Florida Senate - 2011                                     SM 216
       
       
       
       By Senator Gaetz
       
       
       
       
       4-00272-11                                             2011216__
    1                           Senate Memorial                         
    2         A memorial to the Congress of the United States,
    3         urging Congress to exempt from federal income tax
    4         payments made to victims of the Deepwater Horizon oil
    5         disaster and to extend the net operating loss
    6         carryback period from 2 years to 5 years.
    7  
    8         WHEREAS, there was an explosion at the Deepwater Horizon
    9  oil rig the night of April 20, 2010, and
   10         WHEREAS, the explosion caused hundreds of millions of
   11  gallons of oil to spill into the Gulf of Mexico and wash up on
   12  the coastlines of the five Gulf Coast states, and
   13         WHEREAS, this man-made disaster has spoiled Florida’s
   14  coastline and waterways and devastated its fishing and tourism
   15  industries, and
   16         WHEREAS, this man-made disaster has directly resulted in
   17  the loss of jobs and business for Floridians, and
   18         WHEREAS, in June 2010, a preliminarily study by the
   19  University of Central Florida predicted job losses of 195,000
   20  and spending losses of $10.9 billion if Florida’s 23 counties
   21  along the Gulf Coast lose 50 percent of their tourism and
   22  leisure jobs and spending, and
   23         WHEREAS, that preliminary study also predicted job losses
   24  of 39,000 and spending losses of $2 billion if those same
   25  counties lose 10 percent of their tourism and leisure jobs and
   26  spending, and
   27         WHEREAS, under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 and other
   28  applicable laws, BP has been designated as a responsible party
   29  and is accountable for processing and paying all costs and
   30  applicable damages incurred by individuals, businesses, the
   31  state, and local governments as a result of the disaster, and
   32         WHEREAS, in late August, a neutral fund administrator took
   33  over claims for costs and damages incurred as a result of the
   34  oil discharges due to the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster through
   35  the Gulf Coast Claims Facility, to be paid from an escrow
   36  account to which BP has agreed to contribute $20 billion over a
   37  4-year period, and
   38         WHEREAS, the Gulf Coast Claims Facility evaluates claims
   39  for removal and clean-up costs, damage to real or personal
   40  property, lost earnings or profits, loss of subsistence use of
   41  natural resources, or physical injury or death, and
   42         WHEREAS, the Internal Revenue Service has determined that
   43  claims paid for lost wages, income, and profits, as well as
   44  claims paid for certain property damage, are subject to federal
   45  income tax, NOW, THEREFORE,
   46  
   47  Be It Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   48  
   49         That the Legislature requests the United States Congress to
   50  enact legislation that:
   51         (1) Exempts from federal income tax those claim payments
   52  made to individuals and businesses as a result of the Deepwater
   53  Horizon oil disaster for:
   54         (a) Lost wages, income, and profits; and
   55         (b) Property damage.
   56         (2) Allows fishing- and tourism-related businesses to carry
   57  back their net operating losses from the oil disaster for an
   58  additional 3 taxable years.
   59         BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be
   60  dispatched to the President of the United States, to the
   61  President of the United States Senate, to the Speaker of the
   62  United States House of Representatives, and to each member of
   63  the Florida delegation to the United States Congress.