Florida Senate - 2009 COMMITTEE AMENDMENT Bill No. SJR 1302 Barcode 532228 LEGISLATIVE ACTION Senate . House Comm: RCS . 04/01/2009 . . . . ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— The Committee on Finance and Tax (Bennett) recommended the following: 1 Senate Amendment (with title amendment) 2 3 4 Delete everything after the resolving clause 5 and insert: 6 That the following amendment to Section 3 of Article VII of 7 the State Constitution is agreed to and shall be submitted to 8 the electors of this state for approval or rejection at the next 9 general election or at an earlier special election specifically 10 authorized by law for that purpose: 11 ARTICLE VII 12 FINANCE AND TAXATION 13 SECTION 3. Taxes; exemptions.— 14 (a) All property owned by a municipality and used 15 exclusively by it for municipal or public purposes shall be 16 exempt from taxation. A municipality, owning property outside 17 the municipality, may be required by general law to make payment 18 to the taxing unit in which the property is located. Such 19 portions of property as are used predominantly for educational, 20 literary, scientific, religious or charitable purposes may be 21 exempted by general law from taxation. 22 (b) There shall be exempt from taxation, cumulatively, to 23 every head of a family residing in this state, household goods 24 and personal effects to the value fixed by general law, not less 25 than one thousand dollars, and to every widow or widower or 26 person who is blind or totally and permanently disabled, 27 property to the value fixed by general law not less than five 28 hundred dollars. 29 (c) Any county or municipality may, for the purpose of its 30 respective tax levy and subject to the provisions of this 31 subsection and general law, grant community and economic 32 development ad valorem tax exemptions to new businesses and 33 expansions of existing businesses, as defined by general law. 34 Such an exemption may be granted only by ordinance of the county 35 or municipality, and only after the electors of the county or 36 municipality voting on such question in a referendum authorize 37 the county or municipality to adopt such ordinances. An 38 exemption so granted shall apply to improvements to real 39 property made by or for the use of a new business and 40 improvements to real property related to the expansion of an 41 existing business and shall also apply to tangible personal 42 property of such new business and tangible personal property 43 related to the expansion of an existing business. The amount or 44 limits of the amount of such exemption shall be specified by 45 general law. The period of time for which such exemption may be 46 granted to a new business or expansion of an existing business 47 shall be determined by general law. The authority to grant such 48 exemption shall expire ten years from the date of approval by 49 the electors of the county or municipality, and may be renewable 50 by referendum as provided by general law. 51 (d) Any county or municipality may, for the purpose of its 52 respective tax levy and subject to the provisions of this 53 subsection and general law, grant historic preservation ad 54 valorem tax exemptions to owners of historic properties. This 55 exemption may be granted only by ordinance of the county or 56 municipality. The amount or limits of the amount of this 57 exemption and the requirements for eligible properties must be 58 specified by general law. The period of time for which this 59 exemption may be granted to a property owner shall be determined 60 by general law. 61 (e) By general law and subject to conditions specified 62 therein, twenty-five thousand dollars of the assessed value of 63 property subject to tangible personal property tax shall be 64 exempt from ad valorem taxation. 65 (f) There shall be granted an ad valorem tax exemption for 66 real property dedicated in perpetuity for conservation purposes, 67 including real property encumbered by perpetual conservation 68 easements or by other perpetual conservation protections, as 69 defined by general law. 70 (g) By general law and subject to the conditions specified 71 therein, each person who receives a homestead exemption as 72 provided in section 6 of this article; who was a member of the 73 United States military or military reserves, the United States 74 Coast Guard or its reserves, or the Florida National Guard; and 75 who was deployed during the preceding calendar year on active 76 duty outside the continental United States, Alaska, or Hawaii in 77 support of military operations that are designated by the 78 legislature shall receive an additional exemption equal to a 79 percentage of the taxable value of his or her homestead 80 property. The applicable percentage shall be calculated as the 81 number of days during the preceding calendar year the person was 82 deployed on active duty outside the continental United States, 83 Alaska, or Hawaii in support of military operations that are 84 designated by the legislature divided by the number of days in 85 that year. 86 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the following statement be 87 placed on the ballot: 88 CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT 89 ARTICLE VII, SECTION 3 90 HOMESTEAD AD VALOREM TAX CREDIT FOR DEPLOYED MILITARY 91 PERSONNEL.—This proposed amendment to the State Constitution 92 requires the Legislature to provide an additional property tax 93 exemption for members of the United States military or its 94 reserves, the United States Coast Guard or its reserves, or the 95 Florida National Guard who receive a homestead exemption and 96 were deployed in the previous year on active duty outside the 97 continental United States, Alaska, or Hawaii in support of 98 military operations that are designated by the Legislature. The 99 exempt amount will be based upon the number of days in the 100 previous calendar year that the person was deployed on active 101 duty outside the continental United States, Alaska, or Hawaii in 102 support of military operations that are designated by the 103 Legislature. 104 105 ================= T I T L E A M E N D M E N T ================ 106 And the title is amended as follows: 107 108 Delete everything before the resolving clause 109 and insert: 110 Senate Joint Resolution 111 A joint resolution proposing an amendment to Section 3 112 of Article VII of the State Constitution to provide an 113 additional property tax exemption for members of the 114 military who receive a homestead exemption and who 115 were deployed outside the United States during the 116 preceding year.