08 AM 25
1131
Senators
Cowsert of the 46th, Hawkins of the 49th, Goggans of the 7th, Smith of the 52nd
and Harp of the 29th offered the following amendment:
Amend
the Senate Natural Resources and the Environment Committee substitute to HB 1226
by inserting after "requirements of
plans;" on line 9 of
page 1 the following:
to
provide for water planning regions;
By
inserting after Section 3-4 new sections to read as follows:
SECTION
3-5.
Said
chapter is further amended by adding a new Code section to read as
follows:
"12-5-522.1.
(a)
For purposes of regional water planning under any state-wide water plan pursuant
to this article, there shall be 11 water planning regions as
follows:
(1)
Altamaha Region, consisting of Johnson, Emanuel, Candler, Bleckley, Laurens,
Treutlen, Wilcox, Dodge, Telfair, Wheeler, Montgomery, Toombs, Tattnall, Evans,
Jeff Davis, Appling, and Wayne counties;
(2)
Coastal Georgia Region, consisting of Bulloch, Effingham, Bryan, Chatham,
Liberty, Long, McIntosh, Glynn, and Camden counties;
(3)
Coosa-North Georgia Region, consisting of Dade, Walker, Catoosa, Whitfield,
Murray, Gilmer, Fannin, Union, Towns, Chattooga, Gordon, Pickens, Dawson,
Lumpkin, White, Habersham, Floyd, Polk, and Haralson counties;
(4)
Lower Flint-Ochlockonee Region, consisting of Terrell, Lee, Calhoun, Dougherty,
Worth, Early, Baker, Mitchell, Colquitt, Miller, Seminole, Decatur, Grady, and
Thomas counties;
(5)
Metropolitan North Georgia Region, consisting of Bartow, Cherokee, Forsyth,
Hall, Paulding, Cobb, Fulton, Gwinnett, Douglas, DeKalb, Rockdale, Walton,
Coweta, Fayette, Clayton, and Henry counties;
(6)
Middle Chattahoochee Region, consisting of Carroll, Heard, Troup, Harris,
Muscogee, Chattahoochee, Stewart, Quitman, Randolph, and Clay
counties;
(7)
Middle Ocmulgee Region, consisting of Newton, Butts, Jasper, Lamar, Monroe,
Jones, Crawford, Bibb, Twiggs, Peach, Houston, and Pulaski
counties;
(8)
Savannah-Upper Ogeechee Region, consisting of Rabun, Stephens, Banks, Franklin,
Hart, Madison, Elbert, Oglethorpe, Wilkes, Lincoln, Taliaferro, Warren,
McDuffie, Columbia, Glascock, Jefferson, Richmond, Burke, Jenkins, and Screven
counties;
(9)
Suwannee-Satilla Region, consisting of Turner, Ben Hill, Coffee, Bacon, Pierce,
Brantley, Tift, Irwin, Atkinson, Ware, Cook, Berrien, Lanier, Clinch, Charlton,
Brooks, Lowndes, and Echols counties;
(10)
Upper Flint Region, consisting of Meriwether, Spalding, Pike, Talbot, Upson,
Taylor, Marion, Schley, Macon, Webster, Sumter, Dooly, and Crisp counties;
and
(11)
Upper Oconee Region, consisting of Barrow, Jackson, Clarke, Oconee, Morgan,
Greene, Putnam, Hancock, Baldwin, Washington, and Wilkinson
counties.
(b)
The director shall specify a period during which counties at the border of any
water planning region may petition for reassignment to a contiguous water
planning region. The director shall provide guidelines regarding petitions for
changes in water planning regions, including criteria for evaluation of
requested changes. The final delineation of water planning regions shall be
made according to the criteria specified in the guidelines through consultation
between the director and the commissioner of community affairs.
(c)
The provisions of any state-wide water plan pursuant to this article shall apply
to the Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District, consistent with
Article 10 of this chapter. Water planning for those counties that are part of
the Metropolitan North Georgia Region shall continue as part of the
district´s planning processes under Article 10 of this chapter, following
guidelines consistent with those provided for preparation of regional water
development and conservation plans."
SECTION
3-6.
Said
chapter is further amended by revising paragraph (4) of Code Section 12-5-573,
relating to definitions relative to the Metropolitan North Georgia Water
Planning District, as follows:
"(4)
'District area' means
any county
which has a population of 500,000 or more according to the 2000 United States
decennial census or any future such census and all counties geographically
contiguous to any such county; provided, however, that any such contiguous
county having population of 100,000 or less according to the 2000 United States
decennial census or any future such census may, by majority vote of the
governing authority thereof and with the written approval of the director,
remove itself from the district area. The district area may be expanded from
time to time as provided in this article
the
Metropolitan North Georgia Region as provided by Code Section
12-5-522.1."