ENROLLED 2010 Legislature CS for SB 1636 20101636er 1 2 An act relating to trust funds; creating the Clearing 3 Funds Trust Fund within the Department of State; 4 providing for sources of funds and purposes; providing 5 for future review and termination or re-creation of 6 the trust fund; amending ss. 99.092 and 99.093, F.S.; 7 clarifying provisions requiring that election 8 assessments be transferred to the Elections Commission 9 Trust Fund within the Department of Legal Affairs; 10 amending s. 105.031, F.S.; requiring that the filing 11 fees for certain offices be transferred to the 12 Department of Legal Affairs rather than the Department 13 of Revenue for deposit into the Elections Commission 14 Trust Fund; amending s. 106.24, F.S.; deleting an 15 obsolete reference to the Division of Elections with 16 respect to the use of funds in the Elections 17 Commission Trust Fund; amending s. 610.104, F.S.; 18 requiring that certain funds paid to the Department of 19 State by cable or video providers be deposited into 20 the Clearing Funds Trust Fund rather than the 21 Operating Trust Fund; providing a contingent effective 22 date. 23 24 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 25 26 Section 1. Clearing Funds Trust Fund.— 27 (1) The Clearing Funds Trust Fund is created within the 28 Department of State. 29 (2) The trust fund is established for use as a depository 30 for funds to account for collections pending distribution to 31 lawful recipients. Funds shall be expended only pursuant to 32 legislative appropriation or an approved amendment to the 33 department’s operating budget pursuant to the provisions of 34 chapter 216, Florida Statutes. 35 (3) In accordance with s. 19(f)(2), Article III of the 36 State Constitution, the Clearing Funds Trust Fund shall, unless 37 terminated sooner, be terminated on July 1, 2014. Before its 38 scheduled termination, the trust fund shall be reviewed as 39 provided in s. 215.3206(1) and (2), Florida Statutes. 40 Section 2. Subsection (1) of section 99.092, Florida 41 Statutes, is amended to read: 42 99.092 Qualifying fee of candidate; notification of 43 Department of State.— 44 (1) Each person seeking to qualify for nomination or 45 election to any office, except a person seeking to qualify by 46 the petition process pursuant to s. 99.095 and except a person 47 seeking to qualify as a write-in candidate, shall pay a 48 qualifying fee, which shall consist of a filing fee and election 49 assessment, to the officer with whom the person qualifies, and 50 any party assessment levied, and shall attach the original or 51 signed duplicate of the receipt for his or her party assessment 52 or pay the same, in accordance with the provisions of s. 53 103.121, at the time of filing his or her other qualifying 54 papers. The amount of the filing fee is 3 percent of the annual 55 salary of the office. The amount of the election assessment is 1 56 percent of the annual salary of the office sought. The election 57 assessment shall be deposited into the Clearing Funds Trust Fund 58 and transferred to the Elections Commission Trust Fund within 59 the Department of Legal Affairs. The amount of the party 60 assessment is 2 percent of the annual salary. The annual salary 61 of the office for purposes of computing the filing fee, election 62 assessment, and party assessment shall be computed by 63 multiplying 12 times the monthly salary, excluding any special 64 qualification pay, authorized for such office as of July 1 65 immediately preceding the first day of qualifying. No qualifying 66 fee shall be returned to the candidate unless the candidate 67 withdraws his or her candidacy before the last date to qualify. 68 If a candidate dies prior to an election and has not withdrawn 69 his or her candidacy before the last date to qualify, the 70 candidate’s qualifying fee shall be returned to his or her 71 designated beneficiary, and, if the filing fee or any portion 72 thereof has been transferred to the political party of the 73 candidate, the Secretary of State shall direct the party to 74 return that portion to the designated beneficiary of the 75 candidate. 76 Section 3. Subsection (1) of section 99.093, Florida 77 Statutes, is amended to read: 78 99.093 Municipal candidates; election assessment.