No. CS/SB 544
Filed under Environment & Water.
Golf Courses; Creating the “Golf Course Best Management Practices Certification Act”; providing legislative findings and intent regarding golf course best management practices certification; providing for a type two transfer of the Golf Course Best Management Practices Certification program in the Department of Environmental Protection to the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, etc.
Plain English Summary
AI-GENERATEDFlorida moves its golf course fertilizer best-management-practices certification program from the Department of Environmental Protection to the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Existing contracts tied to the program continue under the new agency for whatever term remains.
The program is renamed the 'Golf Course Best Management Practices Certification Act' and renumbered from section 403.9339 to 604.75. New legislative findings tie the move to the agriculture department's existing oversight of sod and green-industry fertilizer practices.
The certification process itself is unchanged: the University of Florida's turfgrass science program still trains, tests, and certifies applicants, certification still lasts four years, and certified people remain exempt from local water and fertilizer blackout ordinances outside a declared emergency.
AIAll powers, duties, functions, and administrative authority over golf course fertilizer certification move from the Department of Environmental Protection to the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services under a formal 'type two transfer.' The certifying statute is renumbered from section 403.9339 to section 604.75.
AINew legislative findings explain the transfer by pointing to the agriculture department's existing oversight of best-management-practices programs for sod growing and the green industry, and state that certified golf course participants must follow the same fertilizer best-management practices that already govern sod.
AIAny binding contract or interagency agreement the Department of Environmental Protection had in place before July 1, 2026 for this certification program carries over intact to the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services for whatever term remains, rather than lapsing at the transfer.