Florida Senate - 2025 COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
Bill No. SB 492
Ì6942469Î694246
LEGISLATIVE ACTION
Senate . House
Comm: RCS .
04/10/2025 .
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The Appropriations Committee on Agriculture, Environment, and
General Government (McClain) recommended the following:
1 Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
2
3 Delete everything after the enacting clause
4 and insert:
5 Section 1. Subsections (5) and (6) of section 373.4136,
6 Florida Statutes, are amended to read:
7 373.4136 Establishment and operation of mitigation banks.—
8 (5) SCHEDULE FOR CREDIT RELEASE.—After July 1, 2025, when
9 issuing awarding mitigation credits to a mitigation bank permit,
10 the department or the water management district shall adhere to
11 the credit release schedule set forth in this subsection a
12 schedule for the release of those credits awarded by in the
13 mitigation bank permit. A mitigation credit that has been
14 released may be sold or used to offset adverse impacts from an
15 activity regulated under this part.
16 (a) Thirty percent of awarded credits shall be released for
17 the recordation of the conservation easement and establishment
18 of financial assurances required by the mitigation bank permit.
19 If a preservation-only assessment area is used, 100 percent of
20 awarded credits shall be released for the recordation of the
21 conservation easement and establishment of financial assurances
22 required by the mitigation bank permit The department or the
23 water management district shall allow a portion of the
24 mitigation credits awarded to a mitigation bank to be released
25 for sale or use prior to meeting all of the performance criteria
26 specified in the mitigation bank permit. The department or the
27 water management district shall allow release of all of a
28 mitigation bank’s awarded mitigation credits only after the bank
29 meets the mitigation success criteria specified in the permit.
30 (b) Thirty percent of awarded credits shall be released
31 following completion of initial construction activities as
32 established by the mitigation bank permit.
33 (c) Twenty percent of awarded credits shall be released in
34 increments as monitoring indicates interim performance criteria
35 established by the mitigation bank permit are being met.
36 (d) Twenty percent of awarded credits shall be released
37 upon meeting final success criteria established by the
38 mitigation bank permit The number of credits and schedule for
39 release shall be determined by the department or water
40 management district based upon the performance criteria for the
41 mitigation bank and the success criteria for each mitigation
42 activity. The release schedule for a specific mitigation bank or
43 phase thereof shall be related to the actions required to
44 implement the bank, such as site protection, site preparation,
45 earthwork, removal of wastes, planting, removal or control of
46 nuisance and exotic species, installation of structures, and
47 annual monitoring and management requirements for success. In
48 determining the specific release schedule for a bank, the
49 department or water management district shall consider, at a
50 minimum, the following factors:
51 1. Whether the mitigation consists solely of preservation
52 or includes other types of mitigation.
53 2. The length of time anticipated to be required before a
54 determination of success can be achieved.
55 3. The ecological value to be gained from each action
56 required to implement the bank.
57 4. The financial expenditure required for each action to
58 implement the bank.
59 (e) The mitigation bank applicant may propose an
60 alternative credit release schedule and the department or water
61 management district shall consider the proposed alternative
62 credit release schedule.
63 (f)(c) Notwithstanding the provisions of this subsection, a
64 mitigation no credit may not shall be released for freshwater
65 wetland creation until the success criteria established included
66 in the mitigation bank permit for initial construction
67 activities are met.
68 (g)(d) The withdrawal of mitigation credits from a
69 mitigation bank shall be accomplished as a minor modification of
70 the mitigation bank permit. A processing fee is not shall not be
71 required by the department or water management district for this
72 minor modification.
73 (6) MITIGATION SERVICE AREA.—The department or water
74 management district shall establish a mitigation service area
75 for each mitigation bank permit. The department or water
76 management district shall notify and consider comments received
77 on the proposed mitigation service area from each local
78 government within the proposed mitigation service area. Except
79 as provided in this section herein, mitigation credits may be
80 withdrawn and used only to offset adverse impacts in the
81 mitigation service area. The boundaries of the mitigation
82 service area shall depend upon the geographic area where the
83 mitigation bank could reasonably be expected to offset adverse
84 impacts. Mitigation service areas may overlap, and mitigation
85 service areas for two or more mitigation banks may be approved
86 for a regional watershed.
87 (a) In determining the boundaries of the mitigation service
88 area, the department or the water management district shall
89 consider the characteristics, size, and location of the
90 mitigation bank and, at a minimum, the extent to which the
91 mitigation bank:
92 1. Contributes to a regional integrated ecological network;
93 2. Will significantly enhance the water quality or
94 restoration of an offsite receiving water body that is
95 designated as an Outstanding Florida Water, a Wild and Scenic
96 River, an aquatic preserve, a water body designated in a plan
97 approved pursuant to the Surface Water Improvement and
98 Management Act, or a nationally designated estuarine preserve;
99 3. Will provide for the long-term viability of endangered
100 or threatened species or species of special concern;
101 4. Is consistent with the objectives of a regional
102 management plan adopted or endorsed by the department or water
103 management districts; and
104 5. Can reasonably be expected to offset specific types of
105 wetland impacts within a specific geographic area. A mitigation
106 bank need not be able to offset all expected impacts within its
107 service area.
