Florida Senate - 2009                        COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
       Bill No. CS for SB 2244
       
       
       
       
       
       
                                Barcode 323060                          
       
                              LEGISLATIVE ACTION                        
                    Senate             .             House              
                   Comm: WD            .                                
                  04/20/2009           .                                
                                       .                                
                                       .                                
                                       .                                
       —————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————




       —————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
       The Committee on Finance and Tax (Altman) recommended the
       following:
       
    1         Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
    2  
    3         Delete lines 371 - 443
    4  and insert:
    5  
    6         (6)A person or entity that owns property assessed pursuant
    7  to this section must notify the property appraiser promptly if
    8  the property becomes ineligible for assessment under this
    9  section. If any property owner fails to so notify the property
   10  appraiser and the property appraiser determines that for any
   11  year within the preceding 10 years the property was not eligible
   12  for assessment under this section, the owner of the property is
   13  subject to taxes avoided as a result of such failure plus 15
   14  percent interest per annum and a penalty of 50 percent of the
   15  taxes avoided. The property appraiser making such determination
   16  has a duty to record in the public records of the county a
   17  notice of tax lien against any property owned by that person or
   18  entity in the county, and such property must be identified in
   19  the notice of tax lien. The property is subject to a lien in the
   20  amount of the unpaid taxes and penalties. The lien when filed
   21  shall attach to any property, identified in the notice of tax
   22  lien, owned by the person or entity that was improperly
   23  assessed. If such person or entity no longer owns property in
   24  that county, but owns property in some other county or counties
   25  of this state, the property appraiser has a duty to record a
   26  notice of tax lien in such other county or counties, identifying
   27  the property owned by such person or entity.
   28         (7)(5) The governing board of any public agency in this
   29  state or the Board of Trustees of the Internal Improvement Trust
   30  Fund or a charitable corporation or trust which holds title to a
   31  development right pursuant to this section may not convey that
   32  development right to anyone other than the governing board of
   33  another public agency in this state or a charitable corporation
   34  or trust, as described in s. 704.06(4) s. 704.06(3), or the
   35  record owner of the fee interest in the land to which the
   36  development right attaches. The conveyance from the governing
   37  board of a public agency or the Board of Trustees of the
   38  Internal Improvement Trust Fund to the owner of the fee shall be
   39  made only after a determination by the board that such
   40  conveyance would not adversely affect the interest of the
   41  public. Section 125.35 does not apply to such sales, but any
   42  public agency accepting any instrument conveying a development
   43  right pursuant to this section shall forthwith adopt appropriate
   44  regulations and procedures governing the disposition of same.
   45  These regulations and procedures must provide in part that the
   46  board may not convey a development right to the owner of the fee
   47  without first holding a public hearing and unless notice of the
   48  proposed conveyance and the time and place at which the public
   49  hearing is to be held is published once a week for at least 2
   50  weeks in some newspaper of general circulation in the county in
   51  which the property is located before involved prior to the
   52  hearing.
   53         (6)The following terms whenever used as referred to in
   54  this section have the following meanings unless a different
   55  meaning is clearly indicated by the context:
   56         (a)“Board” is the governing board of any city, county, or
   57  other public agency of the state or the Board of Trustees of the
   58  Internal Improvement Trust Fund.
   59         (b)“Conservation restriction” means a limitation on a
   60  right to the use of land for purposes of conserving or
   61  preserving land or water areas predominantly in their natural,
   62  scenic, open, agricultural, or wooded condition. The limitation
   63  on rights to the use of land may involve or pertain to any of
   64  the activities enumerated in s. 704.06(1).
   65         (c)“Conservation easement” means that property right
   66  described in s. 704.06.
   67         (d)“Covenant” is a covenant running with the land.
   68         (e)“Deferred tax liability” means an amount equal to the
   69  difference between the total amount of taxes that would have
   70  been due in March in each of the previous years in which the
   71  conveyance or covenant was in effect if the property had been
   72  assessed under the provisions of s. 193.011 and the total amount
   73  of taxes actually paid in those years when the property was
   74  assessed under the provisions of this section, plus interest on
   75  that difference computed as provided in s. 212.12(3).
   76         (f)“Development right” is the right of the owner of the
   77  fee interest in the land to change the use of the land.
   78         (g)“Outdoor recreational or park purposes” includes, but
   79  is not necessarily limited to, boating, golfing, camping,
   80  swimming, horseback riding, and archaeological, scenic, or
   81  scientific sites and applies only to land which is open to the
   82  general public.
   83         (h)“Present use” is the manner in which the land is
   84  utilized on January 1 of the year in which the assessment is
   85  made.
   86         (i)“Qualified as environmentally endangered” means land
   87  that has unique ecological characteristics, rare or limited
   88  combinations of geological formations, or features of a rare or
   89  limited nature constituting habitat suitable for fish, plants,
   90  or wildlife, and which, if subject to a development moratorium
   91  or one or more conservation easements or development
   92  restrictions appropriate to retaining such land or water areas
   93  predominantly in their natural state, would be consistent with
   94  the conservation, recreation and open space, and, if applicable,
   95  coastal protection elements of the comprehensive plan adopted by
   96  formal action of the local governing body pursuant to s.
   97  163.3161, the Local Government Comprehensive Planning and Land
   98  Development Regulation Act; or surface waters and wetlands, as
   99  determined by the methodology ratified in s. 373.4211.
  100         (8)(7)(a) The property appraiser shall report to the
  101  
  102  ================= T I T L E  A M E N D M E N T ================
  103         And the title is amended as follows:
  104         Delete line 45
  105  and insert:
  106  
  107         includes certain statements by a landowner; requiring
  108         a property owner to notify the property appraiser if
  109         land assessed as land used for conservation purposes
  110         becomes ineligible for the assessment benefit;
  111         imposing penalties for failing to notify the property
  112         appraiser of the loss of eligibility for the
  113         assessment benefit; requiring the property appraiser
  114         to record tax liens for the amount of the unpaid taxes
  115         and penalties; requiring