Florida Senate - 2011                        COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
       Bill No. CS for SB 1514
       
       
       
       
       
       
                                Barcode 426320                          
       
                              LEGISLATIVE ACTION                        
                    Senate             .             House              
                  Comm: RCS            .                                
                  04/12/2011           .                                
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       The Committee on Agriculture (Montford) recommended the
       following:
       
    1         Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
    2  
    3         Between lines 279 and 280
    4  insert:
    5         Section 6. Subsections (2) and (3), paragraph (a) of
    6  subsection (4), and paragraph (a) of subsection (6) of section
    7  373.41492, Florida Statutes, are amended to read:
    8         373.41492 Miami-Dade County Lake Belt Mitigation Plan;
    9  mitigation for mining activities within the Miami-Dade County
   10  Lake Belt.—
   11         (2) To provide for the mitigation of wetland resources lost
   12  to mining activities within the Miami-Dade County Lake Belt
   13  Plan, effective October 1, 1999, a mitigation fee is imposed on
   14  each ton of limerock and sand extracted by any person who
   15  engages in the business of extracting limerock or sand from
   16  within the Miami-Dade County Lake Belt Area and the east one
   17  half of sections 24 and 25 and all of sections 35 and 36,
   18  Township 53 South, Range 39 East. The mitigation fee is imposed
   19  for each ton of limerock and sand sold from within the
   20  properties where the fee applies in raw, processed, or
   21  manufactured form, including, but not limited to, sized
   22  aggregate, asphalt, cement, concrete, and other limerock and
   23  concrete products. The mitigation fee imposed by this subsection
   24  for each ton of limerock and sand sold shall be 12 cents per ton
   25  beginning January 1, 2007; 18 cents per ton beginning January 1,
   26  2008; 24 cents per ton beginning January 1, 2009; and 45 cents
   27  per ton beginning close of business December 31, 2011. To pay
   28  for seepage mitigation projects, including hydrological
   29  structures, as authorized in an environmental resource permit
   30  issued by the department for mining activities within the Miami
   31  Dade County Lake Belt Area, and to upgrade a water treatment
   32  plant that treats water coming from the Northwest Wellfield in
   33  Miami-Dade County, a water treatment plant upgrade fee is
   34  imposed within the same Lake Belt Area subject to the mitigation
   35  fee and upon the same kind of mined limerock and sand subject to
   36  the mitigation fee. The water treatment plant upgrade fee
   37  imposed by this subsection for each ton of limerock and sand
   38  sold shall be 15 cents per ton beginning on January 1, 2007, and
   39  the collection of this fee shall cease once the total amount of
   40  proceeds collected for this fee reaches the amount of the actual
   41  moneys necessary to design and construct the water treatment
   42  plant upgrade, as determined in an open, public solicitation
   43  process. Any limerock or sand that is used within the mine from
   44  which the limerock or sand is extracted is exempt from the fees.
   45  The amount of the mitigation fee and the water treatment plant
   46  upgrade fee imposed under this section must be stated separately
   47  on the invoice provided to the purchaser of the limerock or sand
   48  product from the limerock or sand miner, or its subsidiary or
   49  affiliate, for which the fee or fees apply. The limerock or sand
   50  miner, or its subsidiary or affiliate, who sells the limerock or
   51  sand product shall collect the mitigation fee and the water
   52  treatment plant upgrade fee and forward the proceeds of the fees
   53  to the Department of Revenue on or before the 20th day of the
   54  month following the calendar month in which the sale occurs. As
   55  used in this section, the term “proceeds of the fee” means all
   56  funds collected and received by the Department of Revenue under
   57  this section, including interest and penalties on delinquent
   58  fees. The amount deducted for administrative costs may not
   59  exceed 3 percent of the total revenues collected under this
   60  section and may equal only those administrative costs reasonably
   61  attributable to the fees.
   62         (3) The mitigation fee and the water treatment plant
   63  upgrade fee imposed by this section must be reported to the
   64  Department of Revenue. Payment of the mitigation and the water
   65  treatment plant upgrade fees must be accompanied by a form
   66  prescribed by the Department of Revenue. The proceeds of the
   67  mitigation fee, less administrative costs, must be transferred
   68  by the Department of Revenue to the South Florida Water
   69  Management District and deposited into the Lake Belt Mitigation
   70  Trust Fund. Beginning January 1, 2012, and ending December 31,
   71  2017, or upon issuance of water quality certification by the
   72  department for mining activities within Phase II of the Miami
   73  Dade County Lake Belt Plan, whichever occurs later, the proceeds
   74  of the water treatment plant upgrade fee, less administrative
   75  costs, must be transferred by the Department of Revenue to the
   76  South Florida Water Management District and deposited into the
   77  Lake Belt Mitigation Trust Fund. Beginning January 1, 2018, the
   78  proceeds of the water treatment plant upgrade fee, less
   79  administrative costs, must be transferred by the Department of
   80  Revenue to a trust fund established by Miami-Dade County, for
   81  the sole purpose authorized by paragraph (6)(a). As used in this