108 (b) The department and water management districts shall use
109 regional watersheds to guide the establishment of mitigation
110 service areas. Drainage basins established pursuant to s.
111 373.414(8) may be used as regional watersheds when they are
112 established based on the hydrological or ecological
113 characteristics of the basin. A mitigation service area may
114 extend beyond the regional watershed in which the bank is
115 located into all or part of other regional watersheds when the
116 mitigation bank has the ability to offset adverse impacts
117 outside that regional watershed. Similarly, a mitigation service
118 area may be smaller than the regional watershed in which the
119 mitigation bank is located when adverse impacts throughout the
120 regional watershed cannot reasonably be expected to be offset by
121 the mitigation bank because of local ecological or hydrological
122 conditions.
123 (c) Once a mitigation bank service area has been
124 established by the department or a water management district for
125 a mitigation bank, such mitigation bank shall be deemed to
126 implement a plan that provides regional ecological value; such
127 service area shall be accepted by all water management
128 districts, local governments, and the department; and the use of
129 credits from such mitigation bank to offset impacts within that
130 bank’s service area shall be considered to have met the
131 cumulative impact requirements of s. 373.414(8)(a).
132 (d) If the requirements in s. 373.414(1)(b) and (8) are
133 met, the following projects or activities regulated under this
134 part shall be eligible to use credits released from a mitigation
135 bank to offset impacts resulting from such projects or
136 activities a mitigation bank, regardless of whether they are
137 located within the mitigation service area:
138 1. Projects with adverse impacts partially located within
139 the mitigation service area.
140 2. Linear projects, such as roadways, transmission lines,
141 distribution lines, pipelines, railways, or seaports listed in
142 s. 311.09(1).
143 3. Projects with total adverse impacts of less than 1 acre
144 in size.
145 4. Projects that meet the requirements of s. 373.414(1)(b)
146 and the criteria in paragraphs (e)-(g).
147 (e) If the requirements of s. 373.414(1)(a) are met and an
148 insufficient number or type of credits from banks whose
149 permitted service area overlays in whole or in part the regional
150 watershed in which the impacts occur, the project applicant is
151 entitled to a one-time use of credits released from a mitigation
152 bank outside the mitigation bank service area to offset impacts
153 pursuant to s. 373.414(1)(b), as established by the procedure in
154 paragraph (g), and upon verification by the department or water
155 management district that mitigation banks within the regional
156 watershed in which the adverse impacts are located lack the
157 appropriate credit type to offset impacts associated with the
158 proposed project. If the number of released credits within a
159 mitigation service area only partially offsets the impacts
160 associated with a proposed project in the mitigation service
161 area, the permit applicant may only use out-of-service-area
162 credits to account for the difference between the released
163 credits available in the mitigation bank service area and the
164 credits required to offset the impacts associated with the
165 proposed project. In implementing this subsection, the
166 department and water management districts shall apply a
167 proximity factor to determine adequate compensatory mitigation
168 as follows:
169 1. A 1.0 multiplier shall be applied for use of in-kind
170 credits within any regional watershed overlain in whole or in
171 part by the service area.
172 2. A 1.0 multiplier shall be applied for use of in-kind and
173 out-of-service-area credits when the service area overlays part
174 of the same regional watershed as the proposed impacts.
175 3. A 1.2 multiplier shall be applied for use of in-kind and
176 out-of-service-area credits located within a regional watershed
177 immediately adjacent to the regional watershed overlain by a
178 bank service area in which proposed impacts are located.
179 4. When in-kind credits are not available to offset impacts
180 in the regional watershed immediately adjacent to the regional
181 watershed overlain by a bank service area in which the proposed
182 impacts are located, as established by the procedure in
183 paragraph (g), an additional 0.25 multiplier shall be applied
184 for each additional regional watershed boundary crossed.
185 5. An additional 0.50 multiplier shall be applied after any
186 multipliers required in subparagraphs 1., 2., 3., and 4., if the
187 mitigation used to offset impacts entails out-of-kind
188 replacement which does not replace the same type of freshwater
189 wetland or fresh surface water impacted.
190 (f) Use of the multipliers in subparagraphs (e)2.-4. meets
191 the requirements of s. 373.414(8)(a) for addressing cumulative
192 impacts.
