House Bill 632 Summary

• Adds cost-effectiveness as a priority purpose for the Division of Mitigation Services, emphasizing maximization of productive uses of public and private lands while meeting mitigation requirements.

• Expands the Ecosystem Restoration Fund to include streams in addition to wetlands and riparian areas, and allows conservation easements to be transferred to approved federal, state, local, or nonprofit entities rather than solely to the Department.

• Permits property owners to use privately-held riparian buffer areas to satisfy other development-related regulatory requirements such as stormwater management, density calculations, tree conservation, and setback requirements.

• Requires the Division of Mitigation Services to refocus on ecological function rather than spatial proximity of projects and directs revision of nutrient offset fees for Jordan Lake Watershed by sub-watershed to reflect actual mitigation costs.

• Establishes annual Department of Transportation reporting requirements to the Environmental Review Commission on implementation of the 2016 Memorandum of Understanding regarding compensatory mitigation, including inventory updates and plans for surplus credit disposition through March 1, 2020.