BILL SUMMARY DETAILS

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)

HB 417 (Fernandez-Barquin) and SB 572 (Garcia) revise 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)

HB 777 (Robinson) and 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)

HB 301 (Roach) and CS/SB 510 (Brodeur) require all municipal elected officials and all municipal managers to file an annual full disclosure of financial interests (Form 6) with the Florida Commission on Ethics. These individuals are currently required to file only a Limited Disclosure of Financial Interests (Form 1). (Hughes)

SB 1264 (Brandes) provides 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. This bill 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 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)

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

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 501 (Gregory) prohibits local governments and school districts from using public funds to retain a lobbyist for purposes of lobbying the state legislative or executive branch. The bill prohibits lobbyists from accepting public funds for such purposes. Full-time employees of the local government or school district are excluded from the prohibition. The bill prohibits a not-for-profit organization that accepts public funds from the state specialty license plate program from retaining a lobbyist to represent the organization before the state executive or legislative branch. The bill specifies penalties for violations and authorizes any Florida resident to bring a civil action for injunctive relief to enforce the bill's provisions. Persons prevailing in such civil actions are entitled to recover attorney fees and costs. The bill authorizes any Florida resident to file a complaint with the Florida Commission on Ethics for alleged violations. (O'Hara)

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. (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)

SB 524 (Hutson) amends various provisions of the Florida Election Code. The bill prohibits the use of ranked-choice voting to determine election or nomination to elective office and voids existing or future local ordinances authorizing the use of ranked-choice voting. It removes the limitation on the amount of aggregate fines that may be assessed against a third-party voter registration organization and revises the candidate oath regarding outstanding fines, fees or penalties owed for certain ethics or campaign finance violations. The bill authorizes a supervisor of elections to designate up to two additional early voting sites per election. (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) – 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) – Confidentiality of Economic Development Agreement Information

SB 800 (Albritton) and HB 685 (Drake) authorize municipalities to exempt by ordinance the public service tax on electrical energy for qualified purchasers determined by the Department of Revenue (DOR). The bills also provide a sales tax exemption for building materials being used to revitalize real property located within an opportunity zone. The bills specify 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 in. The bills specify 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 bills expand 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 bills also modify 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 bills also create 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)

SB 434 (Hooper) and HB 489 (Chaney) delay the scheduled repeal of the Florida Tourism Industry Marketing Corporation (Visit Florida) and the Division of Tourism Marketing of Enterprise Florida, Inc. SB 434 delays the repeal from 2023 to 2031, while HB 489 delays the repeal from 2023 to 2028. (Taggart)

HB 499 (Gregory) requires agreements between a governmental entity and a professional sports team or sporting event entered into after July 1, 2022, to include a requirement that the U.S. National Anthem be played at the beginning of each sporting event if the agreement includes a financial commitment from the governmental agency. The government that enters into the agreement would be responsible for enforcing this requirement. The bill also specifies penalties for the sports entity for failure to comply. (Taggart)

SB 352 (Hooper) – Construction Liens

HB 263 (Bell) – Notice of Commencement Requirements