(1) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section, the following terms shall have the same meaning as provided in the definitions in s. 376.301: “contaminant,” “contaminated site,” “discharge,” “engineering controls,” “hazardous substances,” “institutional controls,” “pollutants,” and “site rehabilitation.”

(2) LEGISLATIVE INTENT.—The Legislature finds:

(a) Steps should be taken to eliminate or reduce the risk to student health posed by attendance at K-12 schools located on or adjacent to a contaminated site.

(b) District school boards have a duty and a responsibility to ensure the safety of school children while attending K-12 schools and engaging in extracurricular activities on school properties.

(c) Ensuring student safety includes preventing, eliminating, or reducing exposure to contaminants that may exist at or adjacent to K-12 school properties.

(3) K-12 SCHOOL SITING LIMITATIONS; PROHIBITIONS.—No K-12 school shall be built on or adjacent to a known contaminated site unless steps have been taken to ensure that children attending the school or playing on school property will not be exposed to contaminants in the air, water, or soil at levels that present a threat to human health or the environment.

(4) DUTIES OF DISTRICT SCHOOL BOARD.—Before taking title to real property upon which a K-12 school may be built or initiating action to locate a K-12 school on real property already owned by the school district, the district school board shall conduct appropriate due diligence including all appropriate inquiry into the previous ownership and use of the property consistent with good commercial or customary practice in an effort to determine the existence of any potential air, water, or soil contamination that may exist on or adjacent to the proposed K-12 school site. The district school board is encouraged to contact the Department of Environmental Protection to obtain any information about contaminated sites on or adjacent to a proposed K-12 school site. Any evidence of a discharge of pollutants or hazardous substances on or adjacent to a proposed K-12 school site shall prompt the district school board to conduct further investigation using at least a Phase II Environmental Audit, in accordance with standards established by the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), that includes air, water, and soil sampling. If the results of the environmental audit confirm the presence of contaminants or pollution on or adjacent to the proposed K-12 school site at concentrations that pose a threat to human health or the environment, then the district school board shall conduct appropriate site rehabilitation in accordance with the provisions of subsection (5) before initiating K-12 school construction at the site.

(5) CORRECTIVE ACTION.—The Department of Environmental Protection may use risk-based corrective action cleanup criteria as described in ss. 376.3071, 376.3078, and 376.81, and in chapter 62-777, Florida Administrative Code, in reviewing and approving site rehabilitation conducted by district school boards pursuant to this section.

History.—s. 832, ch. 2002-387.