Bill Text: FL S1170 | 2023 | Regular Session | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Flooding and Sea Level Rise Vulnerability Studies

Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Republican 2-1)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2023-05-01 - Laid on Table, companion bill(s) passed, see CS/HB 111 (Ch. 2023-231) [S1170 Detail]

Download: Florida-2023-S1170-Introduced.html

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       Florida Senate - 2023                                    SB 1170
       
       
        
       By Senator Calatayud
       
       
       
       
       
       38-00767A-23                                          20231170__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to flooding and sea level rise
    3         vulnerability studies; amending s. 380.093, F.S.;
    4         revising the purposes for which the Department of
    5         Environmental Protection may provide grants under the
    6         Resilient Florida Grant Program to counties or
    7         municipalities; authorizing the department to provide
    8         such grants to water management districts for a
    9         specified purpose; providing for the prioritization of
   10         such grants; transferring, renumbering, and amending
   11         s. 161.551, F.S.; defining and redefining terms;
   12         requiring state-financed constructors to take
   13         specified actions before commencing construction of
   14         potentially at-risk structures or infrastructure
   15         beginning on a specified date; revising requirements
   16         for the sea level impact projection study standard the
   17         department is required to develop by rule; conforming
   18         provisions to changes made by the act; providing an
   19         effective date.
   20          
   21  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   22  
   23         Section 1. Paragraph (b) of subsection (3) of section
   24  380.093, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
   25         380.093 Resilient Florida Grant Program; comprehensive
   26  statewide flood vulnerability and sea level rise data set and
   27  assessment; Statewide Flooding and Sea Level Rise Resilience
   28  Plan; regional resilience entities.—
   29         (3) RESILIENT FLORIDA GRANT PROGRAM.—
   30         (b) Subject to appropriation, the department may provide
   31  grants to all of the following entities:
   32         1. A county or municipality to fund:
   33         a.1. The costs of community resilience planning and
   34  necessary data collection for such planning, including
   35  comprehensive plan amendments and necessary corresponding
   36  analyses that address the requirements of s. 163.3178(2)(f).
   37         b.2. Vulnerability assessments that identify or address
   38  risks of inland or coastal flooding and sea level rise.
   39         c.3. The development of projects, plans, and policies that
   40  allow communities to prepare for threats from flooding and sea
   41  level rise.
   42         d.4. Preconstruction activities for projects to be
   43  submitted for inclusion in the Statewide Flooding and Sea Level
   44  Rise Resilience Plan that are located in a municipality that has
   45  a population of 10,000 or fewer or a county that has a
   46  population of 50,000 or fewer, according to the most recent
   47  April 1 population estimates posted on the Office of Economic
   48  and Demographic Research’s website.
   49         e. Feasibility studies and the cost of permitting for
   50  innovative measures that reduce the impact of flooding and sea
   51  level rise and focus on nature-based solutions.
   52         2. In support of local government adaptation planning, a
   53  water management district as identified in s. 373.069, either
   54  directly or through contracted services. Such grants must be
   55  used for the express purpose of supporting the Florida Flood Hub
   56  for Applied Research and Innovation and the department in
   57  implementing this section through data creation and collection,
   58  modeling, and the implementation of statewide standards.
   59  Priority must be given to filling critical data gaps identified
   60  by the Florida Flood Hub for Applied Research and Innovation
   61  under s. 380.0933(2)(a).
   62         Section 2. Section 161.551, Florida Statutes, is
   63  transferred, renumbered as section 380.0937, Florida Statutes,
   64  and amended to read:
   65         380.0937 161.551 Public financing of construction projects
   66  within areas at risk due to sea level rise the coastal building
   67  zone.—
   68         (1) As used in this section, the term:
   69         (a) “Area at risk due to sea level rise” means any location
   70  projected to be below the threshold for tidal flooding within
   71  the next 50 years by adding sea level rise using the highest of
   72  the sea level rise projections required by s. 380.093(3)(d)3.b.
   73  For purposes of this paragraph, the threshold for tidal flooding
   74  is 2 feet above mean higher high water.
   75         (b) “Department” means the Department of Environmental
   76  Protection.
   77         (c)(a) “Potentially at-risk Coastal structure or
   78  infrastructure” means any of the following when within an area
   79  at risk due to sea level rise:
   80         1. A critical asset as defined in s. 380.093(2)(a)1., 2.,
   81  or 3.
   82         2. A historical or cultural asset a major structure or
   83  nonhabitable major structure within the coastal building zone.
   84         (d)(b) “Public entity” means the state or any of its
   85  political subdivisions, or any municipality, county, agency,
   86  special district, authority, or other public body corporate of
   87  the state which is demonstrated to perform a public function or
   88  to serve a governmental purpose that could properly be performed
   89  or served by an appropriate governmental unit.
   90         (f)(c) “SLIP study” means a sea level impact projection
   91  study as established by the department pursuant to subsection
   92  (3).
   93         (g)(d) “State-financed constructor” means a public entity
   94  that commissions or manages a construction project using funds
   95  appropriated from the state.
   96         (e) “Significant Substantial flood damage” means flood,
   97  erosion, inundation, or wave action damage resulting from a
   98  discrete or compound natural hazard single event, such as a
   99  flood or tropical weather system, where such damage exceeds:
  100         1. Twenty-five 25 percent of the replacement cost market
