The Florida Senate

¹331.305  Powers of the authority.--The authority shall have the power to:

(1)  Exercise all powers granted to corporations under the Florida Business Corporation Act, chapter 607.

(2)  Sue and be sued by its name in any court of law or in equity.

(3)  Adopt and use a corporate seal and alter the same at pleasure.

(4)  Review and make recommendations with respect to a strategy to guide and facilitate the future of space-related educational and commercial development. The authority shall in coordination with the Federal Government, private industry, and Florida universities develop a business plan which shall address the expansion of Spaceport Florida locations, space launch capacity, spaceport projects, and complementary activities, which shall include, but not be limited to, a detailed analysis of:

(a)  The authority and the commercial space industry.

(b)  Products, services description--potential, technologies, skills.

(c)  Market research and evaluation--customers, competition, economics.

(d)  Marketing plan and strategy.

(e)  Design and development plan--tasks, difficulties, costs.

(f)  Manufacturing locations, facilities, and operations plan.

(g)  Management organization--roles and responsibilities.

(h)  Overall schedule (monthly).

(i)  Important risks, assumptions, and problems.

(j)  Community impact--economic, human development, community development.

(k)  Financial plan (monthly for first year; quarterly for next 3 years).

(l)  Proposed authority offering--financing, capitalization, use of funds.

(5)  Acquire property, real, personal, intangible, tangible, or mixed, within or without its territorial limits, in fee simple or any lesser interest or estate, by purchase, gift, devise, or lease, on such terms and conditions as the board may deem necessary or desirable, and sell or otherwise dispose of the same and of any of the assets and properties of the authority.

(6)  Make and execute any and all contracts and other instruments necessary or convenient to the exercise of its powers, including financing agreements with persons or spaceport users to facilitate the financing, construction, leasing, or sale of any project.

(7)  Whenever deemed necessary by the board, lease as lessor or lessee to or from any person, public or private, any facilities or property for the use of the authority and carry out any of the purposes of the authority.

(8)  Appoint, through its board of supervisors, an executive director.

(9)  Own, acquire, construct, develop, create, reconstruct, equip, operate, maintain, extend, and improve launch pads, landing areas, ranges, payload assembly buildings, payload processing facilities, laboratories, space business incubators, launch vehicles, payloads, space flight hardware, facilities and equipment for the construction of payloads, space flight hardware, rockets, and other launch vehicles, and other spaceport facilities and other space-related systems, including educational, cultural, and parking facilities and space-related initiatives.

(10)  Undertake a program of advertising to the public promoting space-related businesses or any spaceport projects of the authority, and expend moneys and undertake such activities to carry out such advertising and promotional program as the board from time to time may determine.

(11)  Own, acquire, construct, reconstruct, equip, operate, maintain, extend, and improve transportation facilities appropriate to meet the transportation requirements of the authority and activities conducted within the spaceport territory.

(12)  Own, acquire, construct, reconstruct, equip, operate, maintain, extend, and improve electric power plants, transmission lines and related facilities, gas mains and facilities of any nature for the production or distribution of natural gas, transmission lines and related facilities and plants and facilities for the generation and transmission of power through traditional and new and experimental sources of power and energy; purchase electric power, natural gas, and other sources of power for distribution within any spaceport territory; develop and operate water and sewer systems and waste collection and disposal consistent with chapter 88-130, Laws of Florida; and develop and operate such new and experimental public utilities, including, but not limited to, centrally distributed heating and air-conditioning facilities and services, closed-circuit television systems, and computer services and facilities, as the board may from time to time determine. However, the authority shall not construct any system, work, project, or utility authorized to be constructed under this paragraph in the event that a system, work, project, or utility of a similar character is being actually operated by a municipality or private company in the municipality or territory adjacent thereto, unless such municipality or private company consents to such construction.

(13)  Designate, set aside, and maintain lands and areas within or without the territorial limits of any spaceport territory as conservation areas or bird and wildlife sanctuaries; stock such areas with animal and plant life and stock water areas with fish and other aquatic life; promulgate and enforce rules and regulations with respect thereto and protect and preserve the natural beauty thereof; and do all acts necessary or desirable in order to qualify such lands and areas as conservation areas and sanctuaries under any of the laws of the state or under federal law.

(14)  Establish a program for the control, abatement, and elimination of mosquitoes and other noxious insects, rodents, reptiles, and other pests throughout the spaceport territory and undertake such works and construct such facilities within or without the spaceport territory as may be determined by the board to be needed to effectuate such program; abate and suppress mosquitoes and other arthropods, whether disease-bearing or pestiferous, within any spaceport territory when in the judgment of the board such action is necessary or desirable for the health and welfare of the inhabitants of or visitors to any spaceport; and take any and all temporary or permanent eliminative measures that the board may deem advisable. The Legislature hereby finds and declares the authority eligible to receive state funds, supplies, services, and equipment available or that may in the future become available to mosquito or pest control districts, the provisions of s. 388.021 notwithstanding.

