II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 10 

To require the Inter-Agency Task Force on Harmful Algal Blooms and 

Hypoxia to develop a plan for reducing, mitigating, and controlling harmful algal blooms and hypoxia in South Florida, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 3, 2019 

Mr. RUBIO introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To require the Inter-Agency Task Force on Harmful Algal 

Blooms and Hypoxia to develop a plan for reducing, 

mitigating, and controlling harmful algal blooms and hypoxia in South Florida, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘South Florida Clean 

5 Coastal Waters Act of 2019’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. SOUTH FLORIDA HARMFUL ALGAL BLOOMS AND 

2 HYPOXIA ASSESSMENT AND ACTION PLAN. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Harmful Algal Bloom and 

4 Hypoxia Research and Control Act of 1998 (Public Law 

5 105–383; 33 U.S.C. 4001 et seq.) is amended— 

6 (1) by redesignating sections 605 through 609 

7 as sections 606 through 610, respectively; and 

8 (2) by inserting after section 604 the following: 

9 ‘‘SEC. 605. SOUTH FLORIDA HARMFUL ALGAL BLOOMS AND 

10 HYPOXIA. 

11 ‘‘(a) SOUTH FLORIDA.—In this section, the term 

12 ‘South Florida’ has the same meaning given the term 

13 ‘South Florida ecosystem’ in section 601(a)(5) of the 

14 Water Resources Development Act of 2000 (Public Law 

15 106–541). 

16 ‘‘(b) INTEGRATED ASSESSMENT.—Not later than 

17 540 days after the date of enactment of the South Florida 

18 Clean Coastal Waters Act of 2019, the Task Force, in ac19 cordance with the authority under section 603, shall com20 plete and submit to Congress and the President an inte21 grated assessment that examines the causes, conse22 quences, and potential approaches to reduce harmful algal 

23 blooms and hypoxia in South Florida, and the status of, 

24 and gaps within, current harmful algal bloom and hypoxia 

25 research, monitoring, management, prevention, response, 

26 and control activities that directly affect the region by— 


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1 ‘‘(1) Federal agencies; 

2 ‘‘(2) State agencies; 

3 ‘‘(3) regional research consortia; 

4 ‘‘(4) academia; 

5 ‘‘(5) private industry; and 

6 ‘‘(6) nongovernmental organizations. 

7 ‘‘(c) ACTION PLAN.— 

8 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 2 years 

9 after the date of the enactment of the South Florida 

10 Clean Coastal Waters Act of 2019, the Task Force 

11 shall develop and submit to Congress a plan, based 

12 on the integrated assessment under subsection (b), 

13 for reducing, mitigating, and controlling harmful 

14 algal blooms and hypoxia in South Florida. 

15 ‘‘(2) CONTENTS.—The plan submitted under 

16 paragraph (1) shall— 

17 ‘‘(A) address the monitoring needs identi18 fied in the integrated assessment under sub19 section (b); 

20 ‘‘(B) develop a timeline and budgetary re21 quirements for deployment of future assets; 

22 ‘‘(C) identify requirements for the develop23 ment and verification of South Florida harmful 

24 algal bloom and hypoxia models, including— 


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1 ‘‘(i) all assumptions built into the 

2 models; and 

3 ‘‘(ii) data quality methods used to en4 sure the best available data are utilized; 

5 and 

6 ‘‘(D) propose a plan to implement a re7 mote monitoring network and early warning 

8 system for alerting local communities in the re9 gion to harmful algal bloom risks that may im10 pact human health. 

11 ‘‘(3) REQUIREMENTS.—In developing the action 

12 plan, the Task Force shall— 

13 ‘‘(A) coordinate and consult with the State 

14 of Florida, and affected local and tribal govern15 ments; 

16 ‘‘(B) consult with representatives from re17 gional academic, agricultural, industry, and 

18 other stakeholder groups; 

19 ‘‘(C) ensure that the plan complements 

20 and does not duplicate activities conducted by 

21 other Federal or State agencies, including the 

22 South Florida Ecosystem Restoration Task 

23 Force; 


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1 ‘‘(D) identify critical research for reducing, 

2 mitigating, and controlling harmful algal bloom 

3 events and their effects; 

4 ‘‘(E) evaluate cost-effective, incentive5 based partnership approaches; 

6 ‘‘(F) ensure that the plan is technically 

7 sound and cost-effective; 

8 ‘‘(G) utilize existing research, assessments, 

9 reports, and program activities; 

10 ‘‘(H) publish a summary of the proposed 

11 plan in the Federal Register at least 180 days 

12 prior to submitting the completed plan to Con13 gress; and 

14 ‘‘(I) after submitting the completed plan to 

15 Congress, provide biennial progress reports on 

16 the activities toward achieving the objectives of 

17 the plan.’’. 

18 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT AND CORRECTION.—The 

19 table of contents in section 2 of the Coast Guard Author20 ization Act of 1998 (Public Law 105–383) is amended by 

21 striking the items relating to title VI and inserting the 

22 following new items: 

‘‘TITLE VI—HARMFUL ALGAL BLOOMS AND HYPOXIA 

‘‘Sec. 601. Short title. 

‘‘Sec. 602. Findings. 

‘‘Sec. 603. Assessments. 

‘‘Sec. 603A. National Harmful Algal Bloom and Hypoxia Program. 

‘‘Sec. 603B. Comprehensive research plan and action strategy. 

‘‘Sec. 604. Northern Gulf of Mexico hypoxia. 


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‘‘Sec. 605. South Florida harmful algal blooms and hypoxia. 

‘‘Sec. 606. Great Lakes hypoxia and harmful algal blooms. 

‘‘Sec. 607. Effect on other Federal authority. 

‘‘Sec. 608. Definitions. 

‘‘Sec. 609. Authorization of appropriations.’’. 

Æ 


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