HB 377

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
55	lost 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
110	administrative costs, must be transferred by the Department of
111	Revenue to the South Florida Water Management District and
112	deposited into the 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
122	condition of the permits issued by the department for rock
123	mining activities in the Miami-Dade County Lake Belt Area
124	demonstrates that the water in any quarry lake in the vicinity
125	of the Northwest Wellfield would be classified as being in Bin 2
126	or higher as defined in the Environmental Protection Agency's
127	Long 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.

CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.