FL S1702

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

Requires mitigation banks to provide affidavits signed within 30 days preceding a credit request confirming unavailable credits; credits are deemed unavailable if a bank cannot release them within 30 days of request.

Permits use of mitigation credits from surrounding basins or within the appropriate United States Geological Survey hydrological unit code buffer region if credits are not available in a basin.

Expands eligibility to use mitigation banks outside the mitigation service area to include projects approved on a case-by-case basis when insufficient credits are available to offset imminent and otherwise allowable adverse impacts.

Changes the processing fee requirement from "shall not be required" to "may not be required" for minor modifications when withdrawing mitigation credits from a bank; mandates DEP rulemaking begin August 1, 2023, with an effective date of July 1, 2023.