Ditchmen • NUCA of Florida Ditchmen • May 2017 | Page 13

concluded, terminated, or
an impasse is declared.
Although the House bill
passed two committees
unanimously and was
headed to the House floor,
the Senate bill did not get a
hearing in Senate Judiciary.
Construction Defects: HB
1271 by Trumbull/SB 1164
by Passidomo--FAILED
The bills would have made
changes to the claims
process for construction
defect claims, including:
• Requiring the property
owner to personally sign
any notice of claim to be
served on a party and any
notice of acceptance or
rejection of a settlement
offer;
• Requiring a contractor
or design professional
recipient of a notice of
claim to serve notice
on any contractor,
subcontractor or other
party that he or she
reasonably believes is
responsible for each defect
specified in the notice of
claim;
• Requiring any experts
retained by the property
owner for a construction
defect claim to be
physically present during
any inspection to identify
the location of the
construction defect;
• Requiring a property
owner to serve a written
request for mediation prior
to rejecting any settlement
offer; and,
• Providing that the
statute of limitations for
construction defect claims
may be tolled in some
instances for up to 30
days after mediation is
Environmental Issues
Pollution Spill Legislation:
SB 1018 by Grimsley (SB
532 by Galvano)/(HB 1065
by Peters)
SB 1018 relating to the
contamination site clean-
up for underground
storage tanks was
amended to include the
“spill bill” and is in direct
response to the pollution
spills this past year with the
Mosaic Company site and
the City of St. Petersburg
wastewater discharge
in Pinellas County and
attempt to create a more
sensible approach for
notification when bad
things happen.
The bill which creates
the Public Notice of
Pollution Act requires
the owner or operator
of an installation where
a reportable pollution
release has occurred to
provide a notice of the
release to the Department
of Environmental
Protection (DEP) within 24
hours after the release’s
discovery. The definition
of a reportable release
is limited to releases not
authorized by law that are
required to be reported
to the State Watch Office
pursuant to a DEP rule,
permit, order, or variance.
The owner or operator of
the installation, in its notice
of a release, must provide
DEP the same information
which is reported to the
State Watch Office. The
bill also requires additional
notice to DEP if a release
migrates outside the
property boundaries of the
installation.
The bill establishes
requirements for DEP
to accept these notices
and to provide notice
electronically. The bill also
provides enforcement
provisions including up
to $10,000 per day in civil
penalties for violations of
the notice requirements
and authorizes DEP to
adopt rules to implement
its responsibilities under
the Act.
Lastly, the bill creates the
State Watch Office within
the Division of Emergency
Management. The office
is a clearinghouse of
information, the primary
purpose of which is to
record, analyze, and share
information with federal,
state, and county entities
for appropriate response to
emergencies.
MAY 2017 • DITCHMEN
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