Florida Senate - 2016               CS for CS for CS for SB 1262
       
       
        
       By the Committees on Appropriations; Finance and Tax; and
       Military and Veterans Affairs, Space, and Domestic Security; and
       Senator Simpson
       
       576-04463-16                                          20161262c3
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to emergency management; amending s.
    3         213.055, F.S.; defining terms; providing that out-of
    4         state businesses and employees who enter the state in
    5         response to a disaster or an emergency are excluded
    6         from certain registration and licensing requirements
    7         and taxes; specifying the obligations of an out-of
    8         state business or employee after the disaster-response
    9         period; providing an effective date.
   10          
   11  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   12  
   13         Section 1. Section 213.055, Florida Statutes, is amended to
   14  read:
   15         213.055 Declared emergency; waiver or suspension of
   16  specified revenue laws and other requirements.—The following
   17  actions to waive or suspend a revenue law may be implemented
   18  only when the Governor has declared a state of emergency
   19  pursuant to s. 252.36.
   20         (1)(a) The Governor and Cabinet may grant refunds of state
   21  and local taxes on motor and diesel fuel donated during a
   22  declared state of emergency declared pursuant to s. 252.36 for
   23  official emergency use in cases in which the state solicits the
   24  donation. The refunds may be implemented by a vote of the
   25  majority of the Governor and Cabinet during a public meeting or
   26  by a majority jointly signing a written order.
   27         (b) The authorized refunds of state and local taxes on
   28  motor and diesel fuel apply to taxes imposed by chapter 206.
   29         (2) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the
   30  executive director of the Department of Revenue may implement
   31  the following actions during a declared state of emergency
   32  declared pursuant to s. 252.36 for those revenue sources over
   33  which the department is granted administrative control pursuant
   34  to s. 213.05:
   35         (a) Extend the stipulated due date for tax returns and
   36  accompanying tax payments; and
   37         (b) Waive interest that accrues during the period of the
   38  state of emergency on taxes due prior to and during the period
   39  of the disaster.
   40         (3)(a) As used in this subsection, the term:
   41         1. “Disaster-response period” means:
   42         a. A period that begins 10 calendar days before the first
   43  day of a state of emergency declared pursuant to s. 252.36 and
   44  ends on the 60th calendar day after the end of the declared
   45  state of emergency; or
   46         b. A period that begins on the date that an out-of-state
   47  business enters this state in good faith under a mutual aid
   48  agreement and in anticipation of a disaster or an emergency,
   49  regardless of whether a state of emergency is declared, and ends
   50  on the date that the work is concluded, or 7 calendar days after
   51  the out-of-state business enters this state, whichever occurs
   52  first.
   53         2. “Emergency-related work” means repairing, renovating,
   54  installing, building, rendering services, or other business
   55  activities that relate to infrastructure that has been damaged,
   56  impaired, or destroyed by an event that has resulted in a
   57  declaration of a state of emergency; or rendering such services
   58  or performing such activities in anticipation of or in response
   59  to a disaster or an emergency, regardless of whether a state of
   60  emergency is declared.
   61         3. “Infrastructure” means public roads; public bridges;
   62  property, equipment, and related support facilities owned or
   63  used by communication networks, electric generating systems,
   64  electric transmission and distribution systems, gas transmission
   65  and distribution systems, or water pipelines.
   66         4. “Mutual aid agreement” means an agreement to which two
   67  or more business entities are parties and under which a public
   68  utility, a municipally owned utility, an electric cooperative, a
   69  natural gas special district, a natural gas transmission
   70  pipeline, or a joint agency owning, operating, or owning and
   71  operating infrastructure used for electric generation, electric
   72  or gas transmission, or electric or gas distribution in this
   73  state may request that an out-of-state business perform work in
   74  this state in anticipation of a disaster or an emergency.
   75         5. “Out-of-state business” means a business entity that:
   76         a. Does not have a presence in this state, except with
   77  respect to the performance of emergency-related work, and
   78  conducts no business in this state, and whose services are
   79  requested by a registered business or by a unit of state or
   80  local government for purposes of performing emergency-related
   81  work in this state; and
   82         b. Is not registered and does not have tax filings or
   83  presence sufficient to require the collection or payment of a
   84  tax in this state during the tax year immediately before the
   85  disaster-response period. The term also includes a business
   86  entity that is affiliated with a registered business solely
   87  through common ownership.
   88         6. “Out-of-state employee” means an employee who does not
   89  work in this state, except for emergency-related work on
   90  infrastructure during a disaster-response period.
   91         7. “Registered business” means a business entity that is
   92  registered to do business in this state before the disaster
   93  response period begins.
   94         (b)1. Notwithstanding any other law, an out-of-state
   95  business that is conducting operations within this state during
   96  a disaster-response period solely for purposes of performing
   97  emergency-related work or pursuant to a mutual aid agreement is
   98  not considered to have established a level of presence that
   99  would require that business to register, file, and remit state
  100  or local taxes or fees or require that business to be subject to
  101  any registration, licensing, or filing requirements in this
  102  state. For purposes of any state or local tax on or measured, in
  103  whole or in part, by net or gross income or receipts, the
  104  activity of the out-of-state business conducted in this state
  105  during the disaster-response period must be disregarded with
  106  respect to any filing requirements for such tax, including the
  107  filing required for a consolidated group of which the out-of-
  108  state business may be a part. This includes the following:
  109         a. Reemployment assistance taxes.
  110         b. State or local professional or occupational licensing
  111  requirements or related fees.
  112         c. Local business taxes.
  113         d. Taxes on the operation of commercial motor vehicles.
  114         e. Corporate income tax.
  115         f. Tangible personal property tax and use tax on equipment
  116  that is brought into the state by the out-of-state business,
  117  used by the out-of-state business only to perform emergency
  118  related work during the disaster-response period, and removed
  119  from the state by the out-of-state business following the
  120  disaster-response period.
  121         2. Notwithstanding any other law, an out-of-state employee
  122  whose only employment in this state is for the performance of
  123  emergency-related work or pursuant to a mutual aid agreement
  124  during a disaster-response period is not required to comply with
  125  state or local occupational licensing requirements or related
  126  fees.
  127         (c) An out-of-state business or out-of-state employee who
  128  remains in this state after the disaster-response period is not
  129  entitled to the privileges provided in this subsection for
  130  activities performed after the disaster-response period ends and
  131  is subject to the state’s normal standards for establishing
  132  presence or residency or for doing business in the state.
  133         Section 2. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.