Florida Senate - 2022                CS for CS for CS for SB 578
       
       
        
       By the Committees on Appropriations; Community Affairs; and
       Banking and Insurance; and Senator Hooper
       
       
       
       
       576-03547-22                                           2022578c3
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to the Hurricane Loss Mitigation
    3         Program; amending s. 215.559, F.S.; revising the use
    4         of certain funds from the Florida Hurricane
    5         Catastrophe Fund to also include construction of
    6         certain facilities; revising the title of a certain
    7         annual report; revising provisions to require the
    8         Manufactured Housing and Mobile Home Mitigation and
    9         Enhancement Program to be operated by Gulf Coast State
   10         College; deleting construction related to Citizens
   11         Property Insurance Corporation coverage rates;
   12         delaying the future repeal of the Hurricane Loss
   13         Mitigation Program; directing the transfer of
   14         specified powers, duties, functions, records,
   15         property, issues, and funds relating to the
   16         Manufactured Housing and Mobile Home Mitigation and
   17         Enhancement Program from Tallahassee Community College
   18         to Gulf Coast State College; providing an effective
   19         date.
   20          
   21  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   22  
   23         Section 1. Paragraph (b) of subsection (1), paragraph (b)
   24  of subsection (2), and subsection (7) of section 215.559,
   25  Florida Statutes, are amended to read:
   26         215.559 Hurricane Loss Mitigation Program.—A Hurricane Loss
   27  Mitigation Program is established in the Division of Emergency
   28  Management.
   29         (1) The Legislature shall annually appropriate $10 million
   30  of the moneys authorized for appropriation under s.
   31  215.555(7)(c) from the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund to the
   32  division for the purposes set forth in this section. Of the
   33  amount:
   34         (b) Three million dollars in funds shall be used to
   35  construct or retrofit existing facilities used as public
   36  hurricane shelters. Each year the division shall prioritize the
   37  use of these funds for projects included in the annual report of
   38  the Shelter Development Retrofit Report prepared in accordance
   39  with s. 252.385(3). The division must give funding priority to
   40  projects in regional planning council regions that have shelter
   41  deficits and to projects that maximize the use of state funds.
   42         (2)
   43         (b)1. The Manufactured Housing and Mobile Home Mitigation
   44  and Enhancement Program is established. The program shall
   45  require the mitigation of damage to or the enhancement of homes
   46  for the areas of concern raised by the Department of Highway
   47  Safety and Motor Vehicles in the 2004-2005 Hurricane Reports on
   48  the effects of the 2004 and 2005 hurricanes on manufactured and
   49  mobile homes in this state. The mitigation or enhancement must
   50  include, but need not be limited to, problems associated with
   51  weakened trusses, studs, and other structural components caused
   52  by wood rot or termite damage; site-built additions; or tie-down
   53  systems and may also address any other issues deemed appropriate
   54  by the Gulf Coast State College Tallahassee Community College,
   55  the Federation of Manufactured Home Owners of Florida, Inc., the
   56  Florida Manufactured Housing Association, and the Department of
   57  Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. The program shall include an
   58  education and outreach component to ensure that owners of
   59  manufactured and mobile homes are aware of the benefits of
   60  participation.
   61         2. The program shall be a grant program that ensures that
   62  entire manufactured home communities and mobile home parks may
   63  be improved wherever practicable. The moneys appropriated for
   64  this program shall be distributed directly to the Gulf Coast
   65  State College Tallahassee Community College for the uses set
   66  forth under this subsection.
   67         3. Upon evidence of completion of the program, the Citizens
   68  Property Insurance Corporation shall grant, on a pro rata basis,
   69  actuarially reasonable discounts, credits, or other rate
   70  differentials or appropriate reductions in deductibles for the
   71  properties of owners of manufactured homes or mobile homes on
   72  which fixtures or construction techniques that have been
   73  demonstrated to reduce the amount of loss in a windstorm have
   74  been installed or implemented. The discount on the premium must
   75  be applied to subsequent renewal premium amounts. Premiums of
   76  the Citizens Property Insurance Corporation must reflect the
   77  location of the home and the fact that the home has been
   78  installed in compliance with building codes adopted after
   79  Hurricane Andrew. Rates resulting from the completion of the
   80  Manufactured Housing and Mobile Home Mitigation and Enhancement
   81  Program are not considered competitive rates for the purposes of
   82  s. 627.351(6)(d)1. and 2.
   83         4. On or before January 1 of each year, the Gulf Coast
   84  State College Tallahassee Community College shall provide a
   85  report of activities under this subsection to the Governor, the
   86  President of the Senate, and the Speaker of the House of
   87  Representatives. The report must set forth the number of homes
   88  that have taken advantage of the program, the types of
   89  enhancements and improvements made to the manufactured or mobile
   90  homes and attachments to such homes, and whether there has been
   91  an increase in availability of insurance products to owners of
   92  manufactured or mobile homes.
   93  
   94  The Gulf Coast State College Tallahassee Community College shall
   95  develop the programs set forth in this subsection in
   96  consultation with the Federation of Manufactured Home Owners of
   97  Florida, Inc., the Florida Manufactured Housing Association, and
   98  the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. The moneys
   99  appropriated for the programs set forth in this subsection shall
  100  be distributed directly to the Gulf Coast State College
  101  Tallahassee Community College to be used as set forth in this
  102  subsection.
  103         (7) This section is repealed June 30, 2032 2022.
  104         Section 2. Effective July 1, 2022, all powers, duties,
  105  functions, records, property, pending issues, and unexpended
  106  balances of appropriations, allocations, and other funds in
  107  Tallahassee Community College related to the programs authorized
  108  under s. 215.559(2), Florida Statutes, are transferred to the
  109  Gulf Coast State College.
  110         Section 3. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.