(15)  Subject to the rules and regulations of the appropriate water management district, own, acquire, construct, reconstruct, equip, maintain, operate, extend, and improve water and flood control facilities. The Legislature hereby finds and declares the authority eligible to receive moneys, disbursements, and assistance from the state available to flood control or water management districts and navigation districts or agencies.

(16)  Own, acquire, construct, reconstruct, equip, maintain, operate, extend, and improve public safety facilities for the spaceport, including security stations, security vehicles, fire stations, water mains and plugs, and fire trucks and other vehicles and equipment; hire employees, security officers, and firefighters; and undertake such works and construct such facilities determined by the board to be necessary or desirable to promote and ensure public safety within the spaceport territory.

(17)  Hire, through its executive director, a safety officer with substantial experience in public safety procedures and programs for space vehicle launching and related hazardous operations. The safety officer shall monitor and report on the safety and hazards of ground-based space operations to the executive director.

(18)  Establish a personnel management system for hiring employees and setting employee benefit packages. The personnel of the authority shall not be considered to be within the state employment system.

(19)  Establish procedures, rules, and rates governing per diem and travel expenses of its employees, the members of the board of supervisors, and other persons authorized by the board to incur such expenses. Except as otherwise provided in s. 331.3101, such rules are subject to provisions of state law or rules pertaining to per diem and travel expenses of public officers, employees, or other persons authorized by an agency head to incur such expenses.

(20)  Examine, develop, and utilize new concepts, designs, and ideas; own, acquire, construct, reconstruct, equip, operate, maintain, extend, and improve experimental spaceport facilities and services; and otherwise undertake, sponsor, finance, and maintain such research activities, experimentation, and development as the board may from time to time determine, in connection with any of the projects that the authority is authorized to undertake pursuant to the powers and authority vested in it by this act, and in order to promote the development and utilization of new concepts, designs, and ideas in the fields of space exploration, commercialization of the space industry, and spaceport facilities.

(21)  Issue revenue bonds, assessment bonds, or any other bonds or obligations authorized by the provisions of this act or any other law, or any combination of the foregoing, and pay all or part of the cost of the acquisition, construction, reconstruction, extension, repair, improvement, or maintenance of any project or combination of projects, including payloads and space flight hardware, and equipment for research, development, and educational activities, to provide for any facility, service, or other activity of the authority, and provide for the retirement or refunding of any bonds or obligations of the authority, or for any combination of the foregoing purposes. The authority must provide 14 days' notice to the presiding officers and appropriations chairs of both houses of the Legislature prior to presenting a bond proposal to the Governor and Cabinet. If either presiding officer or appropriations chair objects to the bonding proposal within the 14-day-notice period, the bond issuance may be approved only by a vote of two-thirds of the members of the Governor and Cabinet.

(22)  Make expenditures for entertainment and travel expenses and business clients, guests, and other authorized persons as provided in this act.

(23)  In connection with any financing agreement, fix and collect fees, loan payments, rental payments, and other charges for the use of any project in such amount as to provide sufficient moneys to pay the principal of and interest on bonds as the same shall become due and payable, if so provided in the bond resolution or trust agreement, and to create reserves for such purposes. The fees, rents, payments, and charges and all other revenues and proceeds derived from the project in connection with which the bonds of any issue shall have been issued, except such part thereof as may be necessary for such reserves or any expenditures as may be provided in the resolution authorizing the issuance of the bonds or in the trust agreement securing the same, shall be set aside, at the time as may be specified in the resolution or trust agreement, in a sinking fund which may be pledged to and charged with the payment of the principal of and the interest on such bonds as the same shall become due and the redemption price or the purchase price of bonds retired by call or purchase as therein provided. Such pledge shall be valid and binding from the time the pledge is made. The fees, rents, charges, and other revenues and moneys so pledged and thereafter received by or on behalf of the authority shall immediately be subject to the lien of any such pledge without any physical delivery thereof or further act, and the lien of any such pledge shall be valid and binding as against all parties having claims of any kind in tort, contract, or otherwise against the authority, irrespective of whether such parties have notice thereof. Neither the resolution nor any trust agreement by which a pledge is created need be filed or recorded, except in the records of the authority. The use and disposition of money to the credit of the sinking fund shall be subject to the provisions of the resolution authorizing the issuance of such bonds or the provisions of such trust agreement.

(24)  Exercise the right and power of eminent domain in spaceport territory as defined in s. 331.304. In exercising such power, the authority shall comply with the procedures and requirements of chapters 73 and 74.

History.--ss. 5, 61, ch. 89-300; ss. 7, 8, ch. 90-192; s. 3, ch. 90-361; s. 3, ch. 91-265; s. 476, ch. 95-148; s. 117, ch. 99-13; s. 73, ch. 99-385.

¹Note.--Section 11, ch. 91-265, provides that "[a]ny funds generated by the Spaceport Florida Authority may be used for matching purposes under the State University System's facilities matching grant program."