HB 1217

1	A bill to be entitled
2	An act relating to taxation of governmental authority
3	utility services; creating s. 213.121, F.S.; providing
4	legislative findings; providing a popular name; providing
5	definitions; waiving certain governmental entity tax
6	exemption privileges under certain circumstances;
7	subjecting certain governmental authorities providing
8	certain utility services to certain tax provisions of law;
9	specifying nonapplication of certain exemption and refund
10	provisions; authorizing the Department of Revenue to adopt
11	certain rules; authorizing the department to adopt certain
12	emergency rules; providing for severability; providing an
13	effective date.
14
15	Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
16
17	Section 1.  Section 213.121, Florida Statutes, is created
18	to read:
19	213.121  Taxation of governmental authority utility
20	services.--
21	(1)  The Legislature recognizes that utility services are
22	provided by both governmental authorities and nongovernmental
23	utilities. The Legislature also recognizes that existing service
24	agreements and territories have been established, and this
25	legislation is not intended to alter or abrogate those
26	agreements. However, because of the uneven application of
27	various taxes and fees, it is frequently the case that
28	governmental authorities can provide certain utility services
29	without the imposition of taxes and fees, which in effect
30	creates an unlevel marketplace by advantaging governmental
31	services at the expense of private sector investments. In
32	addition, taxes and fees normally collected by the state and
33	local governments are not collected if utility services are
34	provided by nontaxable governmental authorities. Therefore, the
35	Legislature finds that it is in the public interest to ensure
36	that neither nongovernmental utilities nor governmental
37	authorities have an unfair advantage in providing utility
38	services, while simultaneously providing that the state not
39	suffer a loss in public taxes and fees.
40	(2)  This section may be known by the popular name the
41	"Utility Revenue Stabilization Act of 2004."
42	(3)  As used in this section:
43	(a)  "Department" means the Department of Revenue or its
44	successor agency.
45	(b)  "Electric service" means the provision of electricity
46	to retail customers and expressly excludes provision of
47	wholesale electric services between utilities.
48	(c)  "Governmental authority" means a county, a
49	municipality, a political subdivision of the state as defined by
50	s. 1.01(8), a regional utility authority, or a corporation
51	formed for the purpose of acting on behalf of a county, a
52	municipality, or a political subdivision for the purpose of
53	providing utility services.
54	(d)  "Natural gas service" means the provision of natural
55	gas to retail customers.
56	(e)  "Person" means any person as defined in s. 212.02.
57	(f)  "Telecommunication service" means communications
58	services as defined in s. 202.11(3).
59	(g)  "Utility company" means any person that provides
60	utility service.
61	(h)  "Utility service" means electric service, natural gas
62	service, water service, wastewater service, or telecommunication
63	service.
64	(i)  "Wastewater service" means the collection and pumping
65	of domestic wastes from retail customers to an ultimate point of
66	treatment and disposal in accordance with the federal Clean
67	Water Act, as amended.
68	(j)  "Water service" means the treatment and distribution
69	of water for human consumption for retail customers by public
70	water systems as defined in s. 403.852 and as otherwise defined
71	in the federal Safe Drinking Water Act, as amended.
72	(4)  The privilege of exemption from taxation enjoyed by
73	any governmental authority with respect to the taxes imposed by
74	the chapters set forth in subsection (5) is waived.
75	(5)  Any governmental authority that:
76	(a)  Begins to provide a utility service that replaces or
77	duplicates services already being provided by a utility company
78	that is not owned by a governmental authority; or
79	(b)  Expands a utility service into areas or territories in
80	which those services were not previously provided by a
81	governmental authority
82
83	is subject to the provisions of chapters 199, 201, 202, 206, and
84	212, with respect to the such utility service; however, the
85	exemptions provided in ss. 199.183(1), 201.24, 202.125(3),
86	202.12(1)(b), 206.874(3)(b), and 212.08(6), and the refunds
87	available in s. 206.41(4)(d), shall not apply.
88	(6)  The department is authorized to adopt rules as
89	necessary or appropriate to implement this section, including
90	rules to prescribe the methods by which a governmental authority
91	shall allocate revenues and expenses between taxable utility
92	service activities and nontaxable utility service or other
93	nontaxable activities when the governmental authority does not
94	separately account for such activities.
95	(7)  The executive director of the department is
96	authorized, and all conditions are deemed met, to adopt
97	emergency rules under ss. 120.536(1) and 120.54(4) to implement
98	this section. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, such
99	emergency rules shall remain effective for 6 months after the
100	date of adoption and may be renewed during the pendency of
101	procedures to adopt rules addressing the subject of the
102	emergency rules.
103	(8)  If any provision of this section is held to be invalid
104	or inoperative for any reason, it is the legislative intent that
105	the invalidity shall not affect other provisions or applications
106	of said subsections or section which can be given effect without
107	the invalid provision or application, and to this end the
108	provisions of said subsections and section are declared to be
109	severable.
110	Section 2.  This act shall take effect January 1, 2005.

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