Florida Senate - 2015 COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
Bill No. SB 510
Ì487604.Î487604
LEGISLATIVE ACTION
Senate . House
Comm: RCS .
03/25/2015 .
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The Committee on Environmental Preservation and Conservation
(Simpson) recommended the following:
1 Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
2
3 Delete lines 76 - 244
4 and insert:
5 sensitive lands and for restoration, water quality monitoring,
6 maintenance, and other environmental purposes. It is the intent
7 of the Legislature that the per-ton mitigation fee not be a
8 revenue source for purposes other than enumerated in this
9 section. Further, the Legislature finds that the public benefit
10 of a sustainable supply of limestone construction materials for
11 public and private projects requires a coordinated approach to
12 permitting activities on wetlands within Miami-Dade County in
13 order to provide the certainty necessary to encourage
14 substantial and continued investment in the limestone processing
15 plant and equipment required to efficiently extract the
16 limestone resource. It is the intent of the Legislature that the
17 Lake Belt Mitigation Plan satisfy all local, state, and federal
18 requirements for mining activity within the rock mining
19 supported and allowable areas.
20 (2) To provide for the mitigation of wetland resources lost
21 to mining activities within the Miami-Dade County Lake Belt
22 Plan, effective October 1, 1999, a mitigation fee is imposed on
23 each ton of limerock and sand extracted by any person who
24 engages in the business of extracting limerock or sand from
25 within the Miami-Dade County Lake Belt Area and the east one
26 half of sections 24 and 25 and all of sections 35 and 36,
27 Township 53 South, Range 39 East. The mitigation fee is imposed
28 for each ton of limerock and sand sold from within the
29 properties where the fee applies in raw, processed, or
30 manufactured form, including, but not limited to, sized
31 aggregate, asphalt, cement, concrete, and other limerock and
32 concrete products. The mitigation fee imposed by this subsection
33 for each ton of limerock and sand sold shall be 25 45 cents per
34 ton, beginning on January 1, 2016; 15 cents per ton beginning on
35 January 1, 2017; and 5 cents per ton beginning on January 1,
36 2018, and thereafter. To pay for Miami-Dade County seepage
37 mitigation projects, an environmentally endangered lands
38 including groundwater and surface water management structures
39 designed to improve wetland habitat and approved by the Lake
40 Belt Mitigation Committee, and to upgrade a water treatment
41 plant that treats water coming from the Northwest Wellfield in
42 Miami-Dade County, a water treatment plant upgrade fee is
43 imposed within the same Lake Belt Area subject to the mitigation
44 fee and upon the same kind of mined limerock and sand subject to
45 the mitigation fee. The environmentally endangered lands water
46 treatment plant upgrade fee imposed by this section subsection
47 for each ton of limerock and sand sold shall be 5 15 cents per
48 ton, and the collection of this fee shall cease once the total
49 amount of proceeds collected for this fee reaches the amount of
50 the actual moneys necessary to design and construct the water
51 treatment plant upgrade, as determined in an open, public
52 solicitation process. Any limerock or sand that is used within
53 the mine from which the limerock or sand is extracted is exempt
54 from the fees. The amount of the mitigation fee and the
55 environmentally endangered lands water treatment plant upgrade
56 fee imposed under this section must be stated separately on the
57 invoice provided to the purchaser of the limerock or sand
58 product from the limerock or sand miner, or its subsidiary or
59 affiliate, for which the fee or fees apply. The limerock or sand
60 miner, or its subsidiary or affiliate, who sells the limerock or
61 sand product shall collect the mitigation fee and the water
62 treatment plant upgrade fee and forward the proceeds of the fees
63 to the Department of Revenue on or before the 20th day of the
64 month following the calendar month in which the sale occurs. The
65 proceeds of a fee imposed by this section include all funds
66 collected and received by the Department of Revenue relating to
67 the fee, including interest and penalties on a delinquent fee.
68 The amount deducted for administrative costs may not exceed 3
69 percent of the total revenues collected under this section and
70 may equal only those administrative costs reasonably
71 attributable to the fee.
72 (3) The mitigation fee and the environmentally endangered
73 lands water treatment plant upgrade fee imposed by this section
74 must be reported to the Department of Revenue. Payment of the
75 mitigation and the environmentally endangered lands water
76 treatment plant upgrade fees must be accompanied by a form
77 prescribed by the Department of Revenue.
78 (a) The proceeds of the mitigation fee, less administrative
79 costs, must be transferred by the Department of Revenue to the
80 South Florida Water Management District and deposited into the
81 Lake Belt Mitigation Trust Fund.
82 (b) Beginning July 1, 2015 2012, the proceeds of the water
83 treatment plant upgrade fee previously imposed by this section
84 is rescinded and is no longer imposed on the sale of mined
85 limerock and sand, less administrative costs, must be
86 transferred by the Department of Revenue to the South Florida
87 Water Management District and deposited into the Lake Belt
88 Mitigation Trust Fund until:
89 1. A total of $20 million from the proceeds of the water
90 treatment plant upgrade fee, less administrative costs, is
91 deposited into the Lake Belt Mitigation Trust Fund; or
92 2. The quarterly pathogen sampling conducted as a condition
93 of the permits issued by the department for rock mining
94 activities in the Miami-Dade County Lake Belt Area demonstrates
95 that the water in any quarry lake in the vicinity of the
96 Northwest Wellfield would be classified as being in Bin 2 or
97 higher as defined in the Environmental Protection Agency’s Long
98 Term 2 Enhanced Surface Water Treatment Rule.
99 (c) The proceeds of the environmentally endangered lands
100 fee Upon the earliest occurrence of the criterion under
101 subparagraph (b)1. or subparagraph (b)2., the proceeds of the
102 water treatment plant upgrade fee, less administrative costs,
103 must be transferred by the Department of Revenue to a trust fund
104 established by Miami-Dade County, for the sole purpose
105 authorized by paragraph (6)(a).