  101  value of the potentially at-risk coastal structure or
  102  infrastructure at the time of the event; or
  103         2. A defined threshold established by the department by
  104  rule, in coordination with the Department of Transportation and
  105  water management districts, for a potentially at-risk structure
  106  or infrastructure for which replacement cost is not an
  107  appropriate metric, such as roadways. The threshold must be
  108  established by July 1, 2024.
  109         (2) Beginning July 1, 2024 1 year after the date the rule
  110  developed by the department pursuant to subsection (3) is
  111  finalized and is otherwise in effect, a state-financed
  112  constructor may not commence construction of a potentially at
  113  risk coastal structure or infrastructure without:
  114         (a) Conducting a SLIP study that meets the requirements
  115  established by the department;
  116         (b) Submitting the study to the department; and
  117         (c) Receiving notification from the department that the
  118  study was received and that it has been published on the
  119  department’s website pursuant to paragraph (6)(a) for at least
  120  30 days. The state-financed constructor is solely responsible
  121  for ensuring that the study submitted to the department for
  122  publication meets the requirements under subsection (3).
  123         (3) The department shall develop by rule a standard by
  124  which a state-financed constructor must conduct a SLIP study and
  125  may require that a professional engineer sign off on the study.
  126  The rule must be effective 1 year after the date it is finalized
  127  and applies only to projects not yet commenced as of the date
  128  the rule is finalized. The rule may not apply retroactively to
  129  projects that commenced before the date the rule is finalized.
  130  At a minimum, the standard must require that a state-financed
  131  constructor do all of the following:
  132         (a) Use a systematic, interdisciplinary, and scientifically
  133  accepted approach in the natural sciences and construction
  134  design in conducting the study.
  135         (b) Assess the flooding, inundation, and wave action damage
  136  risks relating to the potentially at-risk coastal structure or
  137  infrastructure over its expected life or 50 years, whichever is
  138  less.
  139         1. The assessment must take into account potential relative
  140  local sea level sea-level rise and increased storm risk during
  141  the expected life of the potentially at-risk coastal structure
  142  or infrastructure or 50 years, whichever is less, and, to the
  143  extent possible, account for the contribution of sea level sea
  144  level rise versus land subsidence to the relative local sea
  145  level sea-level rise.
  146         2. The assessment must provide scientific and engineering
  147  evidence of the risk to the potentially at-risk coastal
  148  structure or infrastructure and methods used to mitigate, adapt
  149  to, or reduce this risk.
  150         3. The assessment must use and consider available
  151  scientific research and generally accepted industry practices.
  152         4. The assessment must provide an estimated probability of
  153  significant the mean average annual chance of substantial flood
  154  damage to the potentially at-risk structure or infrastructure
  155  over the expected life of the coastal structure or
  156  infrastructure or 50 years, whichever is less.
  157         5. The assessment must analyze potential public safety and
  158  environmental impacts resulting from damage to the potentially
  159  at-risk coastal structure or infrastructure, including, but not
  160  limited to, leakage of pollutants, electrocution and explosion
  161  hazards, and hazards resulting from floating or flying
  162  structural debris.
  163         (c) Provide alternatives for the coastal structure’s design
  164  and siting of the potentially at-risk structure or
  165  infrastructure, and analyze how such alternatives would impact
  166  the risks specified in subparagraph (b)5. as well as the risk
  167  and cost associated with maintaining, repairing, and
  168  constructing the potentially at-risk coastal structure or
  169  infrastructure.
  170         (d) Provide a list of flood mitigation strategies evaluated
  171  as part of the design of the potentially at-risk structure or
  172  infrastructure and identify appropriate flood mitigation
  173  strategies for consideration as part of the potentially at-risk
  174  structure or infrastructure design.
  175  
  176  If multiple potentially at-risk coastal structures or
  177  infrastructure are to be built concurrently within one project,
  178  a state-financed constructor may conduct and submit one SLIP
  179  study for the entire project for publication by the department.
  180         (4) If a state-financed constructor commences construction
  181  of a potentially at-risk coastal structure or infrastructure but
  182  has not complied with the SLIP study requirement under
  183  subsection (2), the department may institute a civil action in a
  184  court of competent jurisdiction to:
  185         (a) Seek injunctive relief to cease further construction of
  186  the potentially at-risk coastal structure or infrastructure or
  187  to enforce compliance with this section or with rules adopted by
  188  the department pursuant to this section.
  189         (b) If the potentially at-risk coastal structure or
  190  infrastructure has been completed or has been substantially
  191  completed, seek recovery of all or a portion of state funds
  192  expended on the potentially at-risk coastal structure or
  193  infrastructure.
  194         (5) This section does not may not be construed to create a
  195  cause of action for damages or otherwise authorize the
  196  imposition of penalties by a public entity for failure to
  197  implement what is contained in the SLIP study.
  198         (6) The department:
  199         (a) Shall publish and maintain a copy of each SLIP study
  200  all SLIP studies submitted pursuant to this section on its
  201  website for at least 10 years after the date the department
  202  receives the study receipt. However, any portion of a study
  203  containing information that is exempt from s. 119.07(1) and s.
  204  24(a), Art. I of the State Constitution must be redacted by the
  205  department before publication.
  206         (b) Shall adopt rules as necessary to administer this
  207  section.
  208         (7) The department may enforce the requirements of this
  209  section.
  210         Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2023.