| 1 | A bill to be entitled |
| 2 | An act relating to the economic development; creating s. |
| 3 | 288.1068, F.S.; establishing the business recruitment |
| 4 | recognition program within the Office of Tourism, Trade, |
| 5 | and Economic Development; providing definitions; providing |
| 6 | for the nomination and recognition of Florida residents |
| 7 | who recruit or assist in the recruitment of businesses |
| 8 | that relocate to the state; providing nomination |
| 9 | requirements and eligibility criteria; requiring the |
| 10 | office to verify the eligibility of nominees; establishing |
| 11 | a committee to recommend nominees for recognition; |
| 12 | providing for the award of recognition; authorizing the |
| 13 | office to award cash incentives to recognized nominees; |
| 14 | requiring the office to adopt rules; providing an |
| 15 | effective date. |
| 16 |
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| 17 | Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: |
| 18 |
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| 19 | Section 1. Section 288.1068, Florida Statutes, is created |
| 20 | to read: |
| 21 | 288.1068 Business recruitment recognition program.-- |
| 22 | (1) The business recruitment recognition program is |
| 23 | created within the Office of Tourism, Trade, and Economic |
| 24 | Development to recognize Florida residents who are not economic |
| 25 | development professionals but who actively recruit or provide |
| 26 | significant assistance in the recruitment of qualifying |
| 27 | businesses that relocate to the state. |
| 28 | (2) As used in this section, the term: |
| 29 | (a) "Economic development professional" means a person |
| 30 | who: |
| 31 | 1. In employed by an economic development agency as |
| 32 | defined in s. 288.075, an economic development center |
| 33 | established under s. 1004.80, a chamber of commerce, or another |
| 34 | organization established to promote the economic development of, |
| 35 | or the general business or industrial interests of, the state or |
| 36 | a political subdivision thereof; or |
| 37 | 2. Is assigned the duty of promoting the economic |
| 38 | development of, or the general business or industrial interests |
| 39 | of, the state or a political subdivision thereof. |
| 40 | (b) "Office" means the Office of Tourism, Trade, and |
| 41 | Economic Development. |
| 42 | (c) "Qualifying business" means a business described in |
| 43 | subsection (5). |
| 44 | (3) The office shall annually accept nominations for the |
| 45 | recognition of one or more Florida residents who promote the |
| 46 | state's economy and demonstrate exemplary service to the state |
| 47 | by actively recruiting or providing significant assistance in |
| 48 | the recruitment of qualifying businesses that relocate to |
| 49 | Florida and create jobs in this state. The nominations must be |
| 50 | submitted in the format prescribed by the office. |
| 51 | (4) To be eligible for recognition, a nominee must |
| 52 | actively recruit or provide significant assistance in the |
| 53 | recruitment of a qualifying business that relocates to the state |
| 54 | and must: |
| 55 | (a) Be a Florida resident as defined in s. 317.0003. |
| 56 | (b) Not be an economic development professional. |
| 57 | (c) Not be an owner, shareholder, or employee of the |
| 58 | qualifying business. |
| 59 | (d) Not receive compensation or anything of value for |
| 60 | recruiting or providing assistance in recruiting the qualifying |
| 61 | business. |
| 62 | (5) A qualifying business must have relocated its |
| 63 | principal place of business to Florida from outside of the state |
| 64 | within the previous year and must: |
| 65 | (a) Be a target industry business as defined in s. |
| 66 | 288.106. |
| 67 | (b) Create net new full-time jobs in the state. |
| 68 | (c) Pay an average annual wage of at least 125 percent of |
| 69 | the areawide or statewide private-sector average wage and pay at |
| 70 | least the average industry wage for the newly created jobs. |
| 71 | (6) Upon receipt of a nomination, the office shall verify |
| 72 | that the nominee is eligible for recognition, that the business |
| 73 | is a qualifying business, and that the information contained in |
| 74 | the nomination accurately describes the nominee's actions to |
| 75 | recruit or provide assistance in the recruitment of the |
| 76 | qualifying business. A nominee is eligible for recognition only |
| 77 | if the office is able to verify the information contained in the |
| 78 | nomination. |
| 79 | (7) The office shall establish a committee composed of at |
| 80 | least three economic development professionals who shall review |
| 81 | the nominations verified by the office and shall recommend to |
| 82 | the office that one or more of the nominees be recognized. The |
| 83 | office shall review the committee's recommendations and shall |
| 84 | award recognition to one or more nominees based on selection |
| 85 | criteria adopted by the office. |
| 86 | (8) Subject to legislative appropriations, the office may |
| 87 | award cash incentives to nominees selected for recognition under |
| 88 | this section. A cash incentive awarded to a recognized nominee |
| 89 | may not exceed 10 percent of the total estimated state revenues |
| 90 | generated by the qualifying business over a 4-year period. |
| 91 | (9) The office shall adopt rules under ss. 120.536(1) and |
| 92 | 120.54 to administer this section. |
| 93 | Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2009. |