Senate Bill 2102

CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.



    Florida Senate - 2000                                  SB 2102

    By Senator Saunders





    25-1415-00                                              See HB

  1                      A bill to be entitled

  2         An act relating to ad valorem tax exemption;

  3         amending s. 196.1975, F.S., which provides

  4         exemptions for nonprofit homes for the aged;

  5         specifying that the exemption applicable to

  6         such homes whose residents meet certain income

  7         limitations applies to individual units or

  8         apartments of such homes; providing for

  9         application of a residency affidavit

10         requirement to applicants for such exemption;

11         revising provisions relating to qualification

12         for the alternative exemption provided by that

13         section for those portions of a home which do

14         not meet the income limitations; providing that

15         s. 196.195, F.S., which provides requirements

16         and criteria for determining the profit or

17         nonprofit status of an applicant for exemption,

18         and s. 196.196, F.S., which provides criteria

19         for determining whether property is entitled to

20         a charitable, religious, scientific, or

21         literary exemption, do not apply to that

22         section; providing an effective date.

23

24  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

25

26         Section 1.  Section 196.1975, Florida Statutes, is

27  amended to read:

28         196.1975  Exemption for property used by nonprofit

29  homes for the aged.--Nonprofit homes for the aged are exempt

30  to the extent that they meet the following criteria:

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    Florida Senate - 2000                                  SB 2102
    25-1415-00                                              See HB




  1         (1)  The applicant must be a corporation not for profit

  2  or a Florida limited partnership, the sole general partner of

  3  which is a corporation not for profit, and the corporation not

  4  for profit must have been exempt as of January 1 of the year

  5  for which exemption from ad valorem property taxes is

  6  requested from federal income taxation by having qualified as

  7  an exempt charitable organization under the provisions of s.

  8  501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 or of the

  9  corresponding section of a subsequently enacted federal

10  revenue act.

11         (2)  A facility will not qualify as a "home for the

12  aged" unless at least 75 percent of the occupants are over the

13  age of 62 years or totally and permanently disabled.  For

14  homes for the aged which are exempt from paying income taxes

15  to the United States as specified in subsection (1), licensing

16  by the Agency for Health Care Administration is required for

17  ad valorem tax exemption hereunder only if the home:

18         (a)  Furnishes medical facilities or nursing services

19  to its residents, or

20         (b)  Qualifies as an assisted living facility under

21  part III of chapter 400.

22         (3)  Those portions of the home for the aged which are

23  devoted exclusively to the conduct of religious services or

24  the rendering of nursing or medical services are exempt from

25  ad valorem taxation.

26         (4)(a)  After removing the assessed value exempted in

27  subsection (3), units or apartments in homes for the aged

28  shall be exempt only to the extent that residency in the unit

29  or apartment applicant home is restricted to or occupied by

30  persons who have resided in the applicant home and in good

31  faith made this state their permanent residence as of January

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    Florida Senate - 2000                                  SB 2102
    25-1415-00                                              See HB




  1  1 of the year in which exemption is claimed and who also meet

  2  the requirements set forth in one of the following

  3  subparagraphs:

  4         1.  Persons who have gross incomes of not more than

  5  $7,200 per year and who are 62 years of age or older.

  6         2.  Couples, one of whom must be 62 years of age or

  7  older, having a combined gross income of not more than $8,000

  8  per year, or the surviving spouse thereof, who lived with the

  9  deceased at the time of the deceased's death in a home for the

10  aged.

11         3.  Persons who are totally and permanently disabled

12  and who have gross incomes of not more than $7,200 per year.

13         4.  Couples, one or both of whom are totally and

14  permanently disabled, having a combined gross income of not

15  more than $8,000 per year, or the surviving spouse thereof,

16  who lived with the deceased at the time of the deceased's

17  death in a home for the aged.

18

19  However, the income limitations do not apply to totally and

20  permanently disabled veterans, provided they meet the

21  requirements of s. 196.081.

22         (b)  The maximum income limitations permitted in this

23  subsection shall be adjusted, effective January 1, 1977, and

24  on each succeeding year, by the percentage change in the

25  average cost-of-living index in the period January 1 through

26  December 31 of the immediate prior year compared with the same

27  period for the year prior to that.  The index is the average

28  of the monthly consumer price index figures for the stated

29  12-month period, relative to the United States as a whole,

30  issued by the United States Department of Labor.

