shall adopt rules to implement
  106  and administer this section, including establishing grant
  107  application processes for financial assistance grants and
  108  incentive grants. The rules shall include application deadlines
  109  and establish the supporting documentation necessary to be
  110  provided to the department. In adopting rules relating to the
  111  financial assistance grant program, the department shall consult
  112  the Public Service Commission. In adopting rules for the
  113  incentive grant program, the department shall consult the
  114  Department of Environmental Protection.
  115         Section 2. (1)For the 2022-2023 fiscal year, the sum of
  116  $100 million in recurring funds is appropriated from the General
  117  Revenue Fund to the Department of Agriculture and Consumer
  118  Services for the Municipal Solid Waste-to-Energy Program, as
  119  provided in s. 377.814, Florida Statutes.
  120         (2)Notwithstanding s. 216.301, Florida Statutes, and
  121  pursuant to s. 216.351, Florida Statutes, funds allocated for
  122  the purpose of this section which are not disbursed by June 30
  123  of the fiscal year in which the funds are allocated may be
  124  carried forward for up to 5 years after the effective date of
  125  the original appropriation.
  126         Section 3. For the 2022-2023 fiscal year, the sums of
  127  $149,832 in recurring funds and $9,984 in nonrecurring funds are
  128  appropriated from the General Revenue Fund to the Department of
  129  Agriculture and Consumer Services, and two full-time equivalent
  130  positions with associated salary rate of 80,540 are authorized,
  131  for the purpose of implementing this act.
  132         Section 4. This act shall take effect July 1, 2022.
  133  
  134  ================= T I T L E  A M E N D M E N T ================
  135  And the title is amended as follows:
  136         Delete everything before the enacting clause
  137  and insert:
  138                        A bill to be entitled                      
  139         An act relating to the Municipal Solid Waste-to-Energy
  140         Program; creating s. 377.814, F.S.; creating the
  141         Municipal Solid Waste-to-Energy Program within the
  142         Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services for a
  143         specified purpose; defining terms; requiring the
  144         department, subject to appropriation, to provide
  145         annual financial assistance grants to municipal solid
  146         waste-to-energy facilities that meet certain
  147         requirements; requiring the department to distribute
  148         funds to qualifying applicants based on certain
  149         criteria; requiring the department to establish a
  150         process to verify the amount of certain electric power
  151         purchases; directing the Public Service Commission to
  152         provide assistance in verifying grant eligibility;
  153         requiring the department, subject to appropriation, to
  154         provide incentive grants to municipal solid waste-to
  155         energy facilities to assist with certain costs;
  156         specifying requirements for applying for the funding;
  157         requiring the Department of Environmental Protection
  158         to provide assistance in determining grant eligibility
  159         and establishing requirements; requiring the
  160         department to perform grant overview; establishing
  161         priority for funding for the grants; requiring the
  162         Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to
  163         adopt rules; providing appropriations; authorizing the
  164         balance of certain unexpended funds to be carried
  165         forward for a specified number of years; authorizing
  166         positions; providing an effective date.
  167  
  168         WHEREAS, as provided in s. 366.91(1), Florida Statutes, the
  169  Legislature has determined that it is in the public interest to
  170  promote the development of renewable energy resources in this
  171  state, and
  172         WHEREAS, under s. 366.91, Florida Statutes, municipal solid
  173  waste-to-energy facilities that use biomass as a fuel or energy
  174  source are deemed to be producing renewable energy, and
  175         WHEREAS, municipal solid waste-to-energy facilities provide
  176  a practical and sustainable solution to reducing landfill waste,
  177  reducing volume by about 87 percent, and
  178         WHEREAS, the Legislature recognizes the benefits that
  179  municipal solid waste-to-energy facilities contribute to the
  180  state and its local communities, and
  181         WHEREAS, the Legislature intends to incentivize the
  182  production and sale of energy from municipal solid waste-to
  183  energy facilities through grant programs, NOW, THEREFORE,