Florida Senate - 2019                             CS for SB 1708
       
       
        
       By the Committee on Commerce and Tourism; and Senators Rouson
       and Hutson
       
       
       
       
       577-03166-19                                          20191708c1
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to tourist development councils;
    3         amending s. 125.0104, F.S.; conforming provisions to
    4         changes made by the act; authorizing certain counties
    5         to adopt a resolution that establishes and appoints
    6         members of more than one tourist development council
    7         upon a certain finding; requiring that such counties
    8         organize their tourist development councils in
    9         accordance with specified requirements upon the
   10         adoption of such resolution; conforming a provision to
   11         changes made by the act; providing an effective date.
   12          
   13  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   14  
   15         Section 1. Paragraph (b) of subsection (4) of section
   16  125.0104, Florida Statutes, is amended, paragraph (f) is added
   17  to that subsection, and paragraph (a) of subsection (5) of that
   18  section is amended, to read:
   19         125.0104 Tourist development tax; procedure for levying;
   20  authorized uses; referendum; enforcement.—
   21         (4) ORDINANCE LEVY TAX; PROCEDURE.—
   22         (b) At least 60 days before prior to the enactment of the
   23  ordinance levying the tax, the governing board of the county
   24  shall adopt a resolution that establishes and appoints
   25  establishing and appointing the members of the county tourist
   26  development council, as prescribed in paragraph (e) or, if there
   27  is more than one tourist development council, paragraph (f), and
   28  that indicates indicating the intention of the county to
   29  consider the enactment of an ordinance levying and imposing the
   30  tourist development tax.
   31         (f)1. Notwithstanding any other law, a county with a
   32  population of 900,000 or more, according to the last decennial
   33  census, may adopt a resolution that establishes and appoints
   34  members of more than one tourist development council upon a
   35  finding that more than one tourist development council best
   36  serves that county’s tourism industry needs. Upon the adoption
   37  of such resolution, the county must organize its tourist
   38  development councils in accordance with the requirements
   39  provided in subparagraph 2. instead of the requirements provided
   40  in paragraph (e).
   41         2. The governing board of a county as described in this
   42  paragraph which levies and imposes a tourist development tax
   43  under this section shall appoint for each tourist development
   44  council it establishes an advisory council to be known as the
   45  (name) Tourist Development Council. Each council shall be
   46  established by ordinance and shall be composed of a minimum of
   47  nine members who are appointed by the governing board. All
   48  members of the councils shall be electors of the county. The
   49  governing board of the county shall have the option of
   50  designating the chairs of the councils or allowing the councils
   51  to elect their chairs. The chairs shall annually be appointed or
   52  elected and may be reelected or reappointed. The members of the
   53  councils shall serve for staggered terms of 4 years. The terms
   54  of office of the original members shall be prescribed in the
   55  resolution required under paragraph (b). The councils shall meet
   56  at least once each quarter and, from time to time, shall make
   57  recommendations to the county governing board for the effective
   58  operation of the special projects or for uses of the tourist
   59  development tax revenue and perform such other duties as may be
   60  prescribed by county ordinance or resolution. A council shall
   61  continuously review expenditures of revenues from the tourist
   62  development trust fund and shall receive, at least quarterly,
   63  expenditure reports from the county governing board or its
   64  designee. Expenditures that the councils believe to be
   65  unauthorized shall be reported to the county governing board and
   66  the Department of Revenue. The governing board and the
   67  department shall review the findings of the councils and take
   68  appropriate administrative or judicial action to ensure
   69  compliance with this section.
   70         (5) AUTHORIZED USES OF REVENUE.—
   71         (a) All tax revenues received pursuant to this section by a
   72  county imposing the tourist development tax shall be used by
   73  that county for the following purposes only:
   74         1. To acquire, construct, extend, enlarge, remodel, repair,
   75  improve, maintain, operate, or promote one or more:
   76         a. Publicly owned and operated convention centers, sports
   77  stadiums, sports arenas, coliseums, or auditoriums within the
   78  boundaries of the county or subcounty special taxing district in
   79  which the tax is levied;
   80         b. Auditoriums that are publicly owned but are operated by
