CS/HB 7019 Summary

• Establishes the Resilient Florida Grant Program within the Department of Environmental Protection to provide grants to local governments for community resilience planning, vulnerability assessments, and projects adapting critical assets to flooding and sea level rise risks.

• Requires the Department of Environmental Protection to complete a comprehensive statewide flood vulnerability and sea level rise data set by July 1, 2022, and a statewide assessment by July 1, 2023, incorporating local vulnerability assessments and using specified modeling standards and planning horizons.

• Creates an annual Statewide Flooding and Sea Level Rise Resilience Plan with a 3-year horizon to be submitted to the Governor and Legislature starting December 1, 2021, ranked by a four-tiered scoring system with a maximum annual funding amount of $100 million.

• Establishes the Florida Flood Hub for Applied Research and Innovation at the University of South Florida College of Marine Science to coordinate academic and research efforts on flood prediction, modeling, and workforce development related to flooding and sea level rise.

• Amends section 403.928 to require the Office of Economic and Demographic Research to include analysis of future expenditures needed for inland and coastal flood control over a 50-year planning horizon, effective upon becoming law.