HB 1271 2023
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
A bill to be entitled 1
An act relating to state acquisition of lands; 2
amending ss. 253.025 and 570.715, F.S.; requiring, 3
rather than authorizing, the Department of 4
Environmental Protection and the Department of 5
Agriculture and Consumer Services to disclose 6
appraisal reports to private landowners or their 7
representatives during acquisition negotiations; 8
requiring private landowners and their representatives 9
to maintain the confiden tiality of such reports or 10
information disclosed by the Department of Agriculture 11
and Consumer Services; requiring the final purchase 12
price in certain option contracts for state land 13
acquisitions and less than fee simple conservation 14
easement acquisitions to be the fair market value as 15
determined by the highest appraisal; removing 16
provisions subjecting the final purchase price in 17
certain contracts to approval by the Board of Trustees 18
of the Internal Improvement Trust Fund or the 19
Secretary of Environmental P rotection, as applicable; 20
conforming a provision to changes made by the act; 21
providing an effective date. 22
23
Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 24
25
HB 1271 2023
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
Section 1. Subsection (8) of section 253.025, Florida 26
Statutes, is amended to read : 27
253.025 Acquisition of state lands. — 28
(8) Before approval by the board of trustees, or, when 29
applicable, the Department of Environmental Protection, of any 30
agreement to purchase land pursuant to this chapter, chapter 31
259, chapter 260, or chapter 375, and before negotiations with 32
the parcel owner to purchase any other land, title to which will 33
vest in the board of trustees, an appraisal of the parcel shall 34
be required as follows: 35
(a) The board of trustees shall adopt by rule the method 36
for determining the value of parcels sought to be acquired by 37
state agencies pursuant to this section. 38
(b) Each parcel to be acquired shall have at least one 39
appraisal. Two appraisals are required when the estimated value 40
of the parcel exceeds $1 million. However, if b oth appraisals 41
exceed $1 million and differ significantly, a third appraisal 42
may be obtained. If a parcel is estimated to be worth $100,000 43
or less and the director of the Division of State Lands finds 44
that the cost of an outside appraisal is not justified , a 45
comparable sales analysis, an appraisal prepared by the 46
division, or other reasonably prudent procedures may be used by 47
the division to estimate the value of the parcel, provided the 48
public's interest is reasonably protected. The state is not 49
required to appraise the value of lands and appurtenances that 50
HB 1271 2023
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
are being donated to the state. 51
(c) Appraisal fees and associated costs shall be paid by 52
the agency proposing the acquisition. All appraisals used for 53
the acquisition of lands pursuant to this section shall be 54
prepared by a state-certified appraiser. The board of trustees 55
shall adopt rules for selecting individuals to perform 56
appraisals pursuant to this section. Each fee appraiser selected 57
to appraise a particular parcel shall, before contracting with 58
the agency or a participant in a multiparty agreement, submit to 59
the agency an affidavit substantiating that he or she has no 60
vested or fiduciary interest in such parcel. 61
(d) The fee appraiser and the review appraiser for the 62
agency may not act in any ma nner that may be construed as 63
negotiating with the owner of a parcel proposed for acquisition. 64
(e) The board of trustees shall adopt by rule the minimum 65
criteria, techniques, and methods to be used in the preparation 66
of appraisal reports. Such rules shal l incorporate, to the 67
extent practicable, generally accepted appraisal standards. Any 68
appraisal issued for acquisition of lands pursuant to this 69
section must comply with the rules adopted by the board of 70
trustees. A certified survey must be made which meet s the 71
minimum requirements for upland parcels established in the 72
Standards of Practice for Land Surveying in Florida published by 73
the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and which 74
accurately portrays, to the greatest extent practicable, the 75
HB 1271 2023
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
condition of the parcel as it currently exists. The requirement 76
for a certified survey may, in part or in whole, be waived by 77
the board of trustees any time before submitting the agreement 78
for purchase to the Division of State Lands. When an existing 79
boundary map and description of a parcel are determined by the 80
division to be sufficient for appraisal purposes, the division 81
director may temporarily waive the requirement for a survey 82
until any time before conveyance of title to the parcel. 83
(f) Appraisal repor ts are confidential and exempt from s. 84
119.07(1), for use by the agency and the board of trustees , 85
until an option contract is executed or, if no option contract 86
is executed, until 2 weeks before a contract or agreement for 87
purchase is considered for appro val by the board of trustees. 88
The Department of Environmental Protection shall may disclose 89
appraisal reports to private landowners or their representatives 90
during negotiations for acquisitions using alternatives to fee 91
simple techniques, if the department determines that disclosure 92
of such reports will bring the proposed acquisition to closure . 93
However, the private landowner or their representative must 94
agree to maintain the confidentiality of the reports or 95
information. The department may also disclose ap praisal 96
information to public agencies or nonprofit organizations that 97
agree to maintain the confidentiality of the reports or 98
information when joint acquisition of property is contemplated, 99
or when a public agency or nonprofit organization enters into a 100
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
written agreement with the department to purchase and hold 101
property for subsequent resale to the board of trustees. In 102
addition, the department may use, as its own, appraisals 103
obtained by a public agency or nonprofit organization, if the 104
appraiser is selected from the department's list of appraisers 105
and the appraisal is reviewed and approved by the department. 106
For purposes of this paragraph, the term "nonprofit 107
organization" means an organization that is exempt from federal 108
income tax under s. 501(c)(3) of t he Internal Revenue Code and, 109
for purposes of the acquisition of conservation lands, an 110
organization whose purpose must include the preservation of 111
