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Coastal:
Clean Ocean Act

Our Position: monitor
Bill Number: HB57/SB444
Sponsor: Representatives Allen, Garcia, Randolph & Senator Bennett
Legislative Session: 2007

5/4/07: Sadly, the House version HB57 died in Senate messages. And the Senate  Sponsor would never release the bill from committee nor agree to change it from a study back HB57. See article found in Background section. 4/28/07: HB57 was amended on the House Floor Friday and rolled over to third reading for final HOUSE passage on Monday. Then it will be sent to the Senate or held  till the SEnate version arrives in the House. However, the Senate bill will have to be  withdrawn from committees, because it has not made its way to the Senate Floor.  Background provided by the Surfrider Foundation:        The Clean Oceans Bill’s (HB57 and SB444), was designed to require owners and  operators of Day Cruise Gambling Vessels to register with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection on an annual basis.  It also provides ports to which  these vessels dock the ability to establish and collect fees associated with pump-out and disposal of scheduled releases from these vessels whether they   use such services or not.  More importantly, it lays down a framework in which  Florida can petition to the Federal government to extend sewage dumping restrictions into Federal waters.  Due to restrictions in Federal Maritime Law, Florida  cannot enact legislation banning sewage dumping from these vessels when they are beyond 3 miles from the east coast and 9 miles from the west coast of the State.               Despite definitive studies from the Pew Oceans Commission, Congressional Reporting Service, U.S. General Accounting Office, U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy and Florida Keys Marine Sanctuary that vessel discharges are contributing factors  to degradation of our oceans; Senator Bennett has opted to amend his own bill to study the matter rather than take action.  Brian Keller, Science Coordinator for the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, when asked whether further scientific evidence was needed to show these discharges cause harm, noted:  “This is less a matter of needing scientific evidence and more a matter of applying common sense.  Science is fundamental to environmental decision making, but minimizing human contamination of coastal waters is a wise action that should not require further research.”   While debating the  Clean Oceans Bill, advocates showed that gambling ships  have the capacity to dump 44 million gallons of partially treated grey and black water sewage off Florida’s coast every year.  When confronted with these numbers and the estimated fee of $5 per 1000 gallons to pump instead of dump, Day Cruise Association lobbyist Ralph Haben told the House Environmental & Natural Resource Council “…we ain’t hooking up”. So please contact your legislator and tell them to support the House version and not the Senate.     4/21/07: 04/13/07 SB444: Withdrawn from Military Affairs and Domestic Security; Now in                   Regulated Industries; 4/21/07:  HB57 now in House Policy & Budget Council. 3/29/07 the Senate Environmental Preservation and Conservation Committee amended the bill to just a study to see if indeed the day trip gambling ships dumping of human waste is degrading the ocean and beach environment. Click here to read the new bill language.  The next Committee stop for this bill is now in Military Affairs and Domestic Security, Chaired by Senator Dockery.   3/7/07: HB 57 - Clean Ocean Act/Gambling Vessels

GENERAL BILL   by Allen (CO-SPONSORS) Garcia, L.; Randolph Clean Ocean Act/Gambling Vessels: Creates "Clean Ocean Act"; requires gambling vessels operating in coastal waters to register with DEP; requires ports to establish procedures for release of certain substances by gambling vessels at port facilities; requires ports to establish & collect certain fees; requires reporting of release of certain substances into coastal waters by gambling vessels; provides civil penalties for violations; provides exemptions; requires DEP to adopt rules; directs DEP to petition Federal Government to prohibit certain releases within federal territorial waters off state shores   SB444: Clean Ocean Act/Gambling Vessels [RPCC]; requires gambling vessels   operating in coastal waters to register with DEP; requires ports to   establish procedures for release of certain substances by gambling vessels at port facilities; requires reporting of release of certain   substances into coastal waters by gambling vessels; directs DEP to   petition Federal Government to prohibit certain releases within federal   territorial waters off shores of this state, etc. Creates 376.25.   EFFECTIVE DATE: 07/01/2007.

Status

Click here to learn more about SB444

Action Needed

3/31/07: the House bill is now in the House Environmental Council and could be heard this coming Wednesday, 4/4/07. We are disappointed that the bill has been whittled down to a study.

3/20:07: Click here to contact Senate Environmental Preservation and Conservation Committee members.

