No. SB 7034
Filed under Environment & Water.
Ratification of Rules of the Department of Environmental Protection; Ratifying a specified rule relating to the Lower Santa Fe and Ichetucknee Rivers and Priority Springs minimum flows and recovery strategy for the sole and exclusive purpose of satisfying any condition on effectiveness pursuant to s. 120.541(3), F.S., which requires ratification of any rule exceeding the specified thresholds for likely adverse impact or increase in regulatory costs, etc.
Plain English Summary
AI-GENERATEDFlorida law requires legislative ratification before a department rule with a high enough estimated cost or impact can take effect. This bill supplies that sign-off for one specific rule; nothing else changes about the rule's content.
The rule being ratified sets minimum flows, levels, and a recovery strategy for the Lower Santa Fe and Ichetucknee Rivers and Priority Springs. Its specific numbers and requirements come entirely from the rule itself, not from this act.
This act does not cure any defect in how the rule was adopted and does not block a legal challenge over the department's authority. It also does not expand the department's rulemaking power or override any other law governing the rule.
This act won't appear as a numbered Florida Statute. Its passage and effective date will instead be noted only in the Florida Administrative Code and the Florida Administrative Register.
AIThe Legislature ratifies Rule 62-42.300, Florida Administrative Code, the department's minimum flows, levels, and recovery strategy rule for the Lower Santa Fe and Ichetucknee Rivers and Priority Springs, as filed with the Department of State in a certification package dated December 31, 2025, satisfying the sign-off a costly rule needs before taking effect.
AIRatifying this rule does not fix any problem in how it was adopted and does not stop a legal challenge claiming the department lacked authority or violated the required adoption process. The ratification addresses only the cost-based sign-off, nothing else about the rule's validity.
AIThis ratification does not change any rulemaking power the department already had, and is not the Legislature overriding or creating an exception to the normal legal requirements that govern how this rule is adopted or enforced.
AIThis act serves no purpose beyond ratifying the one rule named. It will not be codified anywhere in the Florida Statutes, and instead must be noted in the Florida Administrative Code, the Florida Administrative Register, or both.