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House Bill 1563

Florida House of Representatives - 1997 HB 1563 By Representative Sindler 1 A bill to be entitled 2 An act relating to specialty license plates; 3 amending s. 320.08056, F.S.; providing for a 4 Florida Companion Animal license plate; 5 providing for an annual use fee for such 6 plates; amending s. 320.08058, F.S.; providing 7 for the distribution and uses of the annual use 8 fee; providing an effective date. 9 10 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 11 12 Section 1. Paragraph (s) is added to subsection (4) of 13 section 320.08056, Florida Statutes, 1996 Supplement, to read: 14 320.08056 Specialty license plates.-- 15 (4) The following license plate annual use fees shall 16 be collected for the appropriate specialty license plates: 17 (s) Florida Companion Animal license plate, $18. 18 Section 2. Subsection (19) is added to section 19 320.08058, Florida Statutes, 1996 Supplement, to read: 20 320.08058 Specialty license plates.-- 21 (19) FLORIDA COMPANION ANIMAL LICENSE PLATES.-- 22 (a) The department shall develop a Florida Companion 23 Animal license plate as provided in this section to 24 commemorate Florida's companion animals. The Florida Companion 25 Animal license plate shall depict the silhouettes of a person, 26 a dog, a cat, and a horse within a heart and shall be produced 27 in the colors and design approved by the department, provided 28 that the words "We Care for Animals" shall be centered at the 29 bottom of the plate, with two silhouettes on either side. 30 (b) The annual use fees shall be deposited in the 31 General Revenue Fund to the credit of the Department of 1 CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions. Florida House of Representatives - 1997 HB 1563 107-204-97 1 Agriculture and Consumer Services to be distributed by the 2 department as follows: 3 1. The first $5 million collected annually shall be 4 transferred to the Florida Animal Health Foundation, Inc., a 5 Florida-registered 501(c)3 nonprofit public charitable 6 educational and service organization. The foundation shall 7 account for these funds separately from all other funds 8 received. Such funds shall be distributed by the foundation as 9 follows: 10 a. Based on Florida Companion Animal license plate 11 sales data from each county tax collector, the percentage 12 determined for each county shall be used by the foundation to 13 equitably distribute a portion of the funds to county animal 14 control agencies. An equal total portion shall be distributed 15 to registered and tax exempt nonprofit Florida animal welfare 16 organizations. Another portion of the funds shall be used to 17 pay for partial reimbursement of fees for the veterinary 18 medical and surgical care of companion animals belonging to 19 qualified needy applicants. A portion of the funds may be 20 awarded through the soliciting and selection of grant 21 applications from animal control agencies, animal welfare 22 organizations, and human-animal bond organizations. A portion 23 shall be used for administrative purposes. The Department of 24 Agriculture and Consumer Services shall approve all 25 expenditures of such funds. 26 b. With the approval of the Department of Agriculture 27 and Consumer Services: 28 (I) Each county animal control agency shall be 29 responsible for administering its share of the funds. 30 31 2 CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions. Florida House of Representatives - 1997 HB 1563 107-204-97 1 (II) Each funded animal welfare organization shall be 2 responsible for administering projects in its respective 3 service area. 4 (III) The Florida Veterinary Medical Association shall 5 be responsible for administering the provision of veterinary 6 care for qualified applicants, funded with the license plate 7 revenues. 8 2. Any additional funds shall be deposited in the 9 General Revenue Fund to the credit of the Department of 10 Agriculture and Consumer Services to be used by the department 11 for distribution pursuant to this subsection. 12 (c) Funds used for projects by the Florida Animal 13 Health Foundation, Inc., may serve as matching funds for other 14 local, state, or federal funds or grants. Unencumbered funds 15 from 1 year may be carried over to the following year but must 16 be dedicated to a project within 2 years in the form of a 17 contract, an agreement, or a plan approved by the foundation. 18 Section 3. This act shall take effect upon becoming a 19 law. 20 21 ***************************************** 22 HOUSE SUMMARY 23 Provides for the creation of a Florida Companion Animal 24 license plate and provides for the use and distribution of the proceeds from the annual use fees from the sale of 25 such plates. See bill for details. 26 27 28 29 30 31 3