Contact

Background

5/4/07:

May 6, 2007 Brevard delegation's promises unfulfilled BY PAIGE ST. JOHN FLORIDA TODAY Despite relative success in funding local parks and a community theatre, local lawmakers were frustrated in filling their must-have, take-home promises. Sen. Mike Haridopolos' efforts to bring property tax relief -- he took the lead on the Senate side -- are on hiatus until June, when the Legislature reconvenes for a special session that also might address car insurance. The continuing home insurance struggles that keep Sen. Bill Posey up at night also remain, thanks to a Legislature hesitant to force any but the rich to harden their homes. And Rep. Bob Allen, though winning approval for a state fund to encourage private investment in the space industry, again lost his fight over sewage-dumping gambling ships. "Next year," he said. "And next year, when I will choose partners, I will like them to go for victory all the way to the end." Sen. Mike Bennett -- the original Senate sponsor of Allen's Clean Oceans bill -- blocked efforts to bring the bill up for a Senate vote. It died when lawmakers adjourned Friday afternoon. Bennett's defection also is a sign of how Senate politics can derail legislation. The Bradenton contractor seeks to be Senate president in four years, and has begun soliciting pledges from the Brevard House members who might fill Posey's seat. Allen, the only one to file for the 2010 race, already has been approached to take sides. Other delegation members are expected to join the race. Declarations of allegiance in the Senate can determine how well bills do now in that chamber. In his remaining three years, Posey, chairman of the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee, said he will be dogged with his own problem -- property insurance. It hits Brevard County particularly hard, as major insurers continue to retract from the coastal county. "I go to bed at 11:08, wake up at 1, and I'm trying to think of a new way, a new angle to do this," Posey said. "This can cost everybody everything." The Rockledge Republican was unable to convince fellow legislators to require more than a small portion of state residents to harden their homes against hurricane damage. Likewise, the folks at home did not let Haridopolos forget their property tax woes. Unable to reach a compromise on dueling tax plans during regular session, the House and Senate have agreed to try again in mid June. Haridopolos, R-Indialantic, chaired the Senate tax committee. Now he'll have to explain to residents why nothing happened yet. "I'm going to tell them I wish we could have gotten it done but we're not going to get something done just for the sake of getting it done," he said. "The most important thing that taxpayers are going to know if their next tax bill is going to be lower . . . I think there is just a confluence of events that made it difficult for us to strike that deal. "The package we pass in June will not only mean reductions, but that government has to be on a responsible budget." While the Legislature struggles with broad consumer relief, it did manage to fund a laundry list of local projects that now must also pass muster with Gov. Charlie Crist and his line-item veto pen on the budget. Rep. Mitch Needelman, R-Melbourne, said the earmarks reflect the need for state agencies to pay more attention to small community needs. They include $528,045 for an addition to the Cocoa Village Playhouse, to house dressing rooms and set construction, and $300,000 for a technology program at Brevard high schools. Several parks will receive $750,000 in budget earmarks including the Riverside park, Veterans Memorial Center Park, Melbourne Military Park, the Spacewalk Hall of Fame Riverfront Park, Nance Park, DeSoto Park and a county sports park. An intermodal project at Port Canaveral will receive $1.8 million, and the budget includes money to expand George King Boulevard, to resurface U.S. 1 and improve parts of Interstate 95, including from Malabar Road to State Road 51.

3/25/07:

The House Environmental Protection Committee began at 8 am Wednesday 3/21/07, and  had to pick up again at 4pm that day because they ran out of Committee time. The Clean Ocean Act HB57 by Representative Allen is controversial again this year, even though he lightened up on the requirements to dumping out in the ocean. He wants the “cruise ships to nowhere” to dump their waste at the disposal facilities dockside and pay a fee to do it.  We supported him last year and did again this year. The House bill passed out of Committee and will now move to the next committee.  The Senate version of the Ocean’s Act was heard Thursday, in Senate Environmental Preservation and Conservation; we spoke, as did Surf Rider, and Rep. Allen presented the bill to the Committee for the sponsor, Senator Bennett. After much debate, the bill was tabled and it may come up this week, with an amendment agreed to by the Sponsors. The amendment may have the DEP do a study to find out if the vessels “to nowhere” are contributing to the pollution problems of the reefs and beach closings.