BILL SUMMARY DETAILS

SB 1890 (Hutson) revises the types of lessees whose purpose and functions are deemed to be governmental, municipal or public purpose in determining the exemption from ad valorem taxes for certain real property. These changes are intended to clarify existing law. (Hughes)

SB 1264 (Brandes) and CS/HB 1503 (Fischer) provide for the periodic increase in the additional property tax exemption on a homestead property if SJR 1266 or a similar constitutional amendment is approved by the voters at the 2022 general election. The bills would provide for recalculations of the additional homestead every five years and indexes the exemption amount to the House Price Index for Florida. (Hughes)

SJR 1266 (Brandes) and CS/HJR 923 (Fischer) propose an amendment to the Florida Constitution to provide for the periodic increase of the twenty-five thousand dollar exemption on a homestead property's assessed value that is greater than fifty thousand dollars. (Hughes)

HB 717 (Tomkow) and SB 1186 (Albritton) prohibit the denial or revocations of a property's agricultural classification due solely to the conduct of agritourism or the construction of a nonresidential structure on a bona fide farm that is used to conduct agritourism activities. The nonresidential structures and other improvements to the land must be assessed at their just value and added to the agriculturally assessed value of the land. (Hughes)

CS/CS/HB 1563 (Tomkow) and CS/SB 1748 (Brodeur) create an additional homestead exemption for certain public employees if CS/CS/HJR 1, CS/SJR 1746 or a similar constitutional amendment is approved by the voters at the 2022 general election. The bills provide for an additional homestead exemption up to $50,000 on the assessed value greater than $100,000 and up to $150,000 for properties owned by a classroom teacher, a law enforcement officer, a correctional officer, a firefighter, an emergency medical technician, a paramedic, a child welfare service provider, an active-duty member of the United States Armed Services or a member of the Florida National Guard. These bills only apply to non-school property taxes. The bills were amended to direct the Legislature to appropriate funds to offset reductions of ad valorem revenues in fiscally constrained counties attributable to the reduction in property tax base caused by the additional homestead exemption. (Hughes)

CS/CS/HJR 1 (Tomkow) and CS/SJR 1746 (Brodeur) propose an amendment to the Florida Constitution to authorize the Legislature to create an additional $50,000 homestead exemption on the property's assessed value greater than $100,000 and up to $150,000 to certain public employees. The homestead property must be owned by a classroom teacher, a law enforcement officer, a correctional officer, a firefighter, a child welfare service provider, an active-duty member of the United States Armed Services or a member of the Florida National Guard. The joint resolutions were amended to limit the additional exemption to non-school property taxes. CS/CS/HJR 1 was amended to include emergency medical technicians and paramedics. (Hughes)

SB 362 (Rodriguez) and CS/HB 401 (Smith) expand options that would allow a nonprofit home for the aged to qualify for an exemption from ad valorem taxation. The bills allow the

sole general partner to be another entity wholly owned by a not-for-profit corporation. (Hughes)

CS/HB 71 (Woodson) and SB 568 (Polsky) create an abatement of property taxes for residential dwellings that are uninhabitable due to a catastrophic event. If a residential dwelling is rendered uninhabitable for at least 30 days due to a catastrophic event, taxes originally levied for the tax year in which the catastrophic event occurred may be abated if certain conditions are met. The bills require the tax collector to notify each affected local government of the reduction of property taxes due to this bill. This change would apply retroactively to January 1, 2021. (Hughes)

HB 177 (Roth) and SB 950 (Rodriguez) – Requiring Broader Public Support for Constitutional Amendments or Revisions

HB 377 (Geller) and SB 586 (Torres) – Legislation by Initiative

HB 1127 (Beltran) and SB 1412 (Brodeur) – Limiting Subject of Constitutional Amendments Proposed by Citizens Initiative

CS/HB 1401 (Persons-Mulicka) and SB 1876 (Perry) specify that if more than 70 percent of land in an area proposed for contraction is owned by individuals, corporations or legal entities that are not registered electors, the area may only be contracted if the owners of more than 50 percent of the parcels of land in the area consent to the contraction. If the area does not have any registered electors on the date the ordinance is adopted, a vote of electors of the area is not required. (Cruz)

