| 1 | A bill to be entitled |
| 2 | An act relating to municipalities in charter counties; |
| 3 | creating s. 163.3172, F.S.; providing legislative |
| 4 | findings; prohibiting effect of certain charter amendments |
| 5 | within municipalities unless approved by municipal and |
| 6 | charter county electors; providing an exception for |
| 7 | certain interlocal agreements; providing applicability; |
| 8 | amending s. 163.3171, F.S.; eliminating the authority of |
| 9 | chartered counties over municipalities and districts |
| 10 | within the county for comprehensive planning and land |
| 11 | development regulation; amending s. 163.3174, F.S.; |
| 12 | eliminating the authority of chartered counties to |
| 13 | determine local planning responsibility between counties |
| 14 | and municipalities; amending s. 171.044, F.S.; limiting |
| 15 | applicability with respect to voluntary annexation; |
| 16 | providing an effective date. |
| 17 |
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| 18 | Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: |
| 19 |
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| 20 | Section 1. Section 163.3172, Florida Statutes, is created |
| 21 | to read: |
| 22 | 163.3172 Municipalities in charter counties; county |
| 23 | authority limitations.-- |
| 24 | (1) The Legislature finds that citizens vote voluntarily |
| 25 | to create municipalities specifically to serve the unique needs |
| 26 | of the citizens and their communities. The Legislature further |
| 27 | finds that charter counties, through amendments to their |
| 28 | charters, have increasingly sought to divest municipalities of |
| 29 | the governmental, corporate, and proprietary powers granted to |
| 30 | municipalities by their citizens. The Legislature concludes the |
| 31 | involuntary divestiture or limitation through county charter |
| 32 | amendments of municipal authority to conduct municipal |
| 33 | government, perform municipal functions, and render municipal |
| 34 | services undermines the will of citizens who elect to |
| 35 | incorporate. It is the intent of the Legislature that |
| 36 | municipalities located within charter counties shall have all |
| 37 | governmental, corporate, and proprietary powers to enable them |
| 38 | to conduct municipal government, perform municipal functions, |
| 39 | and render municipal services, and to remove all county charter |
| 40 | limitations, judicially imposed or otherwise, on the exercise of |
| 41 | municipal home rule powers. |
| 42 | (2) An amendment to the charter of a county that transfers |
| 43 | or restricts a governmental, corporate, or proprietary power of |
| 44 | a municipality located within the county shall not be effective |
| 45 | in the municipality unless the amendment is approved by a vote |
| 46 | of the electors of the municipality and approved by a vote of |
| 47 | the electors of the charter county. |
| 48 | (3) This section shall not apply to interlocal agreements |
| 49 | between municipalities and counties to temporarily transfer a |
| 50 | municipality's governmental, corporate, or proprietary power to |
| 51 | a county. |
| 52 | (4) The requirements of this section shall apply to Miami- |
| 53 | Dade County and its municipalities to the extent permitted by |
| 54 | the home rule charter established pursuant to s. 6(e), Art. VIII |
| 55 | of the State Constitution. |
| 56 | Section 2. Subsection (2) of section 163.3171, Florida |
| 57 | Statutes, is amended to read: |
| 58 | 163.3171 Areas of authority under this act.-- |
| 59 | (2) A county shall exercise authority under this act for |
| 60 | the total unincorporated area under its jurisdiction or in such |
| 61 | unincorporated areas as are not included in any joint agreement |
| 62 | with municipalities established under the provisions of |
| 63 | subsection (1). In the case of chartered counties, the county |
| 64 | may exercise such authority over municipalities or districts |
| 65 | within its boundaries as is provided for in its charter. |
| 66 | Section 3. Subsection (1) of section 163.3174, Florida |
| 67 | Statutes, is amended to read: |
| 68 | 163.3174 Local planning agency.-- |
| 69 | (1) The governing body of each local government, |
| 70 | individually or in combination as provided in s. 163.3171, shall |
| 71 | designate and by ordinance establish a "local planning agency," |
| 72 | unless the agency is otherwise established by law. |
| 73 | Notwithstanding any special act to the contrary, all local |
| 74 | planning agencies or equivalent agencies that first review |
| 75 | rezoning and comprehensive plan amendments in each municipality |
| 76 | and county shall include a representative of the school district |
| 77 | appointed by the school board as a nonvoting member of the local |
| 78 | planning agency or equivalent agency to attend those meetings at |
| 79 | which the agency considers comprehensive plan amendments and |
| 80 | rezonings that would, if approved, increase residential density |
| 81 | on the property that is the subject of the application. However, |
| 82 | this subsection does not prevent the governing body of the local |
| 83 | government from granting voting status to the school board |
| 84 | member. The governing body may designate itself as the local |
| 85 | planning agency pursuant to this subsection with the addition of |
| 86 | a nonvoting school board representative. The governing body |
| 87 | shall notify the state land planning agency of the establishment |
| 88 | of its local planning agency. All local planning agencies shall |
| 89 | provide opportunities for involvement by applicable community |
| 90 | college boards, which may be accomplished by formal |
| 91 | representation, membership on technical advisory committees, or |
| 92 | other appropriate means. The local planning agency shall prepare |
| 93 | the comprehensive plan or plan amendment after hearings to be |
| 94 | held after public notice and shall make recommendations to the |
| 95 | governing body regarding the adoption or amendment of the plan. |
| 96 | The agency may be a local planning commission, the planning |
| 97 | department of the local government, or other instrumentality, |
| 98 | including a countywide planning entity established by special |
| 99 | act or a council of local government officials created pursuant |
| 100 | to s. 163.02, provided the composition of the council is fairly |
| 101 | representative of all the governing bodies in the county or |
| 102 | planning area; however,: |
| 103 | (a) if a joint planning entity is in existence on the |
| 104 | effective date of this act which authorizes the governing bodies |
| 105 | to adopt and enforce a land use plan effective throughout the |
| 106 | joint planning area, that entity shall be the agency for those |
| 107 | local governments until such time as the authority of the joint |
| 108 | planning entity is modified by law. |
| 109 | (b) In the case of chartered counties, the planning |
| 110 | responsibility between the county and the several municipalities |
| 111 | therein shall be as stipulated in the charter. |
| 112 | Section 4. Subsection (4) of section 171.044, Florida |
| 113 | Statutes, is amended to read: |
| 114 | 171.044 Voluntary annexation.-- |
| 115 | (4) The method of annexation provided by this section |
| 116 | shall be supplemental to any other procedure provided by general |
| 117 | or special law, except that this section shall not apply to |
| 118 | municipalities in counties, as defined in s. 125.011, with |
| 119 | charters that which provide for an exclusive method of municipal |
| 120 | annexation. |
| 121 | Section 5. This act shall take effect July 1, 2007. |