| 1 | A bill to be entitled |
| 2 | An act relating to public employees' charitable campaigns; |
| 3 | creating s. 110.182, F.S.; creating the Public Employees' |
| 4 | Charitable Campaign for local public employers other than |
| 5 | state or federal employees; providing definitions; |
| 6 | authorizing a public employer to conduct a charitable |
| 7 | campaign as the sole fundraising drive conducted during |
| 8 | work hours; providing for workplace campaign activities |
| 9 | and employee payroll deductions; requiring all campaign |
| 10 | contributions to be voluntary; providing for employee |
| 11 | withdrawal from the campaign; providing criteria and |
| 12 | conditions for participating charitable organizations; |
| 13 | providing for the selection of a fiscal agent; authorizing |
| 14 | a specified percentage of the gross receipts to be |
| 15 | withheld to pay the costs of the public employer and |
| 16 | fiscal agent; providing for the distribution of |
| 17 | contributions; providing an effective date. |
| 18 |
|
| 19 | Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: |
| 20 |
|
| 21 | Section 1. Section 110.182, Florida Statutes, is created |
| 22 | to read: |
| 23 | 110.182 Public Employees' Charitable Campaign.-- |
| 24 | (1) DEFINITIONS.--As used in this section, the term: |
| 25 | (a) "Charitable campaign" means a public employees' |
| 26 | workplace charitable campaign conducted pursuant to this |
| 27 | section. |
| 28 | (b) "Federation" means a member group of charitable |
| 29 | organizations that have voluntarily joined together for the |
| 30 | purpose of raising and distributing contributions for and among |
| 31 | themselves. |
| 32 | (c) "Fiscal agent" means the public employer or a |
| 33 | contracted entity that receives, accounts for, and distributes |
| 34 | charitable contributions among participating charitable |
| 35 | organizations as a separate function from participation in the |
| 36 | charitable campaign. |
| 37 | (d) "Member agency" means a charitable organization that |
| 38 | belongs to a federation. |
| 39 | (e) "Public employee" means an officer or employee of a |
| 40 | local governmental agency or political subdivision, excluding |
| 41 | state or federal officers or employees. |
| 42 | (f) "Public employer" means a local governmental agency, |
| 43 | office, or political subdivision, excluding a state or federal |
| 44 | office or agency. |
| 45 | (g) "Public employer service area" means the county or |
| 46 | special district in which the employer operates and adjacent |
| 47 | counties in which public employees employed by the public |
| 48 | employer reside. |
| 49 | (2) CHARITABLE CAMPAIGN.--A public employer may conduct an |
| 50 | annual public employee workplace charitable campaign, which |
| 51 | shall be the only charitable fundraising drive that may be |
| 52 | conducted in employee work areas during work hours, and for |
| 53 | which the public employer may collect charitable contributions |
| 54 | through employee payroll deductions. The campaign may be held at |
| 55 | any time during the year and shall replace or become part of the |
| 56 | current public employee charitable fundraising drive. |
| 57 | (a) Public employees may not be coerced to participate in |
| 58 | the charitable campaign and a public employee's contribution to |
| 59 | the charitable campaign must be entirely voluntary. |
| 60 | (b) Payroll deductions made by the public employer from |
| 61 | the salaries or wages of public employees may be only in the |
| 62 | amount authorized by the employee for payment to an eligible |
| 63 | charitable organization designated by the employee. Authority |
| 64 | for the deduction may be withdrawn by the public employee at any |
| 65 | time by filing a written notification of withdrawal with the |
| 66 | applicable treasurer or responsible official in charge of the |
| 67 | payroll system. |
| 68 | (c) A committee composed of current employees of the |
| 69 | public employer shall be established by the public employer to |
| 70 | assist in conducting the charitable campaign. |
| 71 | (d) All participating federation and member agencies shall |
| 72 | receive a fair and equitable presence in any charitable |
| 73 | campaign-related activities and publications, including rotation |
| 74 | of agency listings in all printed and electronic media. There |
| 75 | shall be no preference for any one participating federation or |
| 76 | member agency. |
| 77 | (3) QUALIFYING CHARITABLE ORGANIZATIONS.--A public |
| 78 | employer that conducts a charitable campaign must include all |
| 79 | federations and member agencies that meet the eligibility |
| 80 | requirements for participation in the charitable campaign and |