SB 1352 (Brodeur) and CS/CS/HB 921 (Drake) prohibit direct or indirect contributions or expenditures by a foreign national in connection with any election held in the state. In addition, CS/CS/HB 921 revises limitations on contributions to political committees that are the sponsor of a constitutional amendment proposed by initiative. Contributions to such political committees by persons who are not Florida residents and by political committees that do not maintain an office within the state are capped at $3,000. Out-of-state contributions to political committees that oppose a constitutional amendment proposed by initiative are not subject to the cap. The cap applies until the Secretary of State has issued a certificate of ballot position for the proposed amendment. (O’Hara)

CS/CS/HB 7001 (Public Integrity & Elections Committee) provides implementing legislation for the constitutional amendment approved by voters in 2018 that prohibits lobbying by certain state and local public officers both during public service and for a six-year period following vacation of public office. The constitutional prohibitions address lobbying before the federal government, the legislature, any state agency, or any political subdivision and takes effect December 31, 2022. The bill provides definitions of terms that are not defined in the constitutional provision, giving needed clarity for state and local public officers. Notable definitions in the bill include: "lobby," "compensation" and "legislative action," "issue of policy," "issue of procurement," "issue of appropriation," "administrative action," lobbying before the federal government and lobbying before political subdivisions. The bill provides specified exemptions from the definition of lobbying. The definitions included in the bill should be helpful to local and state public officials whose private-sector employment requires them to render legal services for clients before various state and political subdivisions. CS/CS/HB 7001 passed the House (117-0) and the Senate (30-0) and is awaiting action by the Governor. (O'Hara)

SB 508 (Diaz) establishes standards of conduct and a mandatory five hours of training relating to the "fiduciary duty of care" for appointed local public officers and executive officers of local government entities. In addition, the bills impose restrictions on legal representation by government attorneys. The fiduciary duty and training requirements apply to appointed officials of various local boards and committees, including code enforcement boards, planning and zoning boards, land use boards and community redevelopment agency boards. The requirements do not apply to pension board members. The bill provides that each appointed public official and executive officer has a fiduciary duty of care to the governmental entity served and has a duty to act in accordance with laws and terms governing the office or employment, act with the care and competence normally exercised by private business professionals, act only within the scope of authority and refrain from conduct likely to damage the economic interests of the governmental entity. Further, such persons must become reasonably informed in connection with any decision-making function and keep reasonably informed concerning the performance of a governmental entity's officers, agents and employees. The bill imposes training requirements on appointed public officers and executive officers that require completion of at least five hours of board governance training per term served. The bill specifies the minimum content of such training programs, including board governance best practices and fiduciary duty of care and liabilities imposed by the new law. The bill provides that all legal counsel employed by a governmental entity must represent the legal interest and position of the governing body of the governmental entity and not the interest of any individual or employee of the governmental entity. (Cruz)

HB 7067 (Public Integrity & Ethics Committee) amends various provisions of the Code of Ethics for Public Officers and Employees. The bill updates the conflicting employment or contractual interest provision in the Code by deeming a contractual interest in certain businesses in which a public officer or employee holds an interest to be a contractual interest of such officer or employee. It revises the local government voting conflict law by requiring all affected officers (which would now include elected municipal officers) to disclose conflicts prior to participation in public discussions on such issues. The bill clarifies current law provisions relating to the new mandatory electronic filing requirement for Form 1 financial disclosures. Finally, the bill amends provisions relating to mandatory ethics training by specified public officers and employees by specifying additional course conduct for ethics training, requiring persons completing ethics training to certify completion of such training and the name of the training provider on their annual financial disclosure filing. (O’Hara)