natural resources. The agency may release an appraisal report 112
when the passage of time has rendered the conc lusions of value 113
in the report invalid or when the acquiring agency has 114
terminated negotiations. 115
(g) Before acceptance of an appraisal, the agency shall 116
submit a copy of such report to the division. The division shall 117
review such report for compliance wi th the rules of the board. 118
Any questions of applicability of laws affecting an appraisal 119
shall be addressed by the legal office of the agency. 120
(h) The appraisal report shall be accompanied by the sales 121
history of the parcel for at least the previous 5 ye ars. Such 122
sales history shall include all parties and considerations with 123
the amount of consideration verified, if possible. If a sales 124
history would not be useful, or it is cost prohibitive compared 125
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
to the value of a parcel, the sales history may be waive d by the 126
board of trustees. The board of trustees shall adopt a rule 127
specifying guidelines for waiver of a sales history. 128
(i) The board of trustees may consider an appraisal 129
acquired by a seller, or any part thereof, in negotiating to 130
purchase a parcel, but such appraisal may not be used in lieu of 131
an appraisal required by this subsection or to determine the 132
maximum offer allowed by law. 133
(j)1. The board of trustees shall adopt by rule the method 134
for determining the value of parcels sought to be acquired by 135
state agencies pursuant to this section. An offer by a state 136
agency may not exceed the value for that parcel as determined 137
pursuant to the highest approved appraisal or the value 138
determined pursuant to the rules of the board of trustees, 139
whichever value is less. 140
2. For a joint acquisition by a state agency and a local 141
government or other entity apart from the state, the joint 142
purchase price may not exceed 150 percent of the value for a 143
parcel as determined in accordance with the limits in 144
subparagraph 1. The state agency share of a joint purchase offer 145
may not exceed what the agency may offer singly pursuant to 146
subparagraph 1. 147
3. This paragraph does not apply to the acquisition of 148
historically unique or significant property as determined by the 149
Division of Historical Resources of the Department of State. 150
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
151
Notwithstanding this subsection, on behalf of the board of 152
trustees and before the appraisal of parcels approved for 153
purchase under this chapter or chapter 259, the Secretary of 154
Environmental Protect ion or the director of the Division of 155
State Lands may enter into option contracts to buy such parcels. 156
Except as otherwise authorized under this subsection, any such 157
option contract shall state that the final purchase price shall 158
be the fair market value as determined by the highest appraisal 159
and is subject to approval by the board of trustees or, if 160
applicable, the Secretary of Environmental Protection, and that 161
the final purchase price may not exceed the maximum offer 162
allowed by law. Any such option cont ract presented to the board 163
of trustees for final purchase price approval shall explicitly 164
state that payment of the final purchase price is subject to an 165
appropriation from the Legislature. The consideration for such 166
an option may not exceed $1,000 or 0.0 1 percent of the estimate 167
by the department of the value of the parcel, whichever amount 168
is greater. 169
Section 2. Paragraph (d) of subsection (1) and subsection 170
(5) of section 570.715, Florida Statutes, are amended to read: 171
570.715 Conservation easemen t acquisition procedures. — 172
(1) For less than fee simple acquisitions pursuant to s. 173
570.71, the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services 174
shall comply with the following acquisition procedures: 175
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
(d) On behalf of the board of trustees and before th e 176
appraisal of parcels approved for purchase under ss. 177
259.105(3)(i) and 570.71, the department may enter into option 178
contracts to buy less than fee simple interest in such parcels. 179
Any such option contract shall state that the final purchase 180
price is subject to approval by the board of trustees and that 181
the final purchase price shall be the fair market value as 182
determined by the highest approved appraisal and may not exceed 183
the maximum offer authorized by law. Any such option contract 184
presented to the boar d of trustees for final purchase price 185
approval shall explicitly state that payment of the final 186
purchase price is subject to an appropriation by the 187
Legislature. The consideration for any such option contract may 188
not exceed $1,000 or 0.01 percent of the e stimate by the 189
department of the value of the parcel, whichever amount is 190
greater. 191
(5) Appraisal reports are confidential and exempt from s. 192
119.07(1), for use by the department and the board of trustees , 193
until an option contract is executed or, if an op tion contract 194
is not executed, until 2 weeks before a contract or agreement 195
for purchase is considered for approval by the board of 196
trustees. However, The department shall has the authority, at 197
its discretion, to disclose appraisal reports to private 198
landowners or their representatives during negotiations for 199
acquisitions. However, the private landowner or their 200
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
representative must agree to maintain the confidentiality of the 201
reports or information using alternatives to fee simple 202
techniques, if the departm ent determines that disclosure of such 203
reports will bring the proposed acquisition to closure . The 204
department may also disclose appraisal information to public 205
agencies or nonprofit organizations that agree to maintain the 206
confidentiality of the reports or information when joint 207
acquisition of property is contemplated, or when a public agency 208
or nonprofit organization enters into a written multiparty 209
agreement with the department. For purposes of this subsection, 210
the term "nonprofit organization" means an o rganization whose 211
purposes include the preservation of natural resources, and 212
which is exempt from federal income tax under s. 501(c)(3) of 213
the Internal Revenue Code. The department may release an 214
appraisal report when the passage of time has rendered the 215
conclusions of value in the report invalid or when the 216
department has terminated negotiations. 217
Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2023. 218