FL H1167

Allows the Department of Environmental Protection and water management districts to release mitigation credits to banks before meeting all performance criteria if credits are insufficient in a mitigation service area and the bank has been successfully constructed with high confidence of meeting ecological standards.

Permits use of mitigation credits from surrounding basins or appropriate United States Geological Survey hydrological unit codes when credits are unavailable in a basin, with availability determined by affidavit from mitigation banks signed within 30 days of the request.

Eliminates processing fees for withdrawing mitigation credits from a bank through minor permit modifications.

Allows four categories of projects to use mitigation banks regardless of mitigation service area location: projects with partially located impacts, linear projects (roadways, transmission lines, pipelines, railways, seaports), projects with less than 1 acre of impacts, and case-by-case approved projects when sufficient credits are unavailable.

Requires the Department of Environmental Protection to begin rulemaking on August 1, 2023, with the act taking effect July 1, 2023.