Bill Amendment: FL S1400 | 2019 | Regular Session

NOTE: For additional amemendments please see the Bill Drafting List

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Bill Title: Private Property Rights

Status: 2019-04-26 - Laid on Table, companion bill(s) passed, see CS/HB 1159 (Ch. 2019-155) [S1400 Detail]

Download: Florida-2019-S1400-Senate_Committee_Amendment_694068.html

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       Florida Senate - 2019                        COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
       Bill No. SB 1400
       
       
       
       
       
       
                                Ì694068GÎ694068                         
       
                              LEGISLATIVE ACTION                        
                    Senate             .             House              
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       The Committee on Community Affairs (Flores) recommended the
       following:
       
    1         Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
    2  
    3         Delete everything after the enacting clause
    4  and insert:
    5         Section 1. Section 163.3209, Florida Statutes, is amended
    6  to read:
    7         163.3209 Electric transmission and distribution line right
    8  of-way maintenance.—After a right-of-way for any electric
    9  transmission or distribution line has been established and
   10  constructed, no local government shall require or apply any
   11  permits or other approvals or code provisions for or related to
   12  vegetation maintenance and tree pruning or trimming within the
   13  established right-of-way. The term “vegetation maintenance and
   14  tree pruning or trimming” means the mowing of vegetation within
   15  the right-of-way, removal of trees or brush within the right-of
   16  way, and selective removal of tree branches that extend within
   17  the right-of-way. The provisions of this section do not include
   18  the removal of trees outside the right-of-way, which may be
   19  allowed in compliance with applicable local ordinances. Prior to
   20  conducting scheduled routine vegetation maintenance and tree
   21  pruning or trimming activities within an established right-of
   22  way, the utility shall provide the official designated by the
   23  local government with a minimum of 5 business days’ advance
   24  notice. Such advance notice is not required for vegetation
   25  maintenance and tree pruning or trimming required to restore
   26  electric service or to avoid an imminent vegetation-caused
   27  outage or when performed at the request of the property owner
   28  adjacent to the right-of-way, provided that the owner has
   29  approval of the local government, if needed. Upon the request of
   30  the local government, the electric utility shall meet with the
   31  local government to discuss and submit the utility’s vegetation
   32  maintenance plan, including the utility’s trimming
   33  specifications and maintenance practices. Vegetation maintenance
   34  and tree pruning or trimming conducted by utilities shall
   35  conform to ANSI A300 (Part I)—2001 pruning standards and ANSI
   36  Z133.1-2000 Pruning, Repairing, Maintaining, and Removing Trees,
   37  and Cutting Brush—Safety Requirements. Vegetation maintenance
   38  and tree pruning or trimming conducted by utilities must be
   39  supervised by qualified electric utility personnel or licensed
   40  contractors trained to conduct vegetation maintenance and tree
   41  trimming or pruning consistent with this section or by Certified
   42  Arborists certified by the Certification Program of the
   43  International Society of Arboriculture. A local government shall
   44  not adopt an ordinance or land development regulation that
   45  requires the planting of a tree or other vegetation that will
   46  achieve a height greater than 14 feet in an established electric
   47  utility right-of-way or intrude from the side closer than the
   48  clearance distance specified in Table 2 of ANSI Z133.1-2000 for
   49  lines affected by the North American Electric Reliability
   50  Council Standard, FAC 003.1 requirement R1.2. This section does
   51  not supersede or nullify the terms of specific franchise
   52  agreements between an electric utility and a local government
   53  and shall not be construed to limit a local government’s
   54  franchising authority. This section does not supersede local
   55  government ordinances or regulations governing planting,
   56  pruning, trimming, or removal of specimen trees or historical
   57  trees, as defined in a local government’s ordinances or
   58  regulations, or trees within designated canopied protection
   59  areas. This section shall not apply if a local government
   60  develops, with input from the utility, and the local government
   61  adopts, a written plan specifically for vegetation maintenance,
   62  tree pruning, tree removal, and tree trimming by the utility
   63  within the local government’s established rights-of-way and the
   64  plan is not inconsistent with the minimum requirements of the
   65  National Electrical Safety Code as adopted by the Public Service
   66  Commission; provided, however, such a plan shall not require the
   67  planting of a tree or other vegetation that will achieve a
   68  height greater than 14 feet in an established electric right-of
   69  way. Vegetation maintenance costs shall be considered
   70  recoverable costs.
   71         Section 2. Section 163.3214, Florida Statutes, is created
   72  to read:
   73         163.3214 Tree pruning, trimming, or removal on residential
   74  property.—
   75         (1) A local government may not enforce an ordinance or
   76  regulation governing the pruning, trimming, or removal of trees
   77  on residential property which requires a permit, an application,
   78  the provision of notice, a fee, or a fine when the following
   79  applies:
   80         (a) The residential property is in a county that is under a
   81  tropical storm or hurricane watch or under a declared state of
   82  emergency; and
   83         (b) The property owner has obtained from an arborist who is
   84  certified by a certification program of the International
   85  Society of Arboriculture proof that the tree is damaged,
   86  diseased, or pest-infested or presents a danger to others or to
   87  property.
   88         (2) All tree debris material removed pursuant to subsection
   89  (1) must be cleared from the residential property within 24
   90  hours after the material has been removed.
   91         (3) A local government may require a property owner to
   92  replant a tree that has been removed in accordance with this
   93  section.
   94         Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2019.
   95  
   96  ================= T I T L E  A M E N D M E N T ================
   97  And the title is amended as follows:
   98         Delete everything before the enacting clause
   99  and insert:
  100                        A bill to be entitled                      
  101         An act relating to private property rights; amending
  102         s. 163.3209, F.S.; deleting a provision that
  103         authorizes electric utilities to perform certain
  104         right-of-way tree maintenance only if a property owner
  105         has received local government approval; creating s.
  106         163.3214, F.S.; prohibiting certain local government
  107         ordinances or regulations from requiring a permit,
  108         application, notice, fee, or fine for certain
  109         activities regarding trees on residential property;
  110         requiring tree debris material to be removed from the
  111         property within a specified timeframe; authorizing a
  112         local government to require a property owner to
  113         replant a tree under certain circumstances; providing
  114         an effective date.