   82  section, the term “proceeds of the fee” means all funds
   83  collected and received by the Department of Revenue under this
   84  section, including interest and penalties on delinquent fees.
   85  The amount deducted for administrative costs may not exceed 3
   86  percent of the total revenues collected under this section and
   87  may equal only those administrative costs reasonably
   88  attributable to the fees.
   89         (4)(a) The Department of Revenue shall administer, collect,
   90  and enforce the mitigation and water treatment plant upgrade
   91  fees authorized under this section in accordance with the
   92  procedures used to administer, collect, and enforce the general
   93  sales tax imposed under chapter 212. The provisions of chapter
   94  212 with respect to the authority of the Department of Revenue
   95  to audit and make assessments, the keeping of books and records,
   96  and the interest and penalties imposed on delinquent fees apply
   97  to this section. The fees may not be included in computing
   98  estimated taxes under s. 212.11, and the dealer’s credit for
   99  collecting taxes or fees provided for in s. 212.12 does not
  100  apply to the fees imposed by this section.
  101         (6)(a) The proceeds of the mitigation fee must be used to
  102  conduct mitigation activities that are appropriate to offset the
  103  loss of the value and functions of wetlands as a result of
  104  mining activities and must be used in a manner consistent with
  105  the recommendations contained in the reports submitted to the
  106  Legislature by the Miami-Dade County Lake Belt Plan
  107  Implementation Committee and adopted under s. 373.4149. Such
  108  mitigation may include the purchase, enhancement, restoration,
  109  and management of wetlands and uplands, the purchase of
  110  mitigation credit from a permitted mitigation bank, and any
  111  structural modifications to the existing drainage system to
  112  enhance the hydrology of the Miami-Dade County Lake Belt Area.
  113  Funds may also be used to reimburse other funding sources,
  114  including the Save Our Rivers Land Acquisition Program, the
  115  Internal Improvement Trust Fund, the South Florida Water
  116  Management District, and Miami-Dade County, for the purchase of
  117  lands that were acquired in areas appropriate for mitigation due
  118  to rock mining and to reimburse governmental agencies that
  119  exchanged land under s. 373.4149 for mitigation due to rock
  120  mining. The proceeds of the water treatment plant upgrade fee
  121  that are deposited into the Lake Belt Mitigation Trust Fund
  122  shall be used solely to pay for seepage mitigation projects,
  123  including groundwater or surface water management structures, as
  124  authorized in an environmental resource permit issued by the
  125  department for mining activities within the Miami-Dade County
  126  Lake Belt Area. The proceeds of the water treatment plant
  127  upgrade fee that are transferred to a trust fund established by
  128  Miami-Dade County shall be used to upgrade a water treatment
  129  plant that treats water coming from the Northwest Wellfield in
  130  Miami-Dade County. As used in this section, the terms “upgrade a
  131  water treatment plant” or “water treatment plant upgrade” means
  132  those works necessary to treat or filter a surface water source
  133  or supply or both.
  134  
  135  
  136  ================= T I T L E  A M E N D M E N T ================
  137         And the title is amended as follows:
  138         Delete lines 2 - 26
  139  and insert:
  140         An act relating to environmental regulation; amending
  141         s. 373.236, F.S.; requiring consumptive use permits to
  142         be issued for a period of 20 years; providing
  143         exceptions; deleting legislative findings requiring
  144         the Department of Environmental Protection to provide
  145         certain information to agricultural applicants;
  146         eliminating requirements for permit compliance
  147         reports; removing the authority of the department and
  148         the water management district governing boards to
  149         request permit compliance reports and to modify or
  150         revoke consumptive use permits; providing for the
  151         modification of existing consumptive use permits under
  152         certain conditions; amending s. 373.250, F.S.;
  153         providing requirements for water management districts
  154         in evaluating applications for the consumptive use of
  155         water in mandatory reuse zones; providing
  156         applicability; creating s. 373.255, F.S.; requiring
  157         water management districts to implement a sustainable
  158         water use permit program for public water utilities;
  159         providing program criteria; providing permit
  160         application and issuance requirements; providing
  161         requirements for permit monitoring, compliance, and
  162         performance metrics; amending ss. 373.2234 and
  163         373.243, F.S.; conforming cross-references; amending
  164         s. 373.41492, F.S.; authorizing the use of proceeds
  165         from the water treatment plant upgrade fee to pay for
  166         specified mitigation projects; requiring proceeds from
  167         the water treatment plant upgrade fee to be
  168         transferred by the Department of Revenue to the South
  169         Florida Water Management District and deposited into
  170         the Lake Belt Mitigation Trust Fund for a specified
  171         period of time; providing, after that period, for the
  172         proceeds of the water treatment plant upgrade fee to
  173         return to being transferred by the Department of
  174         Revenue to a trust fund established by Miami-Dade
  175         County for specified purposes; conforming a term;
  176         amending s. 373.707, F.S.; providing an