Florida Senate - 2021                        COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
       Bill No. SB 1592
       
       
       
       
       
       
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                              LEGISLATIVE ACTION                        
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       The Committee on Finance and Tax (Burgess) recommended the
       following:
       
    1         Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
    2  
    3         Delete lines 97 - 124
    4  and insert:
    5         (ppp) Equipment purchased or leased in this state by a
    6  provider of communications services or a provider of Internet
    7  access services.—
    8         1. The purchase or lease of qualifying equipment by a
    9  provider of communications services or Internet access services
   10  is exempt from the tax imposed by this chapter.
   11         2. The exemption provided by this paragraph does not apply
   12  to the purchase or lease of any of the following:
   13         a. Real property;
   14         b. Improvements to real property;
   15         c. Office furniture and fixtures;
   16         d. General office equipment and machinery that is not used
   17  to provide communications services or Internet access services;
   18         e. Vehicles;
   19         f. Customer premise equipment; or
   20         g. Facilities used to distribute signals beyond the central
   21  office, headend, or hub facilities, including fiber optic,
   22  coaxial, or other transmission cables; amplifiers; taps; and
   23  customer drops.
   24         3. The exemption provided by this paragraph does not apply
   25  to the tax levied by s. 212.031.
   26         4. As used in this paragraph, the term:
   27         a. “Central office” means the location where telephone
   28  subscribers’ lines are joined to switching equipment to connect
   29  subscribers to each other, locally and long distance. Central
   30  office equipment includes, but is not limited to, switches,
   31  cable distribution frames, and batteries.
   32         b. “Communications services” has the same meaning as in s.
   33  202.11(1).
   34         c. “Headend” means the primary location in a communications
   35  provider’s network which receives television programming signals
   36  through satellite antennae or fiber optic cables for
   37  distribution to the customer premises through a distribution
   38  network. Headend equipment includes, but is not limited to,
   39  computer-based electronic equipment that receives programming
   40  signals and uses prescribed processes to combine, amplify, and
   41  convert the programming signals and transmit them through the
   42  distribution network. The headend processes and combines signals
   43  for distribution to hubs or directly to customer premises. In
   44  most cases, the headend also serves as a distribution hub for
   45  the fiber optic transfer nodes closest to the headend. The term
   46  also includes a super headend, which processes all incoming
   47  programming signals and transmits them to regional headends or
   48  directly to hubs.
   49         d. “Hub” means the secondary location in a communications
   50  provider’s network which is connected to the headend by a fiber
   51  optic or other cable. A hub may contain electronic equipment
   52  that processes, converts, and transmits signals through the
   53  distribution network, and can serve a large number of business
   54  and residential communities.
   55         e. “Internet access service” has the same meaning as in s.
   56  202.11(6) and only applies to services that provide access to
   57  the Internet with a capacity for transmission at a consistent
   58  speed of at least 25 megabits per second download and 3 megabits
   59  per second upload.
   60         f. “Provider of communications services or Internet access
   61  services” includes a dealer as defined in s. 202.11(2), a
   62  provider of Internet access service, and any member of an
   63  affiliated group as defined in s. 202.37(1)(c)2.
   64         g. “Qualifying equipment” means equipment, machinery,
   65  software, or other infrastructure used to provide communications
   66  services or Internet access services and located within a
   67  central office, headend, or hub operated by a provider of
   68  communications services or Internet access services.
   69  
   70  ================= T I T L E  A M E N D M E N T ================
   71  And the title is amended as follows:
   72         Delete lines 4 - 7
   73  and insert:
   74         exempting the purchase or lease of certain equipment
   75         by a provider of communications services or a provider
   76         of Internet access services in this state from the
   77         sales and use tax; providing exceptions; defining
   78         terms;