Florida Senate - 2012 SB 182
By Senator Garcia
40-00088A-12 2012182__
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to the Miami-Dade County Lake Belt
3 Mitigation Plan; amending s. 373.41492, F.S.;
4 providing for the redirection of funds for seepage
5 mitigation projects; requiring the proceeds of the
6 water treatment plant upgrade fee to be transferred by
7 the Department of Revenue to the South Florida Water
8 Management District and to be deposited into the Lake
9 Belt Mitigation Trust Fund; providing criterion when
10 the transfer is not required; clarifying the uses for
11 the proceeds from the water treatment plant upgrade
12 fee; providing an effective date.
13
14 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
15
16 Section 1. Subsections (2), (3), and (6) of section
17 373.41492, Florida Statutes, are amended to read:
18 373.41492 Miami-Dade County Lake Belt Mitigation Plan;
19 mitigation for mining activities within the Miami-Dade County
20 Lake Belt.—
21 (2) To provide for the mitigation of wetland resources lost
22 to mining activities within the Miami-Dade County Lake Belt
23 Plan, effective October 1, 1999, a mitigation fee is imposed on
24 each ton of limerock and sand extracted by any person who
25 engages in the business of extracting limerock or sand from
26 within the Miami-Dade County Lake Belt Area and the east one
27 half of sections 24 and 25 and all of sections 35 and 36,
28 Township 53 South, Range 39 East. The mitigation fee is imposed
29 for each ton of limerock and sand sold from within the
30 properties where the fee applies in raw, processed, or
31 manufactured form, including, but not limited to, sized
32 aggregate, asphalt, cement, concrete, and other limerock and
33 concrete products. The mitigation fee imposed by this subsection
34 for each ton of limerock and sand sold shall be 12 cents per ton
35 beginning January 1, 2007; 18 cents per ton beginning January 1,
36 2008; 24 cents per ton beginning January 1, 2009; and 45 cents
37 per ton beginning close of business December 31, 2011. To pay
38 for seepage mitigation projects, including groundwater and
39 surface water management structures designed to improve wetland
40 habitat and approved by the Lake Belt Mitigation Committee, and
41 to upgrade a water treatment plant that treats water coming from
42 the Northwest Wellfield in Miami-Dade County, a water treatment
43 plant upgrade fee is imposed within the same Lake Belt Area
44 subject to the mitigation fee and upon the same kind of mined
45 limerock and sand subject to the mitigation fee. The water
46 treatment plant upgrade fee imposed by this subsection for each
47 ton of limerock and sand sold shall be 15 cents per ton
48 beginning on January 1, 2007, and the collection of this fee
49 shall cease once the total amount of proceeds collected for this
50 fee reaches the amount of the actual moneys necessary to design
51 and construct the water treatment plant upgrade, as determined
52 in an open, public solicitation process. Any limerock or sand
53 that is used within the mine from which the limerock or sand is
54 extracted is exempt from the fees. The amount of the mitigation
55 fee and the water treatment plant upgrade fee imposed under this
56 section must be stated separately on the invoice provided to the
57 purchaser of the limerock or sand product from the limerock or
58 sand miner, or its subsidiary or affiliate, for which the fee or
59 fees apply. The limerock or sand miner, or its subsidiary or
60 affiliate, who sells the limerock or sand product shall collect
61 the mitigation fee and the water treatment plant upgrade fee and
62 forward the proceeds of the fees to the Department of Revenue on
63 or before the 20th day of the month following the calendar month
64 in which the sale occurs. As used in this section, the term
65 “proceeds of the fee” means all funds collected and received by
66 the Department of Revenue under this section, including interest
67 and penalties on delinquent fees. The amount deducted for
68 administrative costs may not exceed 3 percent of the total
69 revenues collected under this section and may equal only those
70 administrative costs reasonably attributable to the fees.
71 (3) The mitigation fee and the water treatment plant
72 upgrade fee imposed by this section must be reported to the
73 Department of Revenue. Payment of the mitigation and the water
74 treatment plant upgrade fees must be accompanied by a form
75 prescribed by the Department of Revenue.
