FL H0491

Division of Bond Finance must review private activity bond allocations to identify additional bonds available for water and wastewater infrastructure projects

Persons who resell water service to tenants or individually metered residents are exempt from Florida Public Service Commission regulation, provided the resale fee does not exceed the actual purchase price of water plus meter reading and billing costs (capped at 9% of actual cost of service)

Public Service Commission may authorize utilities to create reserve funds for infrastructure repair and replacement of aging distribution and collection systems, funded through rates, escrow accounts, or letters of credit, with commission-adopted rules governing fund implementation and disbursement

Expands the list of specific expense items (including biosolids disposal fees, tank inspection costs, operator license fees, and water use permit fees) that can trigger automatic rate increases or decreases without a hearing, upon 45 days' verified notice to the commission; rate case expenses recoverable through rates must be apportioned over 4 years, and utilities may not earn a return on unamortized rate case expense balances

Department of Environmental Protection may direct the Florida Water Pollution Control Financing Corporation to make loans, grants, and deposits to for-profit, privately owned, or investor-owned water systems, removing prior restrictions that limited eligibility for systems serving 1,500 or more connections; effective July 1, 2016