(1) A Joint Legislative Committee on Everglades Oversight is created to monitor the implementation of the Everglades Forever Act. The committee shall be comprised of six members: three members of the House of Representatives appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives and three Senators appointed by the President of the Senate. The chair and vice chair shall be appointed for 1-year terms with the appointments alternating between the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President of the Senate. The chair and vice chair may not be members of the same house of the Legislature. Staff of the committee, at the discretion of the chair, may be assigned to onsite monitoring of the district’s activities and operations pertaining to the Everglades Construction Project.

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   (2) The joint committee shall be responsible for monitoring all funding and expenditures, agreements, schedules of projects, land acquisition, and plans for acquisition, permits, and permit modifications associated with the implementation of the Everglades Forever Act.

   (3) The South Florida Water Management District shall give notice to the Joint Legislative Committee on Everglades Oversight of any plan, or modification of such plan, developed by the district for implementation of the Everglades Forever Act, or of any associated permit, permit modification, agreement, agreement modification, land acquisition, or land acquisition plan to which the district is a party. Notice shall include a justification of any such action and an estimate of how program costs will be affected by the action.

   (4) Annually, no later than March 1, as part of the consolidated annual report required by s. 373.036(7), the South Florida Water Management District shall report to the Joint Legislative Committee on Everglades Oversight on the status of the implementation of the Everglades Forever Act. Such report shall include, but is not limited to:

   (a)() Progress on the Everglades Construction Project.

   (b)() Changes to the Everglades Construction Project.

   (c)() Actual revenues, compared to projected revenues.

   (d)() Projected acquisition costs, construction costs, operation and maintenance costs, and projected revenues, over the succeeding 5 years.

s. 1, ch. 97-258; s. 1, ch. 2005-36.