BILL SUMMARY DETAILS

HJR 877 (Killebrew) and SJR 1076 (Wright) propose an amendment to the Florida Constitution to allow the same ad valorem tax discount on homestead property for combat-disabled veterans age 65 or older to carry over to the surviving spouse of a veteran receiving the discount if the surviving spouse holds legal title to the homestead and permanently resides there. The discount would apply to the property until the surviving spouse remarries, sells or otherwise disposes of the property. If the surviving spouse sells the property, the discount may be transferred to the surviving spouse’s new residence if the residence is used as the surviving spouse’s permanent residence and he or she does not remarry. (Hughes)

CS/SB 1236 (Gruters) expands the current ad valorem exemption for property used for educational purposes to exempt land that is not owned by the educational institution but is used for educational purposes under a lease. This provision applies only if the educational institution is responsible for any taxes owed and for ongoing maintenance and operational expenses for the land and buildings. Additionally, the property must have been used for educational purposes and has been receiving the exemption under this section of law for at least 10 years. (Hughes)

SB 334 (Stewart) expands the authorized use of the tourist development tax to include promoting or incentivizing film or television productions in this state. (Hughes)

HB 281 (Hattersley) and SB 484 (Simmons) expands the definition of “first responder” for purposes of eligibility for specified property tax exemptions to include a law enforcement officer or firefighter who, before becoming a resident of this state, sustained a total and permanent disability in the line of duty while serving as a full-time paid law enforcement officer or firefighter in another state. This change would apply to the 2021 tax rolls. (Hughes)

CS/HB 223 (Buchanan) and CS/SB 514 (Gruters) provide that a person receiving a homestead ad valorem tax exemption in Florida and simultaneously receiving a similar exemption in another state that requires permanent residency in that state is entitled to the Florida homestead exemption if that person or family unit can demonstrate that they did not apply for the exemption and that they have relinquished the exemption in the other state. The bills require forms to claim homestead exemption that are promulgated by the Department of Revenue to ask the taxpayer whether he or she receives an ad valorem tax exemption or tax credit in another state where permanent residency is required as a basis for the granting of that exemption. (Hughes)

HB 671 (Roth) provides for a special election to be held on Tuesday, August 18, 2020, to approve or reject HJR 369 (Roth) or a similar joint resolution if approved by three-fourths of the membership of each chamber of the Legislature. (Hughes)

CS/SB 148 (Brandes) and HB 371 (Roth) increase the timeframe, from two to three years, during which the accrued benefit from specified limitations on homestead property tax assessments may be transferred from a prior homestead to a new homestead. The bills also revise the timeframe during which an owner of homestead property significantly damaged or destroyed by a named tropical storm or hurricane must establish a new homestead to make a certain election and requires the passage of the amendment to the state Constitution proposed by SJR 146, HJR 369 or a similar joint resolution having substantially the same specific intent and purpose. (Hughes)

SJR  146 (Brandes) and HJR 369 (Roth) propose an amendment to the state constitution to increase the period from two to three years when accrued Save-Our-Homes benefits may be transferred from a prior homestead to a new homestead. These proposed amendments require 60% approval of the electorate for passage. (Hughes)

HB 141 (Bush) prohibits tax collectors from assessing or collecting certain charges on property tax bills from low-income seniors and schoolteachers at public schools who meet certain requirements. The bill also prohibits tax collectors from authorizing a debt collection entity to collect certain charges on property tax bills for those identified groups and prohibits tax collectors from selling tax certificates on certain properties if outstanding amounts due are only for delinquent payment of property tax. The bill requires the Department of Revenue to work with tax collectors to identify mechanisms, strategies and funding sources for helping certain populations pay for delinquent charges. (Hughes)

CS/HB 7097 (Ways and Means) is the House “tax package” for the 2020 Session and includes several tax reductions and other tax-related modifications. Of note, the bill includes a 0.5 percent rate reduction for both the state communications services tax and the direct-to-home satellite services. The sales tax rate on commercial leases is reduced from 5.5 to 5.4 percent. The bill includes two sales tax holidays: a three-day “back-to-school” holiday and a seven-day “disaster preparedness” holiday. The bill includes a requirement that school capital outlay sales surtaxes approved in the future be proportionately shared with charter schools. The bill restructures the authorized uses of tourist development, convention development and local option food and beverage taxes levied by Miami-Dade County. The bill also expands the allowable uses for tourist development tax revenues to include certain water quality improvement and parks and trails projects. The bill makes multiple changes to property taxes including amending the requirements for hospitals to qualify for a charitable tax exemption and updates the qualifying operations for the deployed servicemember tax exemption. The bill provides for a one-time increase of $8.2 million available for the brownfields tax credit equal to the amount of the current backlog of approved tax credits. The bill provides for an approximately one-third reduction in the aviation fuel tax paid by commercial air carriers. The bill also includes several provisions proposed by the Department of Revenue designed to enhance its administration of state taxes and oversight of property taxation. Additionally, the bill provides for a future sunset of the Charter County and Regional Transportation System Sales Surtax currently levied in Miami-Dade County and a requirement that any future levy of the tax in any eligible county be limited to 20 years in duration. The total local government revenue impact of the bill in fiscal year 2020-21 is -$24.8 million (-$42.5 million recurring). (Hughes)