193 (g) Once a permit applicant requests to use out-of-service
194 area or out-of-kind credits, the department or water management
195 district shall contact all mitigation banks with a mitigation
196 service area encompassing the location of the proposed impacts
197 within 3 business days after receipt of the request from the
198 permit applicant and request an accounting of available credits.
199 The accounting may not include credits reserved for other permit
200 applicants. The mitigation banks contacted by the department or
201 water management district shall be allowed 15 business days
202 after receipt of the request by the department or water
203 management district to reply to such request. If a mitigation
204 bank does not reply within the 15 business day timeframe, it is
205 presumed credits are not available. Upon receipt of the
206 accounting from the mitigation banks, the department or water
207 management district shall determine if sufficient credits are
208 available to offset impacts associated with the proposed project
209 and notify the permit applicant of such determination within 15
210 business days. The permit applicant, and no other entity, may
211 rely on the determination from the department or water
212 management district for a period of 1 year beginning on the date
213 the department or water management district notifies the permit
214 applicant of such determination, but only for purposes relating
215 to the pending application producing such determination and not
216 any extensions, nor renewals, nor modifications of any permit
217 issued pursuant to that pending application, nor for any other
218 permit application.
219 (h) Beginning July 1, 2026, and each July 1 thereafter,
220 each mitigation bank in this state shall submit to the
221 department or water management district an accounting of the
222 number and type of credits the mitigation bank has available for
223 sale. The accounting may not include names of parties for which
224 credits have been reserved or the contract price paid for the
225 credits. The department or water management district shall
226 compile the information to provide an assessment of this state’s
227 mitigation banking system and submit a report to the President
228 of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives on
229 October 1, 2026, and each October 1 thereafter.
230 Section 2. Subsection (14) is added to section 704.06,
231 Florida Statutes, to read:
232 704.06 Conservation easements; creation; acquisition;
233 enforcement.—
234 (14)(a) Upon application by the fee simple owner of a
235 parcel of land subject to a conservation easement to a water
236 management district, a water management district shall release
237 the conservation easement if the following conditions are met:
238 1. The land subject to the easement is less than 15 acres
239 and is bordered on three or more sides by impervious surfaces;
240 2. Any undeveloped adjacent parcels of land are less than
241 15 acres and similarly bordered on three or more sides by
242 impervious surfaces;
243 3. The land contains no historical, architectural,
244 archeological, or cultural significance; and
245 4. Before the release of the conservation easement, the
246 applicant must have secured sufficient mitigation credits using
247 the uniform mitigation assessment method from a mitigation bank
248 located in this state to offset the loss of wetlands located on
249 the land subject to the conservation easement.
250 (b) Upon the water management district’s release of the
251 conservation easement, the ad valorem taxes on the property
252 shall be based on the just value of the property, and the
253 property may be used for development consistent with the zoning
254 designation of the adjacent lands.
255 Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2025.
256
257 ================= T I T L E A M E N D M E N T ================
258 And the title is amended as follows:
259 Delete everything before the enacting clause
260 and insert:
261 A bill to be entitled
262 An act relating to mitigation banks; amending s.
263 373.4136, F.S.; revising the schedule for credit
264 release upon issuance of a mitigation bank credit
265 permit; authorizing a mitigation bank applicant to
266 propose an alternative credit release schedule and
267 requiring the Department of Environmental Protection
268 or water management district to consider such credit
269 release schedule; revising the consequences of the
270 establishment of a mitigation bank service area;
271 revising the projects or activities eligible to use
272 credits released from a mitigation bank for certain
273 purposes; authorizing a project applicant to receive a
274 one-time use of certain credits in certain
275 circumstances; providing requirements for a permit
276 applicant if the number of released credits within a
277 mitigation service area only partially offsets certain
278 impacts; requiring the department and water management
279 districts to apply a proximity factor in a specified
280 manner to make a certain determination; specifying
281 that the use of certain multipliers meets certain
282 requirements; requiring the department or water
283 management district to contact certain mitigation
284 banks within a specified number of days after
285 receiving a certain request from the applicant;
286 providing a presumption if a mitigation bank does not
287 respond in a certain number of days; requiring the
288 department or water management district to make
289 certain determinations upon receipt of an accounting
290 from mitigation banks; authorizing only the permit
291 applicant to rely on such determination for a
292 specified timeframe and for specified purposes;
293 requiring the department or water management district
294 to submit specified annual reports including certain
295 information to the Legislature; amending s. 704.06,
296 F.S.; requiring certain water management districts,
297 upon application by the owner of a parcel subject to a
298 conservation easement, to release the conservation
299 easement if specified conditions are met, including
300 obtaining sufficient mitigation credits from a
301 mitigation bank; providing for the valuation of the
302 property upon such release; specifying that land
303 released from the conservation easement may be used
304 for development consistent with certain zoning;
305 providing an effective date.