   81  organizations that are exempt from federal taxation pursuant to
   82  26 U.S.C. s. 501(c)(3) and open to the public, within the
   83  boundaries of the county or subcounty special taxing district in
   84  which the tax is levied; or
   85         c. Aquariums or museums that are publicly owned and
   86  operated or owned and operated by not-for-profit organizations
   87  and open to the public, within the boundaries of the county or
   88  subcounty special taxing district in which the tax is levied;
   89         2. To promote zoological parks that are publicly owned and
   90  operated or owned and operated by not-for-profit organizations
   91  and open to the public;
   92         3. To promote and advertise tourism in this state and
   93  nationally and internationally; however, if tax revenues are
   94  expended for an activity, service, venue, or event, the
   95  activity, service, venue, or event must have as one of its main
   96  purposes the attraction of tourists as evidenced by the
   97  promotion of the activity, service, venue, or event to tourists;
   98         4. To fund convention bureaus, tourist bureaus, tourist
   99  information centers, and news bureaus as county agencies or by
  100  contract with the chambers of commerce or similar associations
  101  in the county, which may include any indirect administrative
  102  costs for services performed by the county on behalf of the
  103  promotion agency;
  104         5. To finance beach park facilities, or beach, channel,
  105  estuary, or lagoon improvement, maintenance, renourishment,
  106  restoration, and erosion control, including construction of
  107  beach groins and shoreline protection, enhancement, cleanup, or
  108  restoration of inland lakes and rivers to which there is public
  109  access as those uses relate to the physical preservation of the
  110  beach, shoreline, channel, estuary, lagoon, or inland lake or
  111  river. However, any funds identified by a county as the local
  112  matching source for beach renourishment, restoration, or erosion
  113  control projects included in the long-range budget plan of the
  114  state’s Beach Management Plan, pursuant to s. 161.091, or funds
  115  contractually obligated by a county in the financial plan for a
  116  federally authorized shore protection project may not be used or
  117  loaned for any other purpose. In counties of fewer than 100,000
  118  population, up to 10 percent of the revenues from the tourist
  119  development tax may be used for beach park facilities; or
  120         6. To acquire, construct, extend, enlarge, remodel, repair,
  121  improve, maintain, operate, or finance public facilities within
  122  the boundaries of the county or subcounty special taxing
  123  district in which the tax is levied, if the public facilities
  124  are needed to increase tourist-related business activities in
  125  the county or subcounty special district and are recommended by
  126  the county tourist development council created pursuant to
  127  paragraph (4)(e) or by at least one of the tourist development
  128  councils created pursuant to paragraph (4)(f) for such council’s
  129  designated area. Tax revenues may be used for any related land
  130  acquisition, land improvement, design and engineering costs, and
  131  all other professional and related costs required to bring the
  132  public facilities into service. As used in this subparagraph,
  133  the term “public facilities” means major capital improvements
  134  that have a life expectancy of 5 or more years, including, but
  135  not limited to, transportation, sanitary sewer, solid waste,
  136  drainage, potable water, and pedestrian facilities. Tax revenues
  137  may be used for these purposes only if the following conditions
  138  are satisfied:
  139         a. In the county fiscal year immediately preceding the
  140  fiscal year in which the tax revenues were initially used for
  141  such purposes, at least $10 million in tourist development tax
  142  revenue was received;
  143         b. The county governing board approves the use for the
  144  proposed public facilities by a vote of at least two-thirds of
  145  its membership;
  146         c. No more than 70 percent of the cost of the proposed
  147  public facilities will be paid for with tourist development tax
  148  revenues, and sources of funding for the remaining cost are
  149  identified and confirmed by the county governing board;
  150         d. At least 40 percent of all tourist development tax
  151  revenues collected in the county are spent to promote and
  152  advertise tourism as provided by this subsection; and
  153         e. An independent professional analysis, performed at the
  154  expense of the county tourist development council, demonstrates
  155  the positive impact of the infrastructure project on tourist
  156  related businesses in the county.
  157  
  158  Subparagraphs 1. and 2. may be implemented through service
  159  contracts and leases with lessees that have sufficient expertise
  160  or financial capability to operate such facilities.
  161         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2019.