Bill Galvano’s ‘spill bill’ advances toward Senate floor vote

Sewage could be made drinkable if the bill is signed.

Bradenton Sen. Bill Galvano‘s so-called “spill bill” will head to the Senate floor, after clearing the Special Order calendar Thursday.

CS/SB 532, the Public Notice of Pollution Act, requires polluters to notify the Department of Environmental Protection of any spill within 24 hours. The DEP then would have 24 hours to inform the public of the spill.

Violators could be penalized up to $10,000 per day.

The bill had its genesis in a conflict between the judicial and executive branches.

In September, Gov. Rick Scott issued an administrative order requiring notifications of pollution, after a St. Petersburg sewage spill and a sinkhole in Mulberry, which contaminated drinking water.

Challenged in court, a judge said that an administrative order wouldn’t suffice, and the Florida Legislature would have to pass a law.

Galvano’s bill, which cleared every committee stop without a single no vote, could be that law.

There were no questions. And no amendments. And the bill moved to Third Reading.

The House version of this bill has yet to be put on a committee agenda, however.