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March 16, 2022 | Legislative Reporter The Florida Legislature adjourned Sine Die at 1.03 pm on March 14. A total of 3,385 bills were filed including eight concurrent resolutions, 76 single chamber resolutions, 1,753 general bills, 61 local bills, 35 joint resolutions, 23 memorials, and 1,729 appropriation projects. Of this, only 285 bills passed both chambers. The Legislature passed HB 5001, the General Appropriations Act, which contains the details of the $112.1 billion budget, more than 8 percent higher than last year’s budget. Of note, programs supporting affordable housing are allocated more than $362 million, and climate change concerns, such as flood and sea-level rise programs, will receive $471 million. Read a summary of the budget here. Gov. Ron DeSantis has begun to receive bills that have passed both chambers. If a bill was sent to the governor during session, he has seven days to act on it. Now that the session has ended, the timeframe for acting increases to 15 days. If you want to follow the governor’s bill action, go to flgov.com and click on the icon reading “2022 Bill Actions”. The following paragraphs summarize the major bills passed by the legislature that APA Florida tracked. However, you are strongly encouraged to read the actual bill language. Also please look at the bill tracking report here to see if there are other bills of particular interest to you that are not discussed below. Please note these summaries are based on a review of the bill language and legislative staff analysis. The following bills of interest passed the legislature: • Private Provider Inspections of Onsite Sewage Treatment and Disposal Systems: SB 856 ER (Sen. Brodeur) allows the owner of an onsite sewage treatment and disposal system to hire a private provider to perform an inspection that follows applicable regulatory requirements of the system (identified effective date of July 1, 2022). • Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC): SB 494 ER (Sen. Hutson), among other things, amends the Florida Forever Act to require each lead land managing agency, in consultation with the FWC, to consider in the management plan the feasibility of creating a gopher tortoise recipient site for state lands under its management that are larger than 40 contiguous acres; also prohibits a local government from creating a public bathing beach or swim area in the marked channel of the Florida Intracoastal Waterway or within 100 feet of the marked channel (identified effective date of July 1, 2022). March 16, 2022 | Legislative Reporter
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