76 (a) The proceeds of the mitigation fee, less administrative
77 costs, must be transferred by the Department of Revenue to the
78 South Florida Water Management District and deposited into the
79 Lake Belt Mitigation Trust Fund.
80 (b) Beginning July 1, 2012, the proceeds of the water
81 treatment plant upgrade fee, less administrative costs, must be
82 transferred by the Department of Revenue to the South Florida
83 Water Management District and deposited into the Lake Belt
84 Mitigation Trust Fund until:
85 1. A total of $20 million from the proceeds of the water
86 treatment plant upgrade fee, less administrative costs, is
87 deposited into the Lake Belt Mitigation Trust Fund; or
88 2. The quarterly pathogen sampling conducted as a condition
89 of the permits issued by the department for rock mining
90 activities in the Miami-Dade County Lake Belt Area demonstrates
91 that the water in any quarry lake in the vicinity of the
92 Northwest Wellfield would be classified as being in Bin 2 or
93 higher as defined in the Environmental Protection Agency’s Long
94 Term 2 Enhanced Surface Water Treatment Rule.
95 (c) Upon the earliest occurrence of the criterion under
96 subparagraph (b)1. or subparagraph (b)2., the proceeds of the
97 water treatment plant upgrade fee, less administrative costs,
98 must be transferred by the Department of Revenue to a trust fund
99 established by Miami-Dade County, for the sole purpose
100 authorized by paragraph (6)(a). As used in this section, the
101 term “proceeds of the fee” means all funds collected and
102 received by the Department of Revenue under this section,
103 including interest and penalties on delinquent fees. The amount
104 deducted for administrative costs may not exceed 3 percent of
105 the total revenues collected under this section and may equal
106 only those administrative costs reasonably attributable to the
107 fees.
108 (6)(a) The proceeds of the mitigation fee must be used to
109 conduct mitigation activities that are appropriate to offset the
110 loss of the value and functions of wetlands as a result of
111 mining activities and must be used in a manner consistent with
112 the recommendations contained in the reports submitted to the
113 Legislature by the Miami-Dade County Lake Belt Plan
114 Implementation Committee and adopted under s. 373.4149. Such
115 mitigation may include the purchase, enhancement, restoration,
116 and management of wetlands and uplands, the purchase of
117 mitigation credit from a permitted mitigation bank, and any
118 structural modifications to the existing drainage system to
119 enhance the hydrology of the Miami-Dade County Lake Belt Area.
120 Funds may also be used to reimburse other funding sources,
121 including the Save Our Rivers Land Acquisition Program, the
122 Internal Improvement Trust Fund, the South Florida Water
123 Management District, and Miami-Dade County, for the purchase of
124 lands that were acquired in areas appropriate for mitigation due
125 to rock mining and to reimburse governmental agencies that
126 exchanged land under s. 373.4149 for mitigation due to rock
127 mining. The proceeds of the water treatment plant upgrade fee
128 deposited into the Lake Belt Mitigation Trust Fund shall be used
129 solely to pay for seepage mitigation projects, including
130 groundwater or surface water management structures designed to
131 improve wetland habitat and approved by the Lake Belt Mitigation
132 Committee. The proceeds of the water treatment plant upgrade fee
133 which are transmitted to a trust fund established by Miami-Dade
134 County shall be used to upgrade a water treatment plant that
135 treats water coming from the Northwest Wellfield in Miami-Dade
136 County. As used in this section, the terms “upgrade a water
137 treatment plant” or “treatment plant upgrade” mean means those
138 works necessary to treat or filter a surface water source or
139 supply or both.
140 (b) Expenditures of the mitigation fee must be approved by
141 an interagency committee consisting of representatives from each
142 of the following: the Miami-Dade County Department of
143 Environmental Resource Management, the Department of
144 Environmental Protection, the South Florida Water Management
145 District, and the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. In
146 addition, the limerock mining industry shall select a
147 representative to serve as a nonvoting member of the interagency
148 committee. At the discretion of the committee, additional
149 members may be added to represent federal regulatory,
150 environmental, and fish and wildlife agencies.
151 Section 2. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.