FL H0363

Requests Congress to distribute civil penalties collected under the Clean Water Act from the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster to fund environmental and economic recovery in the Gulf region, rather than depositing all penalties into the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund.

Proposes creating a Gulf Coast Recovery Fund managed by a Gulf Coast Recovery Council to provide long-term environmental and economic assistance to affected Gulf areas.

Directs a portion of penalties to the five Gulf states to enable individual state recovery efforts.

Retains a portion of penalties for deposit into the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund for future oil spill response efforts.

References University of Central Florida study projecting potential job losses of 39,000 to 195,000 and spending losses of $2 billion to $10.9 billion for Florida's Gulf Coast counties depending on tourism sector impacts.