Florida Senate - 2018              PROPOSED COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
       Bill No. CS for SB 1646
       
       
       
       
       
                               Ì952426,Î952426                          
       
       576-03502-18                                                    
       Proposed Committee Substitute by the Committee on Appropriations
       (Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Tourism, and
       Economic Development)
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to regional rural development grants;
    3         amending s. 288.018, F.S.; providing that regional
    4         rural development grants may be used to hire regional
    5         economic development organization professional staff;
    6         authorizing the use of matching grant funds to provide
    7         technical assistance to certain entities; increasing
    8         the annual maximum amount of grant funding that
    9         specified economic development organizations may
   10         receive; revising the amount of nonstate matching
   11         funds required; increasing the amount the Department
   12         of Economic Opportunity may expend each fiscal year
   13         for the program; requiring that contracts or
   14         agreements involving the expenditure of grant funds be
   15         placed on a certain website for a specified time
   16         period; requiring that certain information be included
   17         in a contract or agreement involving the expenditure
   18         of grant funds; requiring that a plain language
   19         version of certain contracts or agreements be placed
   20         on a certain website; deleting an obsolete provision
   21         authorizing the Department of Economic Opportunity to
   22         contract for the development of certain enterprise
   23         zone web portals or websites; amending s. 288.0655,
   24         F.S.; increasing the maximum percent of total
   25         infrastructure project costs for which the department
   26         may award a grant; repealing a provision for increased
   27         maximum percent of total infrastructure project costs
   28         that may be awarded for a catalyst site; providing
   29         that improving access to and availability of broadband
   30         Internet service may be included in a project that is
   31         eligible for rural infrastructure grant funds;
   32         providing that grants for improvements to broadband
   33         Internet service and access must be conducted through
   34         certain partnerships; extending the date by which the
   35         department is required to reevaluate certain
   36         guidelines and criteria; requiring that contracts or
   37         agreements involving the expenditure of grant funds be
   38         placed on a certain website for a specified time
   39         period; requiring that certain information be included
   40         in a contract or agreement involving the expenditure
   41         of grant funds; requiring that a plain language
   42         version of certain contracts or agreements be placed
   43         on a certain website; providing an effective date.
   44          
   45  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   46  
   47         Section 1. Subsections (1), (3), and (4) of section
   48  288.018, Florida Statutes, are amended to read:
   49         288.018 Regional Rural Development Grants Program.—
   50         (1)(a) The department shall establish a matching grant
   51  program to provide funding to regional regionally based economic
   52  development organizations representing rural counties and
   53  communities to build for the purpose of building the
   54  professional capacity of such regional economic development
   55  their organizations. Building the professional capacity of
   56  regional economic development organizations includes hiring
   57  professional staff to develop, facilitate the delivery of, and
   58  directly provide needed economic development professional
   59  services, including technical assistance, education and
   60  leadership development, marketing and project recruitment, and
   61  other services that are important for rural economic
   62  development. Such Matching grants may also be used by a regional
   63  an economic development organization to provide technical
   64  assistance to local governments, local economic development
   65  organizations, and existing and prospective businesses within
   66  the rural counties and communities that it serves.
   67         (b)A regional economic development organization may apply
   68  to the department for a matching grant each year. The department
   69  is authorized to approve an application for a grant up to, on an
   70  annual basis, grants:
   71         1. Fifty thousand dollars to a regional economic
   72  development organization;
   73         2.One hundred fifty thousand dollars to an organization
   74  located to such regionally based economic development
   75  organizations. The maximum amount an organization may receive in
   76  any year will be $50,000, or $150,000 in a rural area of
   77  opportunity designated pursuant to s. 288.0656; or
   78         3. Two hundred fifty thousand dollars to any of the three
   79  regional economic development organizations that serve an entire
   80  region of a rural area of opportunity designated pursuant to s.
   81  288.0656 and that are recognized by the department as serving
   82  such regions.
   83         (c) Grant funds received by a regional economic development
   84  organization recommended by the Rural Economic Development
   85  Initiative and designated by the Governor, and must be matched
   86  each year by an equivalent amount of nonstate resources in an
   87  amount equal to 25 percent of the state contribution.
   88         (3)(a)A contract or agreement that involves the
   89  expenditure of grant funds provided under this section must be
   90  placed on the contracting regional economic development
   91  organization’s website at least 14 days before execution.
   92         (b)A contract or agreement that involves the expenditure
   93  of grant funds provided under this section, including a contract
   94  or agreement entered into between another entity and a regional
   95  economic development organization, a unit of local government,
   96  or an economic development organization substantially
   97  underwritten by a unit of local government, must include:
   98         1.The purpose of the contract or agreement.
   99         2.Specific performance standards and responsibilities for
  100  each entity.
  101         3.A detailed project or contract budget, if applicable.
  102         4.The value of any services provided.
  103         5.The projected travel and entertainment expenses for
  104  employees and board members, if applicable.
  105         (c)A plain language version of a contract or agreement
  106  with a private entity, a municipality, or a vendor of services,
  107  supplies, or programs, including marketing, or for the purchase
  108  or lease or use of lands, facilities, or properties which
  109  involves the expenditure of grant funds provided under this
  110  section and which is estimated to exceed $35,000 must be posted
