| 1 | The Transportation & Economic Development Appropriations |
| 2 | Committee recommends the following: |
| 3 |
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| 4 | Council/Committee Substitute |
| 5 | Remove the entire bill and insert: |
| 6 |
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| 7 | A bill to be entitled |
| 8 | An act relating to military personnel on duty; creating |
| 9 | the Citizen Soldier Matching Grant Program within the |
| 10 | Agency for Workforce Innovation; providing for matching |
| 11 | grants to be awarded to private sector employers that |
| 12 | provide wages to employees serving in the United States |
| 13 | Armed Forces Reserves or the Florida National Guard while |
| 14 | those employees are on federal active duty; providing |
| 15 | eligibility requirements for grant recipients; directing |
| 16 | the Agency for Workforce Innovation to develop a plan to |
| 17 | administer the application and payment procedures for the |
| 18 | matching grants; providing for the award of matching |
| 19 | grants after approval of the plan; providing an |
| 20 | appropriation; providing an effective date. |
| 21 |
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| 22 | Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: |
| 23 |
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| 24 | Section 1. Citizen Soldier Matching Grant Program.--The |
| 25 | Agency for Workforce Innovation shall establish a matching grant |
| 26 | program to award matching grants to private sector employers in |
| 27 | this state that provide wages to employees serving in the United |
| 28 | States Armed Forces Reserves or the Florida National Guard while |
| 29 | those employees are on federal active duty. A grant may not be |
| 30 | provided for federal active duty served before January 1, 2005. |
| 31 | Each grant shall be awarded to reimburse the employer for not |
| 32 | more than one-half of the monthly wages paid to an employee who |
| 33 | is a resident of this state for the actual period of federal |
| 34 | active duty. The monthly grant per employee may not exceed one- |
| 35 | half of the difference between the amount of monthly wages paid |
| 36 | by the employer to the employee at the level paid before the |
| 37 | date the employee was called to federal active duty and the |
| 38 | amount of the employee's active duty base pay, housing and |
| 39 | variable allowances, and subsistence allowance. The agency shall |
| 40 | develop a plan by no later than October 1, 2005, subject to the |
| 41 | notice, review, and objection procedures of s. 216.177, Florida |
| 42 | Statutes, to administer the application and payment procedures |
| 43 | for the matching grant program. The Agency for Workforce |
| 44 | Innovation shall not award any matching grants prior to the |
| 45 | approval of the plan. |
| 46 | Section 2. There is hereby appropriated the sum of |
| 47 | $1,862,961 from the General Revenue Fund and two positions to |
| 48 | the Agency for Workforce Innovation for the purpose of |
| 49 | implementing this act. |
| 50 | Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2005. |