Florida Senate - 2012                        COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
       Bill No. CS for CS for SB 1060
       
       
       
       
       
       
                                Barcode 774432                          
       
                              LEGISLATIVE ACTION                        
                    Senate             .             House              
                  Comm: RCS            .                                
                  02/24/2012           .                                
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       The Committee on Budget Subcommittee on Finance and Tax
       (Margolis) recommended the following:
       
    1         Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
    2  
    3         Delete everything after the enacting clause
    4  and insert:
    5         Section 1. (1) The Communications Services Tax Working
    6  Group is created and housed for administrative purposes within
    7  the Department of Revenue.
    8         (2) The working group shall consist of 11 members as
    9  follows:
   10         (a) The executive director of the Department of Revenue, or
   11  his or her designee, who shall serve as chairperson and as a
   12  nonvoting member and who shall appoint the remaining members.
   13         (b) Six members, including, but not limited to,
   14  representatives of dealers, retailers, video service providers,
   15  direct-to-home satellite service providers, local phone service
   16  providers, and wireless providers who provide prepaid services.
   17         (c) Two representatives of counties.
   18         (d) Two representatives of municipalities.
   19         (3) Members of the working group are not entitled to
   20  receive reimbursement for per diem and travel expenses other
   21  than reimbursement provided by their respective group, office,
   22  or agency.
   23         (4) The working group shall:
   24         (a) Review national and state tax policies relating to the
   25  communications industry;
   26         (b) Review the amount of tax revenue that has been
   27  generated by the communications services taxes imposed or
   28  administered pursuant to chapter 202, Florida Statutes, and that
   29  is expected to be generated in the future, and the extent to
   30  which this revenue has been relied on to secure bonded
   31  indebtedness;
   32         (c) Review the state’s ability to design tax laws that are
   33  efficient and fairly administered, including whether the
   34  applicability of the tax laws is reasonably clear to
   35  communications service providers, retailers, customers, local
   36  governments, and state administrators. This review shall take
   37  into consideration the diverse and evolutionary nature of
   38  communication technology and the resulting services,
   39  particularly as it applies to prepaid wireless services;
   40         (d) Review the administrative burdens imposed on
   41  communications services providers, retailers, local governments,
   42  and the department under the current tax structure;
   43         (e) Identify options for reducing the administrative
   44  burdens and for developing a unified tax or reducing the high
   45  degree of local communications services tax rate variability,
   46  including the feasibility of distributing revenues based on
   47  formulas; and
   48         (f) Identify options that remove competitive advantages due
   49  to taxation for competing, functionally equivalent
   50  communications services.
   51         (5) The working group shall prepare a report that addresses
   52  each issue specified in subsection (4). The group shall submit
   53  the report to the Governor, the President of the Senate, and the
   54  Speaker of the House of Representatives by February 1, 2013. The
   55  working group shall hold meetings as frequently as deemed
   56  necessary by the chair to produce the report.
   57         Section 2. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.
   58  
   59  ================= T I T L E  A M E N D M E N T ================
   60         And the title is amended as follows:
   61         Delete everything before the enacting clause
   62  and insert:
   63                        A bill to be entitled                      
   64         An act relating to communications services tax;
   65         creating the Communications Services Tax Working
   66         Group; housing the working group in the Department of
   67         Revenue for administrative purposes; providing for
   68         membership; limiting the reimbursement of members for
   69         per diem and travel expenses; providing issues that
   70         the working group will study; requiring the working
   71         group to hold meetings; providing for a report to the
   72         Governor and Legislature by a certain date; providing
   73         an effective date.