| 1 | A bill to be entitled |
| 2 | An act relating to impact fees; amending s. 163.31801, |
| 3 | F.S.; authorizing a county, municipality, or special |
| 4 | district to wholly or partially exempt by specified means |
| 5 | affordable housing from payment of impact fees if the |
| 6 | local government conditions the exemption upon certain |
| 7 | requirements; providing an effective date. |
| 8 |
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| 9 | Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: |
| 10 |
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| 11 | Section 1. Section 163.31801, Florida Statutes, is amended |
| 12 | to read: |
| 13 | 163.31801 Impact fees; short title; intent; definitions; |
| 14 | ordinances levying impact fees; exemption for affordable |
| 15 | housing.-- |
| 16 | (1) This section may be cited as the "Florida Impact Fee |
| 17 | Act." |
| 18 | (2) The Legislature finds that impact fees are an |
| 19 | important source of revenue for a local government to use in |
| 20 | funding the infrastructure necessitated by new growth. The |
| 21 | Legislature further finds that impact fees are an outgrowth of |
| 22 | the home rule power of a local government to provide certain |
| 23 | services within its jurisdiction. Due to the growth of impact |
| 24 | fee collections and local governments' reliance on impact fees, |
| 25 | it is the intent of the Legislature to ensure that, when a |
| 26 | county or municipality adopts an impact fee by ordinance or a |
| 27 | special district adopts an impact fee by resolution, the |
| 28 | governing authority complies with this section. |
| 29 | (3) An impact fee adopted by ordinance of a county or |
| 30 | municipality or by resolution of a special district must, at |
| 31 | minimum: |
| 32 | (a) Require that the calculation of the impact fee be |
| 33 | based on the most recent and localized data. |
| 34 | (b) Provide for accounting and reporting of impact fee |
| 35 | collections and expenditures. If a local governmental entity |
| 36 | imposes an impact fee to address its infrastructure needs, the |
| 37 | entity shall account for the revenues and expenditures of such |
| 38 | impact fee in a separate accounting fund. |
| 39 | (c) Limit administrative charges for the collection of |
| 40 | impact fees to actual costs. |
| 41 | (d) Require that notice be provided no less than 90 days |
| 42 | before the effective date of an ordinance or resolution imposing |
| 43 | a new or amended impact fee. |
| 44 | (4) Any county or municipality may by ordinance, or a |
| 45 | special district may by resolution, wholly or partially exempt |
| 46 | from payment of impact fees housing that is designed to be |
| 47 | affordable as defined in s. 420.0004, if the local governmental |
| 48 | entity requires, as a condition to such exemption, that the |
| 49 | housing is affordable to: |
| 50 | (a) The initial purchaser or renter; and |
| 51 | (b) Any subsequent purchaser or renter for a period of at |
| 52 | least 15 years after the date of issuance of the certificate of |
| 53 | occupancy. |
| 54 | (5)(4) Audits of financial statements of local |
| 55 | governmental entities and district school boards which are |
| 56 | performed by a certified public accountant pursuant to s. 218.39 |
| 57 | and submitted to the Auditor General must include an affidavit |
| 58 | signed by the chief financial officer of the local governmental |
| 59 | entity or district school board stating that the local |
| 60 | governmental entity or district school board has complied with |
| 61 | this section. |
| 62 | Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2009. |