South Florida Clean Coastal Waters Act of 2019

IIB 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 335 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES OCTOBER 15, 2019 Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation AN ACT To require the Inter-Agency Task Force on Harmful Algal Blooms and Hypoxia to develop a plan for reducing, mitigating, and controlling harmful algal blooms and hy- poxia in South Florida, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:02 Oct 15, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H335.RFS H335 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 HR 335 RFS SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘South Florida Clean 2 Coastal Waters Act of 2019’’. 3 SEC. 2. SOUTH FLORIDA HARMFUL ALGAL BLOOMS AND 4 HYPOXIA ASSESSMENT AND ACTION PLAN. 5 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Harmful Algal Bloom and 6 Hypoxia Research and Control Act of 1998 (Public Law 7 105–383; 33 U.S.C. 4001 et seq.) is amended— 8 (1) by redesignating sections 605 through 609 9 as sections 606 through 610, respectively; and 10 (2) by inserting after section 604 the following: 11 ‘‘SEC. 605. SOUTH FLORIDA HARMFUL ALGAL BLOOMS AND 12 HYPOXIA. 13 ‘‘(a) SOUTH FLORIDA.—In this section, the term 14 ‘South Florida’ means— 15 ‘‘(1) all lands and waters within the administra- 16 tive boundaries of the South Florida Water Manage- 17 ment District; 18 ‘‘(2) regional coastal waters, including Biscayne 19 Bay, the Caloosahatchee Estuary, Florida Bay, and 20 Indian River Lagoon; and 21 ‘‘(3) the Florida Reef Tract. 22 ‘‘(b) INTEGRATED ASSESSMENT.—Not later than 23 540 days after the date of enactment of the South Florida 24 Clean Coastal Waters Act of 2019, the Task Force, in ac- 25 cordance with the authority under section 603, shall com- 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:02 Oct 15, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H335.RFS H335 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 HR 335 RFS plete and submit to Congress and the President an interim 1 integrated assessment. Not later than 3 years after such 2 date of enactment, the Task Force shall finalize, and sub- 3 mit to Congress and the President, such assessment. Such 4 assessment shall examine the causes, consequences, and 5 potential approaches to reduce harmful algal blooms and 6 hypoxia in South Florida, and the status of, and gaps 7 within, current harmful algal bloom and hypoxia research, 8 monitoring, management, prevention, response, and con- 9 trol activities that directly affect the region by— 10 ‘‘(1) Federal agencies; 11 ‘‘(2) State agencies; 12 ‘‘(3) regional research consortia; 13 ‘‘(4) academia; 14 ‘‘(5) private industry; 15 ‘‘(6) nongovernmental organizations; and 16 ‘‘(7) Indian tribes (as defined in section 4 of 17 the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assist- 18 ance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304)). 19 ‘‘(c) ACTION PLAN.— 20 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 3 years and 21 6 months after the date of the enactment of the 22 South Florida Clean Coastal Waters Act of 2019, 23 the Task Force shall develop and submit to Con- 24 gress a plan, based on the integrated assessment 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:02 Oct 15, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H335.RFS H335 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 HR 335 RFS under subsection (b), for reducing, mitigating, and 1 controlling harmful algal blooms and hypoxia in 2 South Florida. 3 ‘‘(2) CONTENTS.—The plan submitted under 4 paragraph (1) shall— 5 ‘‘(A) address the monitoring needs identi- 6 fied in the integrated assessment under sub- 7 section (b); 8 ‘‘(B) develop a timeline and budgetary re- 9 quirements for deployment of future assets; 10 ‘‘(C) identify requirements for the develop- 11 ment and verification of South Florida harmful 12 algal bloom and hypoxia models, including— 13 ‘‘(i) all assumptions built into the 14 models; and 15 ‘‘(ii) data quality methods used to en- 16 sure the best available data are utilized; 17 and 18 ‘‘(D) propose a plan to implement a re- 19 mote monitoring network and early warning 20 system for alerting local communities in the re- 21 gion to harmful algal bloom risks that may im- 22 pact human health. 23 ‘‘(3) REQUIREMENTS.—In developing the action 24 plan, the Task Force shall— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:02 Oct 15, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H335.RFS H335 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 HR 335 RFS ‘‘(A) consult with the State of Florida, and 1 affected local and tribal governments; 2 ‘‘(B) consult with representatives from re- 3 gional academic, agricultural, industry, and 4 other stakeholder groups; 5 ‘‘(C) ensure that the plan complements 6 and does not duplicate activities conducted by 7 other Federal or State agencies, including the 8 South Florida Ecosystem Restoration Task 9 Force; 10 ‘‘(D) identify critical research for reducing, 11 mitigating, and controlling harmful algal bloom 12 events and their effects; 13 ‘‘(E) evaluate cost-effective, incentive- 14 based partnership approaches; 15 ‘‘(F) ensure that the plan is technically 16 sound and cost-effective; 17 ‘‘(G) utilize existing research, assessments, 18 reports, and program activities; 19 ‘‘(H) publish a summary of the proposed 20 plan in the Federal Register at least 180 days 21 prior to submitting the completed plan to Con- 22 gress; and 23 ‘‘(I) after submitting the completed plan to 24 Congress, provide biennial progress reports on 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:02 Oct 15, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H335.RFS H335 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 HR 335 RFS the activities toward achieving the objectives of 1 the plan.’’. 2 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT AND CORRECTION.—The 3 table of contents in section 2 of the Coast Guard Author- 4 ization Act of 1998 (Public Law 105–383) is amended by 5 striking the items relating to title VI and inserting the 6 following new items: 7 ‘‘TITLE VI—HARMFUL ALGAL BLOOMS AND HYPOXIA ‘‘Sec. 601. Short title. ‘‘Sec. 602. Findings. ‘‘Sec. 603. Assessments. ‘‘Sec. 603A. National Harmful Algal Bloom and Hypoxia Program. ‘‘Sec. 603B. Comprehensive research plan and action strategy. ‘‘Sec. 604. Northern Gulf of Mexico hypoxia. ‘‘Sec. 605. South Florida harmful algal blooms and hypoxia. ‘‘Sec. 606. Great Lakes hypoxia and harmful algal blooms. ‘‘Sec. 607. Protection of States’ Rights. ‘‘Sec. 608. Effect on other Federal authority. ‘‘Sec. 609. Definitions. ‘‘Sec. 610. Authorization of appropriations.’’. Passed the House of Representatives September 26, 2019. Attest: CHERYL L. JOHNSON, Clerk. VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:02 Oct 15, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H335.RFS H335 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS