Florida Senate - 2012                              CS for SB 182
       
       
       
       By the Committee on Community Affairs; and Senators Garcia,
       Margolis, Braynon, and Diaz de la Portilla
       
       
       
       578-00530-12                                           2012182c1
    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.; deleting
    4         references to a report by the Miami-Dade County Lake
    5         Belt Plan Implementation Committee; providing for the
    6         redirection of funds for seepage mitigation projects;
    7         requiring the proceeds of the water treatment plant
    8         upgrade fee to be transferred by the Department of
    9         Revenue to the South Florida Water Management District
   10         and to be deposited into the Lake Belt Mitigation
   11         Trust Fund; providing criterion when the transfer is
   12         not required; providing for the proceeds of the
   13         mitigation fee to be used to conduct mitigation
   14         activities that are approved by the Miami-Dade County
   15         Lake Belt Mitigation Committee; clarifying the
   16         authorized uses for the proceeds from the water
   17         treatment plant upgrade fee; providing an effective
   18         date.
   19  
   20  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   21  
   22         Section 1. Subsections (1), (2), (3), and (6) of section
   23  373.41492, Florida Statutes, are amended to read:
   24         373.41492 Miami-Dade County Lake Belt Mitigation Plan;
   25  mitigation for mining activities within the Miami-Dade County
   26  Lake Belt.—
   27         (1) The Legislature finds that the impact of mining within
   28  the rock mining supported and allowable areas of the Miami-Dade
   29  County Lake Belt Plan adopted by s. 373.4149(1) can best be
   30  offset by the implementation of a comprehensive mitigation plan
   31  as recommended in the 1998 Progress Report to the Florida
   32  Legislature by the Miami-Dade County Lake Belt Plan
   33  Implementation Committee. The Lake Belt Mitigation Plan consists
   34  of those provisions contained in subsections (2)-(9). The per
   35  ton mitigation fee assessed on limestone sold from the Miami
   36  Dade County Lake Belt Area and sections 10, 11, 13, 14, Township
   37  52 South, Range 39 East, and sections 24, 25, 35, and 36,
   38  Township 53 South, Range 39 East, shall be used for acquiring
   39  environmentally sensitive lands and for restoration,
   40  maintenance, and other environmental purposes. It is the intent
   41  of the Legislature that the per-ton mitigation fee shall not be
   42  a revenue source for purposes other than enumerated in this
   43  section herein. Further, the Legislature finds that the public
   44  benefit of a sustainable supply of limestone construction
   45  materials for public and private projects requires a coordinated
   46  approach to permitting activities on wetlands within Miami-Dade
   47  County in order to provide the certainty necessary to encourage
   48  substantial and continued investment in the limestone processing
   49  plant and equipment required to efficiently extract the
   50  limestone resource. It is the intent of the Legislature that the
   51  Lake Belt Mitigation Plan satisfy all local, state, and federal
   52  requirements for mining activity within the rock mining
   53  supported and allowable areas.
   54         (2) To provide for the mitigation of wetland resources lost
   55  to mining activities within the Miami-Dade County Lake Belt
   56  Plan, effective October 1, 1999, a mitigation fee is imposed on
   57  each ton of limerock and sand extracted by any person who
   58  engages in the business of extracting limerock or sand from
   59  within the Miami-Dade County Lake Belt Area and the east one
   60  half of sections 24 and 25 and all of sections 35 and 36,
   61  Township 53 South, Range 39 East. The mitigation fee is imposed
   62  for each ton of limerock and sand sold from within the
   63  properties where the fee applies in raw, processed, or
   64  manufactured form, including, but not limited to, sized
   65  aggregate, asphalt, cement, concrete, and other limerock and
   66  concrete products. The mitigation fee imposed by this subsection
   67  for each ton of limerock and sand sold shall be 12 cents per ton
   68  beginning January 1, 2007; 18 cents per ton beginning January 1,
   69  2008; 24 cents per ton beginning January 1, 2009; and 45 cents
   70  per ton beginning close of business December 31, 2011. To pay
   71  for seepage mitigation projects, including groundwater and
   72  surface water management structures designed to improve wetland
   73  habitat and approved by the Lake Belt Mitigation Committee, and
   74  to upgrade a water treatment plant that treats water coming from
   75  the Northwest Wellfield in Miami-Dade County, a water treatment
   76  plant upgrade fee is imposed within the same Lake Belt Area
   77  subject to the mitigation fee and upon the same kind of mined
   78  limerock and sand subject to the mitigation fee. The water
   79  treatment plant upgrade fee imposed by this subsection for each
   80  ton of limerock and sand sold shall be 15 cents per ton
   81  beginning on January 1, 2007, and the collection of this fee
   82  shall cease once the total amount of proceeds collected for this
   83  fee reaches the amount of the actual moneys necessary to design
   84  and construct the water treatment plant upgrade, as determined
   85  in an open, public solicitation process. Any limerock or sand
   86  that is used within the mine from which the limerock or sand is
   87  extracted is exempt from the fees. The amount of the mitigation
   88  fee and the water treatment plant upgrade fee imposed under this
   89  section must be stated separately on the invoice provided to the
   90  purchaser of the limerock or sand product from the limerock or
   91  sand miner, or its subsidiary or affiliate, for which the fee or
   92  fees apply. The limerock or sand miner, or its subsidiary or