CS/SB 524 (Hutson) and HB 7061 (Public Integrity & Elections Committee) amend various provisions of the Florida Elections Code. The bills create the Office of Election Crimes and Security within the Department of State and revise requirements for special officers who may investigate election law violations. The bills also revise retention, maintenance and information posting requirements for citizens’ initiative petition signature forms. The bills prohibit the use of ranked-choice voting to determine election or nomination to elective office and void existing or future local ordinances authorizing the use of ranked-choice voting. The bills remove the limitation on the amount of aggregate fines that may be assessed against a third-party voter registration organization and revise the candidate oath regarding outstanding fines, fees, or penalties owed for certain ethics or campaign finance violations. The bills authorize a supervisor of elections to designate up to two additional early voting sites per election. (O’Hara)

HB 6109 (Eskamani) removes provisions that preempt local governments from enacting or adopting limitations and restrictions involving certain contributions and expenditures or establishing contribution limits different than those established in the Florida Election Code. (O'Hara)

HB 1359 (Roach) provides that a political committee or electioneering communications organization that over a 24-month period does not make or receive expenditures or contributions exceeding $5,000 in the aggregate is dissolved and must dispose of surplus funds in accordance with the Florida Elections Code. The bill also revises campaign contribution limits for candidates for legislative office, the Governor and members of the cabinet. (O'Hara)

HB 202 (Farmer) – Small Business Website Development Grant Program

HB 217 (Trabulsy) and SB 946 (Trabulsy) – Film, Television and Digital Media Rebate Program

HB 247 (Salzman) and HB 1310 (Rodriguez, A.) – Florida Main Street Program and Historic Preservation Tax Credits

HB 359 (Eskamani) – Agreement for Best Practices in Economic Development

SB 1098 (Brodeur) and HB 835 (Duggan) – Smart Region Zones

HB 6059 (Eskamani) ad SB 1896 (Farmer) – Confidentiality of Economic Development Agreement Information

CS/CS/HB 685 (Drake) reduces the required non-state match amount for the Regional Rural Development Grants Program from 25% to 15% and allows in-kind contributions to count toward this threshold. The bill removes the requirement that repaid funds from the Rural Community Development Revolving Loan Fund be matched to be retained to fund future loans. Finally, the bill revises the uses of the Rural Infrastructure Fund to remove the requirement that grants be linked to financing specific projects. It increases the proportion of an infrastructure project that may be covered by the grant from 50% to 75% and increases the maximum grant for infrastructure feasibility studies, design and engineering activities, or other infrastructure planning and preparation activities to $300,000 for all projects. The bill removes the local match requirement for surveys, feasibility studies, and other activities related to the identification and preclearance review of land which is suitable for preclearance review and removes the requirement that a grant for an employment project creates a minimum number of jobs. (Taggart)

CS/SB 800 (Albritton) authorizes municipalities to exempt by ordinance the public service tax on electrical energy for qualified purchasers determined by the Department of Revenue (DOR). The bill also provides a sales tax exemption for building materials being used to revitalize real property located within an opportunity zone. The bill specifies that the sales tax exemption will be distributed in the form of a refund on previously paid taxes if the property owner, lessee or lessor files an application with the local government that the opportunity zone is located. The bill specifies the information that the applicant will be required to provide in their application to the local government and give the local government 10 business days to certify the application for completeness and transmit it to DOR. The applicant is also required to forward the application to DOR. Applications for a sales tax refund must be submitted to DOR within six months of the real property being deemed “substantially completed” by the local building inspector. Applicants are limited to one application per property, and the amount must exceed $500. Additionally, the bill expands this tax exemption to include electrical energy being used by a business that operates in an opportunity zone for up to 50% of the tax imposed if the municipality chooses to adopt an ordinance. The bill also modifies some parameters of the Rural Job Tax Credit Program by removing the minimum number of employees and increasing the tax credit per employee from $1,000 to $2,500. The bill also creates the Rural Opportunity Tax Refund Program intended to provide tax relief for new, qualified targeted businesses that bring economic diversity and high-wage jobs to rural areas. In order for a qualified targeted business to receive this tax benefit, the municipality where the business will be located must adopt a resolution recommending the applicant be approved. (Taggart)