Florida Senate - 2010                                    SB 1250
       
       
       
       By Senator Smith
       
       
       
       
       29-00682-10                                           20101250__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to the State Housing Trust Fund;
    3         amending s. 201.15, F.S.; removing a limitation on the
    4         amount of proceeds from the excise tax on documents
    5         which may be deposited into the trust fund; providing
    6         an effective date.
    7  
    8  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
    9  
   10         Section 1. Subsections (9) through (17) of section 201.15,
   11  Florida Statutes, as amended by chapters 2009-21 and 2009-68,
   12  Laws of Florida, are amended to read:
   13         201.15 Distribution of taxes collected.—All taxes collected
   14  under this chapter are subject to the service charge imposed in
   15  s. 215.20(1). Prior to distribution under this section, the
   16  Department of Revenue shall deduct amounts necessary to pay the
   17  costs of the collection and enforcement of the tax levied by
   18  this chapter. Such costs and the service charge may not be
   19  levied against any portion of taxes pledged to debt service on
   20  bonds to the extent that the costs and service charge are
   21  required to pay any amounts relating to the bonds. After
   22  distributions are made pursuant to subsection (1), all of the
   23  costs of the collection and enforcement of the tax levied by
   24  this chapter and the service charge shall be available and
   25  transferred to the extent necessary to pay debt service and any
   26  other amounts payable with respect to bonds authorized before
   27  January 1, 2010, secured by revenues distributed pursuant to
   28  subsection (1). All taxes remaining after deduction of costs and
   29  the service charge shall be distributed as follows:
   30         (9) Seven and fifty-three hundredths The lesser of 7.53
   31  percent of the remaining taxes or $107 million in each fiscal
   32  year shall be paid into the State Treasury to the credit of the
   33  State Housing Trust Fund and used as follows:
   34         (a) Half of that amount shall be used for the purposes for
   35  which the State Housing Trust Fund was created and exists by
   36  law.
   37         (b) Half of that amount shall be paid into the State
   38  Treasury to the credit of the Local Government Housing Trust
   39  Fund and used for the purposes for which the Local Government
   40  Housing Trust Fund was created and exists by law.
   41         (10) Eight and sixty-six hundredths The lesser of 8.66
   42  percent of the remaining taxes or $136 million in each fiscal
   43  year shall be paid into the State Treasury to the credit of the
   44  State Housing Trust Fund and used as follows:
   45         (a) Twelve and one-half percent of that amount shall be
   46  deposited into the State Housing Trust Fund and be expended by
   47  the Department of Community Affairs and by the Florida Housing
   48  Finance Corporation for the purposes for which the State Housing
   49  Trust Fund was created and exists by law.
   50         (b) Eighty-seven and one-half percent of that amount shall
   51  be distributed to the Local Government Housing Trust Fund and
   52  used for the purposes for which the Local Government Housing
   53  Trust Fund was created and exists by law. Funds from this
   54  category may also be used to provide for state and local
   55  services to assist the homeless.
   56         (11) The distribution of proceeds deposited into the Water
   57  Management Lands Trust Fund and the Conservation and Recreation
   58  Lands Trust Fund, pursuant to subsections (4) and (5), may not
   59  be used for land acquisition but may be used for preacquisition
   60  costs associated with land purchases. The Legislature intends
   61  that the Florida Forever program supplant the acquisition
   62  programs formerly authorized under ss. 259.032 and 373.59.
   63         (12) Amounts distributed pursuant to subsections (5), (6),
   64  (7), and (8) are subject to the payment of debt service on
   65  outstanding Conservation and Recreation Lands revenue bonds.
   66         (13) In each fiscal year that the remaining taxes exceed
   67  collections in the prior fiscal year, the stated maximum dollar
   68  amounts provided in subsections (2), (4), (6), and (7), (9), and
   69  (10) shall each be increased by an amount equal to 10 percent of
   70  the increase in the remaining taxes collected under this chapter
   71  multiplied by the applicable percentage provided in those
   72  subsections.
   73         (14) If the payment requirements in any year for bonds
   74  outstanding on July 1, 2007, or bonds issued to refund such
   75  bonds, exceed the limitations of this section, distributions to
   76  the trust fund from which the bond payments are made must be
   77  increased to the lesser of the amount needed to pay bond
   78  obligations or the limit of the applicable percentage
   79  distribution provided in subsections (1)-(8) (1)-(10).
   80         (15)Distributions to the State Housing Trust Fund pursuant
   81  to subsections (9) and (10) must be sufficient to cover amounts
   82  required to be transferred to the Florida Affordable Housing
   83  Guarantee Program’s annual debt service reserve and guarantee
   84  fund pursuant to s. 420.5092(6)(a) and (b) up to the amount
   85  required to be transferred to such reserve and fund based on the
   86  percentage distribution of documentary stamp tax revenues to the
   87  State Housing Trust Fund which is in effect in the 2004-2005
   88  fiscal year.
   89         (15)(16) If amounts necessary to pay debt service or any
   90  other amounts payable with respect to Preservation 2000 bonds,
   91  Florida Forever bonds, or Everglades Restoration bonds
   92  authorized before January 1, 2010, exceed the amounts
   93  distributable pursuant to subsection (1), all moneys
   94  distributable pursuant to this section are available for such
   95  obligations and transferred in the amounts necessary to pay such
   96  obligations when due. However, amounts distributable pursuant to
   97  subsection (2), subsection (3), subsection (4), or subsection
   98  (5), paragraph (9)(a), or paragraph (10)(a) are not available to
   99  pay such obligations to the extent that such moneys are
  100  necessary to pay debt service on bonds secured by revenues
  101  pursuant to those provisions.
  102         (16)(17) After the distributions provided in the preceding
  103  subsections, any remaining taxes shall be paid into the State
  104  Treasury to the credit of the General Revenue Fund.
  105         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2010.