Florida SB 848: Electronic Legal Documents

Bill Text

848 
Stormwater Treatment 
2026-03-18T04:23:26Z 
Prohibiting certain stormwater treatment and net improvement activities; defining the term “regional stormwater management system”; requiring that the Department of Environmental Protection or a water management district require an applicant to provide certain documentation of adequate financial responsibility in order to meet certain requirements; authorizing water quality enhancement credits to be used by governmental entities to meet environmental resource permit stormwater treatment performance standards or achieve net improvement, pursuant to specified provisions, etc. 
ENROLLED 
2026 
S 
2026-07-01T00:00:00Z 
GB 
General Bill 
er 

 ENROLLED 
 2026 Legislature CS for CS for SB 848, 1st Engrossed 

 2026848er 
 1 
 2 An act relating to stormwater treatment; amending s. 
 3 311.106, F.S.; prohibiting certain stormwater 
 4 treatment and net improvement activities; prohibiting 
 5 certain water quality enhancement areas from conveying 
 6 enhancement credits to provide stormwater treatment or 
 7 achieve net improvement; amending s. 373.403, F.S.; 
 8 defining terms; amending s. 373.413, F.S.; defining 
 9 the term “regional stormwater management system”; 
 10 requiring that the Department of Environmental 
 11 Protection or a water management district require an 
 12 applicant to provide certain documentation of adequate 
 13 financial responsibility in order to meet certain 
 14 requirements; providing requirements for such 
 15 financial responsibility; providing construction; 
 16 requiring an environmental resource permit authorizing 
 17 a regional stormwater management system to establish 
 18 and include a specified graphic depiction; authorizing 
 19 certain environmental resource permit applicants to 
 20 purchase and use pollution reduction allocations from 
 21 a regional stormwater management system to meet 
 22 certain performance criteria; requiring the department 
 23 or water management district to use a specified 
 24 identifier to establish the drainage area; providing 
 25 an exception; amending s. 373.4134, F.S.; revising 
 26 legislative findings; deleting the definition of the 
 27 term “enhancement credit”; authorizing water quality 
 28 enhancement credits to be used by governmental 
 29 entities to meet environmental resource permit 
 30 stormwater treatment performance standards or achieve 
 31 net improvement, pursuant to specified provisions; 
 32 providing that the use of enhancement credits from a 
 33 water quality enhancement area constitutes 
 34 compensating stormwater treatment under the 
 35 environmental resource permitting program; requiring 
 36 the boundaries of the enhancement service area to 
 37 include a certain type of sub-basin; prohibiting the 
 38 term “credit” from being used to refer to pollutant 
 39 reduction under certain circumstances; requiring the 
 40 department to adopt rules by a specified date; 
 41 requiring the department to take certain action 
 42 pending the adoption of certain rules; requiring the 
 43 department to issue a provisional permit under certain 
 44 circumstances; authorizing enhancement credits to be 
 45 used from certain water quality enhancement areas; 
 46 providing construction; authorizing the department to 
 47 modify permits after the adoption of rules; requiring 
 48 the department and water management districts to 
 49 recognize any enhancement credit used from a water 
 50 quality enhancement area established pursuant to a 
 51 provisional permit; amending s. 373.414, F.S.; 
 52 clarifying the types of mitigation measures for 
 53 compensating stormwater treatment which the department 
 54 or a water management district governing board must 
 55 consider under certain circumstances; making technical 
 56 changes; reenacting s. 373.4136(6)(d), F.S., relating 
 57 to establishment and operation of mitigation banks, to 
 58 incorporate the amendment made to s. 373.414, F.S., in 
 59 a reference thereto; providing an effective date. 
 60 
 61 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 
 62 
 63 Section 1. Section 311.106, Florida Statutes, is amended to 
 64 read: 
 65 311.106 Seaport stormwater permitting and mitigation.— 
 66 (1) A seaport listed in s. 403.021(9)(b) is authorized to 
 67 provide for onsite or offsite stormwater treatment for water 
 68 quality impacts caused by a proposed port activity that requires 
 69 a permit and that causes or contributes to pollution from 
 70 stormwater runoff. Offsite stormwater treatment may occur 
 71 outside of the established boundaries of the port, but must be 
 72 within the same drainage basin in which the port activity 
 73 occurs. A port offsite stormwater treatment project must be 
 74 constructed and maintained by the seaport or by the seaport in 
 75 conjunction with an adjacent local government. In order to limit 
 76 stormwater treatment from individual parcels within a port, a 
 77 seaport may prov