  111  on the contracting regional economic development organization’s
  112  website The department may also contract for the development of
  113  an enterprise zone web portal or websites for each enterprise
  114  zone which will be used to market the program for job creation
  115  in disadvantaged urban and rural enterprise zones. Each
  116  enterprise zone web page should include downloadable links to
  117  state forms and information, as well as local message boards
  118  that help businesses and residents receive information
  119  concerning zone boundaries, job openings, zone programs, and
  120  neighborhood improvement activities.
  121         (4) The department may expend up to $1,000,000 $750,000
  122  each fiscal year from funds appropriated to the Rural Community
  123  Development Revolving Loan Fund for the purposes outlined in
  124  this section. The department may contract with Enterprise
  125  Florida, Inc., for the administration of the purposes specified
  126  in this section. Funds released to Enterprise Florida, Inc., for
  127  this purpose shall be released quarterly and shall be calculated
  128  based on the applications in process.
  129         Section 2. Subsection (5) of section 288.0655, Florida
  130  Statutes, is redesignated as subsection (6), paragraph (b) of
  131  subsection (2) and subsection (4) of that section are amended,
  132  and a new subsection (5) is added to that section, to read:
  133         288.0655 Rural Infrastructure Fund.—
  134         (2)(b) To facilitate access of rural communities and rural
  135  areas of opportunity as defined by the Rural Economic
  136  Development Initiative to infrastructure funding programs of the
  137  Federal Government, such as those offered by the United States
  138  Department of Agriculture and the United States Department of
  139  Commerce, and state programs, including those offered by Rural
  140  Economic Development Initiative agencies, and to facilitate
  141  local government or private infrastructure funding efforts, the
  142  department may award grants for up to 50 30 percent of the total
  143  infrastructure project cost. If an application for funding is
  144  for a catalyst site, as defined in s. 288.0656, the department
  145  may award grants for up to 40 percent of the total
  146  infrastructure project cost. Eligible projects must be related
  147  to specific job-creation or job-retention opportunities.
  148  Eligible projects may also include improving any inadequate
  149  infrastructure that has resulted in regulatory action that
  150  prohibits economic or community growth or reducing the costs to
  151  community users of proposed infrastructure improvements that
  152  exceed such costs in comparable communities, which includes
  153  improving access to and the availability of broadband Internet
  154  service. Eligible uses of funds shall include improvements to
  155  public infrastructure for industrial or commercial sites, and
  156  upgrades to or development of public tourism infrastructure, and
  157  improvements to broadband Internet service and access in
  158  unserved or underserved rural communities. Improvements to
  159  broadband Internet service and access must be conducted through
  160  a partnership or partnerships with one or more dealers of
  161  communications services, as defined in s. 202.11(2), and the
  162  partnership must be established by a publicly noticed and
  163  competitively selected process. Authorized infrastructure may
  164  include the following public or public-private partnership
  165  facilities: storm water systems; telecommunications facilities;
  166  broadband facilities; roads or other remedies to transportation
  167  impediments; nature-based tourism facilities; or other physical
  168  requirements necessary to facilitate tourism, trade, and
  169  economic development activities in the community. Authorized
  170  infrastructure may also include publicly or privately owned
  171  self-powered nature-based tourism facilities, publicly owned
  172  telecommunications facilities, and broadband facilities, and
  173  additions to the distribution facilities of the existing natural
  174  gas utility as defined in s. 366.04(3)(c), the existing electric
  175  utility as defined in s. 366.02, or the existing water or
  176  wastewater utility as defined in s. 367.021(12), or any other
  177  existing water or wastewater facility, which owns a gas or
  178  electric distribution system or a water or wastewater system in
  179  this state where:
  180         1. A contribution-in-aid of construction is required to
  181  serve public or public-private partnership facilities under the
  182  tariffs of any natural gas, electric, water, or wastewater
  183  utility as defined herein; and
  184         2. Such utilities as defined herein are willing and able to
  185  provide such service.
  186         (4) By September 1, 2019 2012, the department shall, in
  187  consultation with the organizations listed in subsection (3),
  188  and other organizations, reevaluate existing guidelines and
  189  criteria governing submission of applications for funding,
  190  review and evaluation of such applications, and approval of
  191  funding under this section. The department shall consider
  192  factors including, but not limited to, the project’s potential
  193  for enhanced job creation or increased capital investment, the
  194  demonstration and level of local public and private commitment,
  195  whether the project is located in an enterprise zone, in a
  196  community development corporation service area, or in an urban
  197  high-crime area as designated under s. 212.097, the unemployment
  198  rate of the county in which the project would be located, and
  199  the poverty rate of the community.
  200         (5)(a)A contract or agreement that involves the
  201  expenditure of grant funds provided under this section must be
  202  placed on the department’s website at least 14 days before
  203  execution.
  204         (b)A contract or agreement that includes the expenditure
  205  of grant funds provided under this section, including a contract
  206  or agreement entered into between an entity and a regional
  207  economic development organization, a unit of local government,
  208  or an economic development organization substantially
  209  underwritten by a unit of local government, must include:
  210         1.The purpose of the contract or agreement.
  211         2.Specific performance standards and responsibilities for
  212  each entity.
  213         3.A detailed project or contract budget, if applicable.
  214         4.The value of any services provided.
  215         5.The projected travel and entertainment expenses for
  216  employees and board members, if applicable.
  217         (c)A plain language version of a contract or agreement
  218  with a private entity, a municipality, or a vendor of services,
  219  supplies, or programs, including marketing, or for the purchase
  220  or lease or use of lands, facilities, or properties which
  221  involves the expenditure of grant funds provided under this
  222  section and which is estimated to exceed $35,000 must be posted
  223  on the department’s website.
  224         Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2018.