SB 7060 (Finance and Tax) makes changes to tax-related statutes as recommended by the Department of Revenue. Of note to municipalities, the bill extends, from three to five years, the time for commencement of repairs to property damaged by Hurricane Michael without the property owner losing the prior assessment limitation. The bill also updates real property classification language to classify apartments with more than nine units as commercial property. The bill also updates DOR’s tax roll review requirements by deleting the requirement that the department do in-depth reviews of tangible personal property and the requirement that the department calculate a confidence interval for an entire property roll. (Hughes)

SB 1016 (Rouson) refines the term “infrastructure” for purposes of the Local Government Infrastructure Surtax to include authorized expenditures for certain affordable residential housing. (Hughes)

SB 930 (Gainer) and HB 769 (Trumbull) exempt from public records requirements certain financial and taxpayer personal identifying information held by a county or municipality in connection with the collection or administration of a local business tax. (Hughes)

SB 990 (Hutson) and HB 721 (Roth) allow the state's chief financial officer to designate credit unions as qualified public depositories after meeting certain criteria. (Hughes)

HB 7007 (Oversight, Transparency & Public Management Subcommittee) and SB 7004 (Finance and Tax) maintain the current public record exemption for taxpayer e-mail addresses held by tax collectors for certain tax notice purposes. (Hughes)

SB 126 (Gruters) and HB 159 (Clemons) require retailers with no physical presence in Florida to collect Florida’s sales tax on sales of taxable items delivered to purchasers in Florida if the retailer makes a substantial number of sales into Florida or provides for the taxation of sales facilitated through a marketplace provider. The bill also deletes a provision that exempts an out-of-state dealer which makes retail sales into this state from collecting and remitting any local option surtax. (Hughes)

SB 1512 (Diaz) and CS/HB 7069 (State Affairs) repeal an existing reporting requirement that municipalities report certain budget and economic data to the Office of Economic and Demographic Research and replace it with a new reporting requirement. The bills require municipalities and counties to electronically submit to the Department of Financial Services all necessary information needed to facilitate the department preparing a local government report and interactive website that can be used to compare and rank local governments. Some of the information that may need to be submitted includes government spending per capita, government debt per capita, crime rates, school grades, median income and unemployment. The department will adopt, by rule, the method and format of the required reporting. CS/HB 7069 also requires that the local government report grade cities and counties, using an “A” through “F” grading scale, on factors such as government spending, debt, public safety and education. Given the difference in the scope and breadth of the services provided by cities, ranking and comparing municipalities will generate data that may have no value and, in fact, could cause confusion among residents. (Hughes)

HB 1149 (DiCeglie) and SB 1702 (Diaz) amend multiple provisions related to local government financial transparency. The bills expand public notice and public hearing requirements for local option tax increases, other than property taxes and taxes adopted by referendum, and new long-term tax-supported debt issuances. Each local government is required to prominently post on its website the voting records on any action taken by its governing board related to tax increases and new tax-supported debt issuances. The bills impose requirements on county property appraisers and local governments relating to Truth in Millage (TRIM) notices, millage rate history and the amount of tax levied by each taxing authority on each parcel.

Additionally, local governments will be required to conduct a debt affordability analysis prior to approving the issuance of new long-term tax-supported debt. The bills require the local government annual audit reports to include information regarding compliance with the requirements of this newly created section of law. Failure to comply would result in the withholding of state-shared revenues. The bills revise the local government reporting requirements for economic development incentives. They require each municipality to report to the Office of Economic and Demographic Research whether the incentive is provided directly to an individual business or by another entity on behalf of the local government and the source of dollars obligated for the incentive (including local, state and federal). (Hughes)

HJR 477 (Rommel) proposes an amendment to the Florida Constitution requiring that any local tax or fee that is imposed, authorized or raised by a local jurisdiction, including municipalities, be approved by two-thirds of the membership of the jurisdiction. “Fee” is defined as any charge or payment required by ordinance or regulation. The proposed amendment requires any local tax or fee imposed or raised under this section to be contained in a separate resolution or ordinance. This proposed amendment would require 60 percent approval of the electorate for passage. (Hughes)

HB 701 (Fischer) and SB 1174 (Hutson) reform the communications services tax (CST) to clarify that certain streaming services are subject to the tax and create uniform rates. The bills reduce the local CST rate to 5% or less by January 1, 2021, and 4% or less by January 1, 2022. The bills also reduce the state CST rate from 4.92% to 4.9% and the noncharter county CST rate to 2% by January 1, 2022. The bills repeal the local option sales surtax conversion that is levied on communications services. The Revenue Estimating Conference has partially determined the fiscal impact of this bill. It is estimated to negatively impact local government revenues by $190 million each year. (Hughes)