— 79 (1) Each person seeking to qualify for nomination or 80 election to a municipal office shall pay, at the time of 81 qualifying for office, an election assessment. The election 82 assessment shall be an amount equal to 1 percent of the annual 83 salary of the office sought. Within 30 days after the close of 84 qualifying, the qualifying officer shall forward all assessments 85 collected pursuant to this section to the Department of State 86 for transfer todeposit inthe Elections Commission Trust Fund 87 within the Department of Legal Affairs. 88 Section 4. Subsection (3) of section 105.031, Florida 89 Statutes, is amended to read: 90 105.031 Qualification; filing fee; candidate’s oath; items 91 required to be filed.— 92 (3) QUALIFYING FEE.—Each candidate qualifying for election 93 to a judicial office or the office of school board member, 94 except write-in judicial or school board candidates, shall, 95 during the time for qualifying, pay to the officer with whom he 96 or she qualifies a qualifying fee, which shall consist of a 97 filing fee and an election assessment, or qualify by the 98 petition process. The amount of the filing fee is 3 percent of 99 the annual salary of the office sought. The amount of the 100 election assessment is 1 percent of the annual salary of the 101 office sought. The Department of State shall transferforward102 all filing fees to the Department of Legal AffairsRevenuefor 103 deposit in the Elections Commission Trust Fund. The supervisor 104 of elections shall forward all filing fees to the Elections 105 Commission Trust Fund. The election assessment shall be 106 deposited into the Elections Commission Trust Fund. The annual 107 salary of the office for purposes of computing the qualifying 108 fee shall be computed by multiplying 12 times the monthly salary 109 authorized for such office as of July 1 immediately preceding 110 the first day of qualifying. This subsection doesshallnot 111 apply to candidates qualifying for retention to judicial office. 112 Section 5. Subsection (6) of section 106.24, Florida 113 Statutes, is amended to read: 114 106.24 Florida Elections Commission; membership; powers; 115 duties.— 116 (6) There isherebyestablished in the State Treasury an 117 Elections Commission Trust Fund to be usedutilizedbythe118Division of Elections andthe Florida Elections Commission in 119 order to carry out itstheirduties pursuant to ss. 106.24 120 106.28. The trust fund may also be used by the Secretary of 121 State, pursuant to his or her authority under s. 97.012(14), to 122 provide rewards for information leading to criminal convictions 123 related to voter registration fraud, voter fraud, and vote 124 scams. 125 Section 6. Subsection (12) of section 610.104, Florida 126 Statutes, is amended to read: 127 610.104 State authorization to provide cable or video 128 service.— 129 (12) Beginning 5 years after approval of the 130 certificateholder’s initial certificate of franchise issued by 131 the department, and every 5 years thereafter, the 132 certificateholder shall update the information contained in the 133 original application for a certificate of franchise. At the time 134 of filing the information update, the certificateholder shall 135 pay a processing fee of $1,000. Any certificateholder that fails 136 to file the updated information and pay the processing fee on 137 the 5-year anniversary dates shall be subject to cancellation of 138 its state-issued certificate of franchise authority if, upon 139 notice given to the certificateholder at its last address on 140 file with the department, the certificateholder fails to file 141 the updated information and pay the processing fee within 30 142 days after the date notice was mailed. The application and 143 processing fees imposed in this section shall be paid to the 144 Department of State for deposit into the Clearing Funds 145OperatingTrust Fund for immediate transfer by the Chief 146 Financial Officer to the General Inspection Trust Fund of the 147 Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. The Department 148 of Agriculture and Consumer Services shall maintain a separate 149 account within the General Inspection Trust Fund to distinguish 150 cable franchise revenues from all other funds. The application, 151 any amendments to the certificate, or information updates must 152 be accompanied by a fee to the Department of State equal to that 153 for filing articles of incorporation pursuant to s. 607.0122(1). 154 Section 7. This act shall take effect July 1, 2010, but 155 this act shall not take effect unless it is enacted by a three 156 fifths vote of the membership of each house of the Legislature.