   93  affiliate, who sells the limerock or sand product shall collect
   94  the mitigation fee and the water treatment plant upgrade fee and
   95  forward the proceeds of the fees to the Department of Revenue on
   96  or before the 20th day of the month following the calendar month
   97  in which the sale occurs. The proceeds of a fee imposed by this
   98  section include all funds collected and received by the
   99  Department of Revenue relating to the fee, including interest
  100  and penalties on a delinquent fee. The amount deducted for
  101  administrative costs may not exceed 3 percent of the total
  102  revenues collected under this section and may equal only those
  103  administrative costs reasonably attributable to the fee.
  104         (3) The mitigation fee and the water treatment plant
  105  upgrade fee imposed by this section must be reported to the
  106  Department of Revenue. Payment of the mitigation and the water
  107  treatment plant upgrade fees must be accompanied by a form
  108  prescribed by the Department of Revenue.
  109         (a) The proceeds of the mitigation fee, less administrative
  110  costs, must be transferred by the Department of Revenue to the
  111  South Florida Water Management District and deposited into the
  112  Lake Belt Mitigation Trust Fund.
  113         (b) Beginning July 1, 2012, the proceeds of the water
  114  treatment plant upgrade fee, less administrative costs, must be
  115  transferred by the Department of Revenue to the South Florida
  116  Water Management District and deposited into the Lake Belt
  117  Mitigation Trust Fund until:
  118         1. A total of $20 million from the proceeds of the water
  119  treatment plant upgrade fee, less administrative costs, is
  120  deposited into the Lake Belt Mitigation Trust Fund; or
  121         2. The quarterly pathogen sampling conducted as a condition
  122  of the permits issued by the department for rock mining
  123  activities in the Miami-Dade County Lake Belt Area demonstrates
  124  that the water in any quarry lake in the vicinity of the
  125  Northwest Wellfield would be classified as being in Bin 2 or
  126  higher as defined in the Environmental Protection Agency’s Long
  127  Term 2 Enhanced Surface Water Treatment Rule.
  128         (c) Upon the earliest occurrence of the criterion under
  129  subparagraph (b)1. or subparagraph (b)2., the proceeds of the
  130  water treatment plant upgrade fee, less administrative costs,
  131  must be transferred by the Department of Revenue to a trust fund
  132  established by Miami-Dade County, for the sole purpose
  133  authorized by paragraph (6)(a). As used in this section, the
  134  term “proceeds of the fee” means all funds collected and
  135  received by the Department of Revenue under this section,
  136  including interest and penalties on delinquent fees. The amount
  137  deducted for administrative costs may not exceed 3 percent of
  138  the total revenues collected under this section and may equal
  139  only those administrative costs reasonably attributable to the
  140  fees.
  141         (6)(a) The proceeds of the mitigation fee must be used to
  142  conduct mitigation activities that are appropriate to offset the
  143  loss of the value and functions of wetlands as a result of
  144  mining activities and must be approved used in a manner
  145  consistent with the recommendations contained in the reports
  146  submitted to the Legislature by the Miami-Dade County Lake Belt
  147  Mitigation Plan Implementation Committee and adopted under s.
  148  373.4149. Such mitigation may include the purchase, enhancement,
  149  restoration, and management of wetlands and uplands in the
  150  Everglades watershed, the purchase of mitigation credit from a
  151  permitted mitigation bank, and any structural modifications to
  152  the existing drainage system to enhance the hydrology of the
  153  Miami-Dade County Lake Belt Area or the Everglades watershed.
  154  Funds may also be used to reimburse other funding sources,
  155  including the Save Our Rivers Land Acquisition Program, the
  156  Internal Improvement Trust Fund, the South Florida Water
  157  Management District, and Miami-Dade County, for the purchase of
  158  lands that were acquired in areas appropriate for mitigation due
  159  to rock mining and to reimburse governmental agencies that
  160  exchanged land under s. 373.4149 for mitigation due to rock
  161  mining. The proceeds of the water treatment plant upgrade fee
  162  deposited into the Lake Belt Mitigation Trust Fund shall be used
  163  solely to pay for seepage mitigation projects, including
  164  groundwater or surface water management structures designed to
  165  improve wetland habitat and approved by the Lake Belt Mitigation
  166  Committee. The proceeds of the water treatment plant upgrade fee
  167  which are transmitted to a trust fund established by Miami-Dade
  168  County shall be used to upgrade a water treatment plant that
  169  treats water coming from the Northwest Wellfield in Miami-Dade
  170  County. As used in this section, the terms “upgrade a water
  171  treatment plant” or “treatment plant upgrade” mean means those
  172  works necessary to treat or filter a surface water source or
  173  supply or both.
  174         (b) Expenditures of the mitigation fee must be approved by
  175  an interagency committee consisting of representatives from each
  176  of the following: the Miami-Dade County Department of
  177  Environmental Resource Management, the Department of
  178  Environmental Protection, the South Florida Water Management
  179  District, and the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. In
  180  addition, the limerock mining industry shall select a
  181  representative to serve as a nonvoting member of the interagency
  182  committee. At the discretion of the committee, additional
  183  members may be added to represent federal regulatory,
  184  environmental, and fish and wildlife agencies.
  185         Section 2. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.