106 (4)(a) The Department of Revenue shall administer, collect,
107 and enforce the mitigation and environmentally endangered lands
108 treatment plant upgrade fees authorized under this section in
109 accordance with the procedures used to administer, collect, and
110 enforce the general sales tax imposed under chapter 212. The
111 provisions of chapter 212 with respect to the authority of the
112 Department of Revenue to audit and make assessments, the keeping
113 of books and records, and the interest and penalties imposed on
114 delinquent fees apply to this section. The fees may not be
115 included in computing estimated taxes under s. 212.11, and the
116 dealer’s credit for collecting taxes or fees provided for in s.
117 212.12 does not apply to the fees imposed by this section.
118 (b) In administering this section, the Department of
119 Revenue may employ persons and incur expenses for which funds
120 are appropriated by the Legislature. The Department of Revenue
121 shall adopt rules and prescribe and publish forms necessary to
122 administer this section. The Department of Revenue shall
123 establish audit procedures and may assess delinquent fees.
124 (5) Each January 1, beginning January 1, 2010, through
125 December 31, 2011, the per-ton mitigation fee shall be increased
126 by 2.1 percentage points, plus a cost growth index. The cost
127 growth index shall be the percentage change in the weighted
128 average of the Employment Cost Index for All Civilian Workers
129 (ecu 10001I), issued by the United States Department of Labor
130 for the most recent 12-month period ending on September 30, and
131 the percentage change in the Producer Price Index for All
132 Commodities (WPU 00000000), issued by the United States
133 Department of Labor for the most recent 12-month period ending
134 on September 30, compared to the weighted average of these
135 indices for the previous year. The weighted average shall be
136 calculated as 0.6 times the percentage change in the Employment
137 Cost Index for All Civilian Workers (ecu 10001I), plus 0.4 times
138 the percentage change in the Producer Price Index for All
139 Commodities (WPU 00000000). If either index is discontinued, it
140 shall be replaced by its successor index, as identified by the
141 United States Department of Labor.
142 (6)(a) The proceeds of the mitigation fee must be used to
143 conduct mitigation activities that are appropriate to offset the
144 loss of the value and functions of wetlands as a result of
145 mining activities and to conduct water quality monitoring to
146 ensure the protection of water resources within the Lake Belt
147 Area and be approved by the Miami-Dade County Lake Belt
148 Mitigation Committee. Such mitigation may include the purchase,
149 enhancement, restoration, and management of wetlands and uplands
150 in the Everglades watershed, the purchase of mitigation credit
151 from a permitted mitigation bank, and any structural
152 modifications to the existing drainage system to enhance the
153 hydrology of the Miami-Dade County Lake Belt Area or the
154 Everglades watershed. Funds may also be used to reimburse other
155 funding sources, including the Save Our Rivers Land Acquisition
156 Program, the Internal Improvement Trust Fund, the South Florida
157 Water Management District, and Miami-Dade County, for the
158 purchase of lands that were acquired in areas appropriate for
159 mitigation due to rock mining and to reimburse governmental
160 agencies that exchanged land under s. 373.4149 for mitigation
161 due to rock mining. The proceeds of the water treatment plant
162 upgrade fee deposited into the Lake Belt Mitigation Trust Fund
163 shall be used solely to pay for seepage mitigation projects,
164 including groundwater or surface water management structures
165 designed to improve wetland habitat and approved by the Lake
166 Belt Mitigation Committee. The proceeds of the environmentally
167 endangered lands water treatment plant upgrade fee which are
168 transmitted to a trust fund established by Miami-Dade County
169 shall be used solely for the acquisition, preservation,
170 enhancement, restoration, conservation, and maintenance of
171 wetland and threatened forest communities located to upgrade a
172 water treatment plant that treats water coming from the
173 Northwest Wellfield in Miami-Dade County. However, the proceeds
174 of the environmentally endangered lands fee must first be used
175 to upgrade a water treatment plant that treats water coming from
176 the Northwest Wellfield in Miami-Dade County if, following a
177 formal determination by the department that, due to the direct
178 or indirect result of rock mining activities within the Lake
179 Belt Area, the quarterly pathogen sampling conducted as a
180 condition of the permits issued by the department for rock
181 mining activities in the Miami-Dade County Lake Belt Area
182 demonstrates that the water in any quarry lake monitored
183 pursuant to the monitoring plan would be classified as being in
184 Bin 2 or higher as defined in the United States Environmental
185 Protection Agency’s Long Term 2 Enhanced Surface Water Treatment
186 Rule. As used in this
187
188 ================= T I T L E A M E N D M E N T ================
189 And the title is amended as follows:
190 Delete lines 22 - 25
191 and insert:
192 removing a requirement that such uses be approved by
193 the Miami-Dade County Lake Belt Mitigation Committee;
194 requiring the environmentally endangered lands fee to
195 be used solely for purposes related to wetland and
196 threatened forest communities located in Miami-Dade
197 County after proceeds are used for water treatment
198 plant upgrades under certain conditions; reenacting s.
199 373.41495(1),(2), and (3), F.S.,