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    Florida Senate - 2000                                  SB 2102
    25-1415-00                                              See HB




  1         (5)  Nonprofit housing projects which are financed by a

  2  mortgage loan made or insured by the United States Department

  3  of Housing and Urban Development under s. 202, s. 202 with a

  4  s. 8 subsidy, s. 221(d)(3) or (4), or s. 236 of the National

  5  Housing Act, as amended, and which are subject to the income

  6  limitations established by that department shall be exempt

  7  from ad valorem taxation.

  8         (6)  For the purposes of this section, gross income

  9  includes social security benefits payable to the person or

10  couple or assigned to an organization designated specifically

11  for the support or benefit of that person or couple.

12         (7)  It is hereby declared to be the intent of the

13  Legislature that subsection (3) implements the ad valorem tax

14  exemption authorized in the third sentence of s. 3(a), Art.

15  VII, State Constitution, and the remaining subsections

16  implement s. 6(e), Art. VII, State Constitution, for purposes

17  of granting such exemption to homes for the aged.

18         (8)  Physical occupancy on January 1 is not required in

19  those instances in which a home restricts occupancy to persons

20  meeting the income requirements specified in this section.

21  Those portions of a such property failing to meet those

22  requirements shall qualify for an alternative exemption as

23  provided in subsection (9). In a home in which at least 25

24  percent of the units or apartments of the home are restricted

25  to or occupied by persons meeting the income requirements

26  specified in this section, the common areas of that home are

27  exempt from taxation.

28         (9)(a)  Each unit or apartment of a home for the aged

29  not exempted in subsection (3) or subsection (4), which is

30  operated by a not for profit corporation and is owned by such

31  corporation or leased by such corporation from a health

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    Florida Senate - 2000                                  SB 2102
    25-1415-00                                              See HB




  1  facilities authority pursuant to part III of chapter 154 or an

  2  industrial development authority pursuant to part III of

  3  chapter 159, and which property is used by such home for the

  4  aged for the purposes for which it was organized, is exempt

  5  from all ad valorem taxation, except for assessments for

  6  special benefits, to the extent of $25,000 of assessed

  7  valuation of such property for each apartment or unit:

  8         1.  Which is used by such home for the aged for the

  9  purposes for which it was organized; and

10         2.  Which is occupied, on January 1 of the year in

11  which exemption from ad valorem property taxation is

12  requested, by a person who resides therein and in good faith

13  makes the same his or her permanent home.

14         (b)  Each home applying for an exemption under

15  paragraph (a) of this subsection or paragraph (4)(a) must file

16  with the annual application for exemption an affidavit from

17  each person who occupies a unit or apartment for which an

18  exemption under either of those paragraphs that paragraph is

19  claimed stating that the person resides therein and in good

20  faith makes that unit or apartment his or her permanent

21  residence.

22         (10)  Homes for the aged, or life care communities,

23  however designated, which are financed through the sale of

24  health facilities authority bonds or bonds of any other public

25  entity, whether on a sale-leaseback basis, a sale-repurchase

26  basis, or other financing arrangement, or which are financed

27  without public-entity bonds, are exempt from ad valorem

28  taxation only in accordance with the provisions of this

29  section.

30         (11)  Any portion of such property used for nonexempt

31  purposes may be valued and placed upon the tax rolls

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    Florida Senate - 2000                                  SB 2102
    25-1415-00                                              See HB




  1  separately from any portion entitled to exemption pursuant to

  2  this chapter.

  3         (12)  When it becomes necessary for the property

  4  appraiser to determine the value of a unit, he or she shall

  5  include in such valuation the proportionate share of the

  6  common areas, including the land, fairly attributable to such

  7  unit, based upon the value of such unit in relation to all

  8  other units in the home, unless the common areas are otherwise

  9  exempted by subsection (8).

10         (13)  Sections 196.195 and 196.196 do not apply to this

11  section.

12         Section 2.  This act shall take effect upon becoming a

13  law and shall apply to the 2000 tax year and thereafter.

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16                       LEGISLATIVE SUMMARY

17
      Clarifies provisions which provide ad valorem tax
18    exemptions for nonprofit homes for the aged. Specifies
      that the exemption applicable to such homes whose
19    residents meet certain income limitations applies to
      individual units or apartments of such homes. Provides
20    for application of a residency affidavit requirement to
      applicants for such exemption. Clarifies provisions
21    relating to qualification for an alternative exemption
      for those portions of a home which do not meet the income
22    limitations. Provides that s. 196.195, F.S., which
      provides requirements and criteria for determining the
23    profit or nonprofit status of an applicant for exemption,
      and s. 196.196, F.S., which provides criteria for
24    determining whether property is entitled to a charitable,
      religious, scientific, or literary exemption, do not
25    apply to the exemptions for nonprofit homes for the aged.

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