The Florida Senate

341.322  Definitions used in ss. 341.3201-341.386.--As used in ss. 341.3201-341.386, the term:

(1)  "Agency," as the context requires, means an official, officer, commission, authority, council, committee, department, division, bureau, board, section, political subdivision, or other unit of government within the state, including a county, municipality, or other regional or local governmental entity.

(2)  "Amendment" means a material change in the information provided in the application for certification, which change is made after the initial application is filed and before final action on the application has occurred.

(3)  "Applicant" means any person who responds to a request for proposals and applies for a franchise pursuant to the provisions of ss. 341.3201-341.386.

(4)  "Application for certification" means the documents which are required by the department to be filed by the franchisee to initiate the proceedings required for the granting of certification.

(5)  "Application for franchise" means the documents which are required by the department to be filed in response to the request for proposals and which initiate the proceedings required for the award of a franchise.

(6)  "Associated development" means property, equipment, or buildings which are built, installed, or established to provide financing, funding, or revenues for the planning, constructing, managing, and operating of a high-speed rail transportation system and which are directly associated with transit stations. The term includes property, including air rights, necessary for joint development, such as parking lots, stores, retail establishments, restaurants, hotels, offices, or other commercial, civic, residential, or support facilities and may also include property necessary to protect or preserve the station area by reducing urban blight or traffic congestion or property necessary to accomplish any of the above purposes which are reasonably anticipated or necessary.

(7)  "Board" means the Governor and Cabinet sitting as the Florida Land and Water Adjudicatory Commission.

(8)  "Bond" means any instrument of indebtedness, whether secured or unsecured, or any revenue bond, note, or other obligation issued on behalf of the department under ss. 341.3201-341.386 by the division.

(9)  "Certification" means the order issued by the board which approves a high-speed rail transportation system, or a portion thereof, proposed by the franchisee and constitutes the authorization for, and approval of, the location, construction, operation, and maintenance of the system, or portion thereof, designated in the order, with any modifications the board considers appropriate. Upon the issuance of the certification, all terms and conditions of the franchise become terms and conditions of the certification.

(10)  "Completeness," with respect to an application for certification, means that the application has addressed all applicable sections of the prescribed application for certification and that those sections are sufficient in the comprehensiveness of data and in the quality of information provided.

(11)  "Corridor" means the proposed area within which a high-speed rail line or guideway is to be located. The corridor must run between the transit stations. The width of the corridor proposed shall not exceed a width of 1/2 mile. After all property interests required for the high-speed rail line or guideway have been acquired by the applicant, the boundaries of the area certified shall narrow to bound only that land within the boundaries of the high-speed rail line or guideway.

(12)  "Department" means the Department of Transportation.

(13)  "Division" means the Division of Bond Finance of the State Board of Administration.

(14)  "Franchise" means the document and all concomitant rights approved by the department that provides the holder with the exclusive right to establish a high-speed rail transportation system and, subject to a grant of certification, the right to construct and operate a high-speed rail transportation system. The award of the franchise is the final order of the department, but does not authorize the construction or operation of the system, or any part thereof, until the issuance of certification by the board.

(15)  "Franchisee" means the individual, corporation, or other entity that has been awarded a franchise.

(16)  "High-speed rail transportation system" means any high-speed fixed-guideway transportation system for transporting people or goods, which system is capable of operating at speeds in excess of 120 miles per hour, including a monorail system, dual track rail system, suspended rail system, magnetic levitation system, or pneumatic repulsion system. The term includes a corridor and structures essential to the operation of the line, including the land, structures, improvements, rolling stock, rights-of-way, easements, rail lines, rail beds, guideway structures, stations, platforms, switches, yards, terminals, parking lots, power relays, switching houses, transit station, associated development, and any other facilities or equipment used or useful for the purposes of high-speed rail transportation construction, operation, or maintenance or the financing of high-speed rail transportation.

(17)  "High-speed rail transportation system right-of-way" means land necessary for the construction, operation, and maintenance of the high-speed rail transportation system. The typical width of the right-of-way must be identified in the application for certification. The right-of-way must be located within the corridor and must be identified by the applicant subsequent to the award of the franchise and the granting of certification in documents filed with the department prior to construction.

(18)  "Joint development" means the planning, managing, financing, or constructing of projects adjacent to, or physically related, functionally related, or otherwise related to, a high-speed rail transportation system in order to effect the policy and purposes of ss. 341.3201-341.386 pursuant to agreements between any person, firm, corporation, association, organization, agency, or other entity, public or private.

(19)  "License" has the meaning that appears in s. 120.52.

(20)  "Local government" means a municipality or county in which any part of the high-speed rail transportation system including any associated development is proposed to be located.

(21)  "Metropolitan Planning Organization" or "M.P.O." means a metropolitan planning organization established pursuant to s. 339.175 in the jurisdiction of which any part of the high-speed rail transportation system is proposed to be located.

(22)  "Modification of certification" means a change in the certification, or terms and conditions thereof, after the certification has been issued.

(23)  "Modification of franchise" means any material change in the franchise after issuance, including a change in the terms and conditions of the franchise where such change will not alter the terms and conditions of the certification.

(24)  "Modification request" means a request to modify the franchise or certification submitted pursuant to s. 341.368.

(25)  "Rail line or guideway" means the land, fixed structures, and improvements on the land, power distribution systems, substations, communication and signaling systems, rights-of-way, easements, roadbeds, guideway structures, bridges, switches, platforms, yards, fixed maintenance equipment and facilities, and other fixed facilities or equipment used for constructing, operating, maintaining, or financing of the high-speed rail transportation system, excluding associated development.

(26)  "Strategic regional policy plan" means a strategic policy plan adopted by a regional planning council under chapter 186.

(27)  "Regional planning council" means a regional planning council as defined in chapter 186, in the jurisdiction of which council any part of the high-speed rail transportation system is proposed to be located.

(28)  "Service area" means a geographical area not smaller than a county which is identified by the department in a request for proposals as an area that is to be served by a high-speed rail transportation system through the establishment of a transit station.

(29)  "Terminus" means the transit station serving the service area at the end of the high-speed rail transportation system.

(30)  "Transit station" or "station" means any structure or transportation facility that is primarily used, as part of a high-speed rail transportation system, for the purpose of loading, unloading, or transferring passengers or accommodating the movement of passengers from one mode of transportation to another.

(31)  "Water management district" means a water management district created pursuant to chapter 373 in the jurisdiction of which district any part of the high-speed rail transportation system is proposed to be located.

History.--s. 3, ch. 84-207; s. 2, ch. 85-65; s. 22, ch. 85-81; s. 14, ch. 87-100; s. 5, ch. 91-429; s. 14, ch. 92-152; s. 285, ch. 92-279; s. 55, ch. 92-326; s. 43, ch. 95-143; s. 4, ch. 95-149.