Florida Senate - 2025                          SENATOR AMENDMENT
       Bill No. CS for CS for SB 492
       
       
       
       
       
       
                                Ì181416"Î181416                         
       
                              LEGISLATIVE ACTION                        
                    Senate             .             House              
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                Floor: 2/AD/2R         .                                
             04/29/2025 10:16 AM       .                                
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       Senator McClain moved the following:
       
    1         Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
    2  
    3         Between lines 287 and 288
    4  insert:
    5         Section 2. Paragraph (e) is added to subsection (2) of
    6  section 376.308, Florida Statutes, to read:
    7         376.308 Liabilities and defenses of facilities.—
    8         (2) In addition to the defense described in paragraph
    9  (1)(c), the only other defenses of a person specified in
   10  subsection (1) are to plead and prove that the occurrence was
   11  solely the result of any of the following or any combination of
   12  the following:
   13         (e)The condition giving rise to the cause of action is a
   14  natural geological substance of a former phosphate mine, as
   15  defined in s. 378.213, for which:
   16         1. A notice has been recorded in accordance with s.
   17  378.213(1); and
   18         2. The Department of Health has conducted a survey under s.
   19  404.0561(1).
   20         Section 3. Section 378.213, Florida Statutes, is created to
   21  read:
   22         378.213 Notice of former phosphate mine site.—
   23         (1)A landowner may record a notice in the official records
   24  of the county in which the land is located which identifies the
   25  landowner’s property as a former phosphate mine. The recorded
   26  notice must be in substantially the following form:
   27  
   28                               NOTICE                              
   29         This property is a former phosphate mine as defined in
   30         s. 378.213(2), Florida Statutes.
   31  
   32  Such recording serves as notice that the land is a former
   33  phosphate mine.
   34         (2) As used in this section, the term “former phosphate
   35  mine” means an area of land upon which phosphate mining has been
   36  conducted and which may have been subject to a radiation survey
   37  in accordance with s. 404.0561 and state reclamation
   38  requirements of ss. 378.201-378.212, but does not include a
   39  phosphogypsum stack as defined in s. 403.4154(1)(d).
   40         Section 4. Section 404.0561, Florida Statutes, is created
   41  to read:
   42         404.0561Survey of former phosphate mining lands.—
   43         (1)Upon petition by a current landowner, the department
   44  shall conduct a gamma radiation survey of a former phosphate
   45  land parcel within 120 days after receipt of the petition to
   46  determine the radioactivity levels. The survey must document
   47  gamma radiation exposure measurements and the locations of the
   48  measurements.
   49         (2)The department shall provide a copy of the preliminary
   50  survey results to the petitioner within 30 days after completion
   51  of the survey. Within 60 days after receipt of the survey, the
   52  petitioner may request an additional survey based upon any
   53  reasonable belief that the survey was flawed or not
   54  representative of conditions on the site. The department shall
   55  conduct one additional survey within 90 days after receipt of
   56  the petitioner’s request. The additional survey must meet the
   57  requirements of this section and is deemed final within 90 days
   58  after completion.
   59         Section 5. Section 768.405, Florida Statutes, is created to
   60  read:
   61         768.405Documentation of radiation levels.—In any civil
   62  action based on strict liability under s. 376.313(3), negligence
   63  or similar conduct related to an alleged discharge of hazardous
   64  substances or condition of pollution related to phosphate
   65  mining, including the presence of mining overburden, solid waste
   66  from the extraction, or beneficiation of phosphate rock from a
   67  phosphate mine; or any other similar claim related to the mining
   68  of phosphatic rock or reclamation of a mined area, the plaintiff
   69  must include a radiation survey of the property with the
   70  complaint. The survey must be prepared by a person certified as
   71  either a health physicist by the American Board of Health
   72  Physics or as a radiation protection technologist by the
   73  National Registry of Radiation Protection Technologists. The
   74  survey must be representative and document the measured gamma
   75  radiation on the property, including background values
   76  determined in accordance with the Environmental Protection
   77  Agency’s Multi-agency Radiation Survey and Site Investigation
   78  Manual; the locations of the measurements; the testing
   79  equipment; the testing methodology used, including the equipment
   80  calibration date and protocol; and the name of the person
   81  performing the survey and describe the person’s relevant
   82  training, education, and experience. The survey shall be
   83  verified under penalty of perjury as provided in s. 92.525.
   84  
   85  ================= T I T L E  A M E N D M E N T ================
   86  And the title is amended as follows:
   87         Delete line 35
   88  and insert:
   89         thereafter; amending s. 376.308, F.S.; providing
   90         conditions for a cause of action against certain
   91         former phosphate mine sites; creating s. 378.213,
   92         F.S.; authorizing landowners to record certain notice
   93         of former phosphate mines; specifying requirements for
   94         such notice; defining the term “former phosphate
   95         mine”; creating s. 404.0561, F.S.; requiring the
   96         Department of Health to conduct gamma radiation
   97         surveys of former phosphate land parcels upon
   98         petition; creating s. 768.405, F.S.; requiring that
   99         specified documentation of radiation levels be
  100         submitted in certain civil actions related to
  101         phosphate mining; providing an effective date.