| 81 | provide services in the public employer service area which |
| 82 | directly or indirectly benefit persons residing in the area. |
| 83 | (a) Participation in the charitable campaign is limited to |
| 84 | charitable federations and member agencies that have as their |
| 85 | principal mission: |
| 86 | 1. Public health and welfare; |
| 87 | 2. Education; |
| 88 | 3. Environmental restoration and conservation; |
| 89 | 4. Civil and human rights; or |
| 90 | 5. Relief of human suffering and poverty. |
| 91 | (b) To participate in a charitable campaign: |
| 92 | 1. A federation must have an office open at least 20 hours |
| 93 | per week employing full-time or part-time employees in this |
| 94 | state for the last 3 calendar years. |
| 95 | 2. A federation must represent at least 10 eligible member |
| 96 | agencies that each have an office open at least 20 hours per |
| 97 | week employing full-time or part-time employees. |
| 98 | 3. A member agency must, upon request, be able to document |
| 99 | the availability of services in the local public employer |
| 100 | service area in which the campaign takes place. A local address |
| 101 | in the public employer service area is sufficient documentation. |
| 102 | Federations are exempt from this requirement. |
| 103 | 4. A federation and a member agency must be governed by an |
| 104 | active, voluntary board that exercises administrative control. |
| 105 | 5. A federation and a member agency must be able to |
| 106 | demonstrate that its financial records are audited annually by |
| 107 | an independent public accountant whose examination conforms to |
| 108 | generally accepted accounting principles. |
| 109 | (c) A federation or a member agency may not participate in |
| 110 | the charitable campaign if the federation or the member agency: |
| 111 | 1. Has fundraising and administrative expenses that exceed |
| 112 | 25 percent of program funds, unless extraordinary circumstances |
| 113 | can be demonstrated. |
| 114 | 2. Conducts activities that contain an element that is |
| 115 | more than incidentally political in nature or are primarily |
| 116 | political, professional, or fraternal in nature. |
| 117 | 3. Discriminates against an individual or group based on |
| 118 | race, color, religion, gender, national origin, age, disability, |
| 119 | or political affiliation. |
| 120 | 4. Is not properly registered as a charitable organization |
| 121 | under chapter 496. |
| 122 | 5. Has not received tax-exempt status under s. 501(c)(3) |
| 123 | of the Internal Revenue Code. |
| 124 | (d) To ensure that all eligible charitable organizations |
| 125 | serving the public employer service area are able to participate |
| 126 | in a charitable campaign, an unaffiliated charitable |
| 127 | organization must apply for membership in a participating |
| 128 | federation and, if the charitable organization meets the |
| 129 | eligibility requirements of the participating federation, must |
| 130 | be accepted for membership by the federation. |
| 131 | (4) FISCAL AGENT; DISTRIBUTION OF CONTRIBUTIONS.--A public |
| 132 | employer that conducts a charitable campaign may serve as the |
| 133 | fiscal agent for the charitable campaign or may contract with a |
| 134 | fiscal agent selected through a competitive procurement process. |
| 135 | (a) The fiscal agent may withhold up to 15 percent of |
| 136 | gross campaign receipts to pay for the public employer's |
| 137 | reasonable costs of conducting the charitable campaign and for |
| 138 | the fees or costs of the fiscal agent. |
| 139 | (b) Campaign pledge loss shall be calculated based on |
| 140 | actual receipts and may not be charged in advance as part of the |
| 141 | fiscal agent's costs or fees. |
| 142 | (c) The fiscal agent shall maintain a complete record of |
| 143 | all receipts, costs, accounting, and distribution activities and |
| 144 | furnish the public employer and participating charitable |
| 145 | federations a report of the activities. Records relating to |
| 146 | these activities must be available for inspection by the public |
| 147 | upon request. |
| 148 | (d) The fiscal agent shall distribute contributions to the |
| 149 | federations for distribution to their member agencies quarterly, |
| 150 | with the first distribution to the federations within 6 months |
| 151 | after the current year campaign end date and distribution must |
| 152 | be completed within 18 months after the campaign end date. |
| 153 | (e) Each participating federation and member agency shall |
| 154 | receive the same percentage of undesignated contributions raised |
| 155 | in a charitable campaign as the percentage of designated |
| 156 | contributions it received. |
| 157 | Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2008. |