---
type: "Bill"
title: "Water and Wastewater Facility Operators"
description: "Water and Wastewater Facility Operators; Revising legislative findings and intent; requiring the Department of Environmental Protection to issue water treatment plant operator licenses, water distribution system operator licenses, and domestic wastewater treatment plant operator licenses by reciprocity to certain applicants; providing licensure requirements; authorizing the department to issue temporary operator licenses during a declared state of emergency, etc."
jurisdiction: "us/states/fl"
legislature: "Florida Legislature"
session: "2023"
identifier: "SB 162"
citation: "Florida SB 162 (2023)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
chapter_law: "2023-204"
primary_sponsors: ["Collins", "Environment and Natural Resources", "Fiscal Policy", "Regulated Industries"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 36
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2023-01-10"
last_action: "2023-06-13"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/c154f596-54e6-4fea-b991-c235d91f64e5"
source_url: "https://flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2023/162/ByCategory"
source_hash: "4dad9773bf3da6a9e26143f223038b3d9b79c0ae4dcd5e413810d27cc029c0c2"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-fl"]
---

# Florida SB 162 (2023) — Water and Wastewater Facility Operators

Water and Wastewater Facility Operators; Revising legislative findings and intent; requiring the Department of Environmental Protection to issue water treatment plant operator licenses, water distribution system operator licenses, and domestic wastewater treatment plant operator licenses by reciprocity to certain applicants; providing licensure requirements; authorizing the department to issue temporary operator licenses during a declared state of emergency, etc.

**Enacted** — Laws of Florida, Chapter 2023-204.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **S 162 Filed** (filed) — [source](https://flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2023/162/BillText/Filed/HTML)
2. **S 162 c1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2023/162/BillText/c1/HTML)
3. **S 162 c2** (committee substitute) — [source](https://flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2023/162/BillText/c2/HTML)
4. **S 162 c3** (committee substitute) — [source](https://flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2023/162/BillText/c3/HTML)
5. **S 162 er** (enrolled) — [source](https://flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2023/162/BillText/er/HTML)

## Votes

- Passage, Third Reading — **114–0** (pass) · lower
- Favorable with Committee Substitute — **9–0** (pass) · upper
- Favorable with Committee Substitute — **8–0** (pass) · upper
- Favorable with Committee Substitute — **18–0** (pass) · upper
- Third Reading — **39–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Collins — primary (person)
- Environment and Natural Resources — primary (person)
- Fiscal Policy — primary (person)
- Regulated Industries — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2023-01-10** Filed `filing`
- **2023-01-19** Referred to Environment and Natural Resources; Regulated Industries; Fiscal Policy `referral-committee`
- **2023-03-07** Introduced `introduction`
- **2023-03-15** On Committee agenda-- Environment and Natural Resources, 03/20/23, 12:30 pm, 301 Senate Building
- **2023-03-20** CS by Environment and Natural Resources; YEAS 9 NAYS 0
- **2023-03-20** Pending reference review under Rule 4.7(2) - (Committee Substitute)
- **2023-03-21** CS by Environment and Natural Resources read 1st time
- **2023-03-22** Now in Regulated Industries
- **2023-03-24** On Committee agenda-- Regulated Industries, 03/29/23, 12:00 pm, 401 Senate Building
- **2023-03-29** CS/CS by Regulated Industries; YEAS 8 NAYS 0
- **2023-03-31** Pending reference review under Rule 4.7(2) - (Committee Substitute)
- **2023-03-31** Now in Fiscal Policy
- **2023-03-31** CS/CS by Regulated Industries read 1st time
- **2023-04-10** On Committee agenda-- Fiscal Policy, 04/13/23, 10:30 am, 412 Knott Building
- **2023-04-13** CS/CS/CS by- Fiscal Policy; YEAS 18 NAYS 0
- **2023-04-14** Pending reference review -under Rule 4.7(2) - (Committee Substitute)
- **2023-04-14** Placed on Calendar, on 2nd reading
- **2023-04-14** Placed on Special Order Calendar, 04/19/23
- **2023-04-17** CS/CS/CS by Fiscal Policy read 1st time
- **2023-04-19** Read 2nd time `reading-2`
- **2023-04-19** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2023-04-19** CS passed; YEAS 39 NAYS 0 `passage`
- **2023-04-19** Immediately certified
- **2023-04-19** In Messages
- **2023-04-19** Bill referred to House Calendar
- **2023-04-19** Bill added to Special Order Calendar (4/20/2023)
- **2023-04-19** 1st Reading (Committee Substitute 3) `reading-1`
- **2023-04-20** Substituted for CS/CS/HB 23
- **2023-04-20** Read 2nd time `reading-2`
- **2023-04-20** Added to Third Reading Calendar
- **2023-04-20** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2023-04-20** CS passed; YEAS 114, NAYS 0 `passage`
- **2023-04-20** Ordered enrolled `enrolled`
- **2023-06-05** Signed by Officers and presented to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2023-06-09** Approved by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2023-06-13** Chapter No. 2023-204

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/c154f596-54e6-4fea-b991-c235d91f64e5`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Florida legislature records).