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Lawmakers Raise Stink Over News Septic Tank Inspection Requirements

North Escambia, September 24, 2010

Several lawmakers are raising a stink over a new law that requires septic tank inspections every five years in Florida.

Florida Senate Bill 550 requiring all septic tanks in the state to be evaluated by the Florida Department of Health every five years at the property owner’s expense will go into effect on January 1 unless action is taken to amend or repeal the bill. Passed into law on June 7, the environmental protection bill requires an evaluation of the septic tank and drainfields, along with an assessment of the system’s overall condition. Residents will be required to pay the cost of the evaluation and an inspection fee. Some tanks will also require a tank pump out, repairs or replacement.

Two Panhandle lawmakers, Sen. Durrell Peaden, R-Crestview, and Rep. Greg Evers, R-Baker, wrote Gov. Charlie Crist Thursday to say septic tank inspection requirement is too expensive in a tight economy and should be pushed back from January to July 2011 to allow lawmakers to revisit the matter next year. Earlier this summer, outgoing Senate Democratic Leader Al Lawson, D-Tallahassee, said the bill should be repealed altogether and has promised to keep hammering the state on the issue.

But Crist, who signed the measure in June, will not heed either suggestion.

Meanwhile, on the local level, the Santa Rosa County Commission passed a resolution in opposition to the state bill, and they are firing off a letter to the governor expressing their concerns.

“The Santa Rosa County Commission is opposed to this bill, as they feel it will impose excessive and unnecessary costs to Santa Rosa County residents with fully functional septic systems, particularly those on fixed incomes,” said Joy Tsubooka, public information officer for Santa Rosa County. There is already a law on the books in Santa Rosa County that requires a septic system to pass inspection whenever a property is sold or conveyed.

Besides monetary costs, Santa Rosa County is concerned that the law does not address the different soil types and geological differences across the state.

“The governor is not delaying implementation,” Crist spokesman Sterling Ivey said. “It was a Senate bill that passed both houses and he signed into law. He didn’t have any reservation about the bill when it reached his desk or he would have vetoed it.”

Backers of the springs protection bill say the requirements will cost much less than possible federal water regulations from the U.S. Environmental Protection agency. The EPA is currently considering limits on the amount of chemical pollution that would be allowed in state bodies of water, but backers argued they may consider letting Florida have more of a say in that – and not eventually try to police Florida septic tanks – if the state showed it was serious about protecting its water resources.

But Peaden and Evers said Thursday that said that less expensive was not good enough in a rocky economic time.

“In recent months…many individuals have contacted our offices regarding the adverse impacts to them both financially and physically as a result of the new septic system evaluation requirements,” they wrote to Crist. “Concerns have continued to grow as estimates from various counties on the cost of implementing the septic tank evaluation provisions have varied widely from a low of $180 to a high of $800. Since the law itself makes no mention of the actual cost of an evaluation, Floridians can be left to deal with unscrupulous individuals that can charge any fee they choose under the authority of the state,” the Evers and Peaden wrote.

The springs bill, SB 550, was backed by environmentalists, but heralded by sponsor Sen. Lee Constantine as a product of negotiations with various competing interests groups.

“When you get the home builders and the Sierra Club to agree” Constantine told the News Service last month, that’s consensus. “This was landmark legislation.”

But Peaden and Evers said that a review of the cost of complying with the bill by the Florida Department of Health as it considers rules for implementing the septic inspections shows that lawmakers should take another look at the requirement.

“This raises serious concerns that in a rush to pass legislation to protect Florida’s water resources, insufficient time was spent on how this law was going to financially affect Floridians,” they said. “Therefore, we request that you use executive authority granted to you under the Florida Constitution to direct the Department of Health to postpone the implementation of this legislation … allowing the Florida Legislature to more thoroughly investigate the financial impact to Floridians.”

The two lawmakers also asked Crist to direct the Department of Health conduct a fiscal analysis on the “full and actual costs of the implementation of such an evaluation program” before the new requirements go into effect January 1.