BILL SUMMARY DETAILS

PCB WMC 22-01 (Ways and Means Committee) is the House tax package for the 2022 Legislative Session. The bill provides for several tax reductions and other tax-related modifications. Several provisions in the bill are related to property taxes including increasing the value of property exempt from ad valorem taxation for residents who are widows, widowers, blind, or totally and permanently disabled from $500 to $5,000. The bill provides property tax abatement for homestead property rendered uninhabitable for 30 days or more due to a catastrophic event and provides relief from all assessments to owners affected by the sudden and unforeseen collapse of a residential building in 2021. The bill also modifies the assessment methodology for land used in the production of aquaculture products. The bill includes numerous sales tax holidays, two new sales tax exemptions and a reduction in the sales tax on new mobile homes. (Hughes)

HB 6093 (Gregory) and SB 1558 (Gruters) repeal Section 212.031, Florida Statutes, which subjects the renting, leasing, letting or granting a license for the use of any real property to sales and use tax. (Hughes)

SB 1056 (Hutson) and CS/HB 1345 (McFarland) revise the criteria of the homestead property tax exemption to state that the rental of a portion of a dwelling claimed to be a homestead while the dwelling is physically occupied by the owner does not constitute the abandonment of the dwelling as a homestead. (Hughes)

SB 1318 (Hutson) and HB 1559 (Harding) allow the state's Chief Financial Officer to designate credit unions as qualified public depositories after meeting certain criteria. (Hughes)

HB 243 (Roth) and SB 1126 (Harrell) exempt, from property taxation, property used by educational institutions that hold a leasehold interest in certain leases that exceed 98 years. (Hughes)

HB 751 (Clemons) revises the definition of the term "inventory" to include construction equipment by a heavy equipment rental dealer for sale or short-term rental in the normal course of business on the annual assessment date. This change only applies to non-school levies. (Hughes)

CS/SB 1150 (Rodriguez, A.) and HB 495 (Rodriguez, Ant.) authorize municipalities and counties to adopt ordinances to grant ad valorem tax exemptions to property owners whose properties are used for governmental or public purpose of providing affordable housing. CS/SB 1150 now specifies that property given tax exemptions are considered having a charitable purpose.  (Hughes)

CS/HB 13 (Gottlieb) and SB 154 (Rodriguez) increase the property tax exemption for homesteaded residents who are widows, widowers, blind or totally and permanently disabled. SB 154 increases the exemption from $500 to $5,000. CS/HB 13 increases the exemption to  $2,500. (Hughes)

HB 839 (Fischer) and SB 1152 (Rodriguez, A.) increase the property tax discount percentage rates for early payment of all property taxes assessed on the county tax rolls. (Hughes)

CS/HB 417 (Fernandez-Barquin) and SB 572 (Garcia) increase the variance percentages, which

must be met in order for a property appraiser to challenge a Value Adjustment Board decision in circuit court. SB 572 revises factors that a property appraiser must consider in deriving just valuation for a property. For example, the property appraiser may not consider the highest and best use if the necessary zoning changes, concurrency requirement or permits to achieve the highest and best use are not in place on January 1 of the assessment year. (Hughes)

CS/CS/HB 777 (Robinson) and CS/SB 1194 (Boyd) require referenda elections related to tourist development taxes, tourist impact taxes, increases in municipal and county ad valorem tax millages, children's services and independent special district property taxes, ninth-cent fuel tax, local option fuel taxes and certain school millages to be held at the general election. (Hughes)

HB 283 (Duran) and SB 460 (Rodriguez) provide for an exception from assessment of homestead property at just value upon transfer of property if the property is transferred to a child or a grandchild of the deceased owner. (Hughes)

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)