995038                                                     
GENERAL APPROPRIATIONS BILL                          Committee       Amendment
SB2000                                                  BTA              31


Senator(s) Montford moved the following amendment:

Section: 06              EXPLANATION:

On Page: 281             Provides that up to $150,000 from the State Economic 
                         Enhancement and  Development Trust Fund in the 
Spec App: 2304A          Department of Economic Opportunity may be used for a 
                         study to identify strategies for expanding the 
                         economic activity of each rural area of the state.  
                         These funds are earmarked from the lump sum 
                         appropriated for Economic Development Tools.

NET IMPACT ON:            Total Funds       General Revenue          Trust Funds
    Recurring -                    0                     0                    0 
Non-Recurring -                    0                     0                    0 
______________________________________________________________________________________

                                               Positions & Amount   Positions & Amount
                                                     DELETE         INSERT

        ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY, DEPARTMENT OF
        Program: Strategic Business Development
        Strategic Business Development  40400100

        In Section 06  On Page 281
2304A   Lump Sum  098019
        Economic Development Tools  IOEA

At the end of existing proviso language, immediately following Specific 
Appropriation 2304A, INSERT:

From the funds in Specific Appropriation 2304A from the State Economic 
Enhancement and Development Trust Fund, Enterprise Florida, Inc. (EFI), 
in conjunction with the Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO) and 
Workforce Florida, Inc., may use up to $150,000 to conduct a study to 
identify innovative strategies for expanding the economic activity of 
each rural area in the state.  Expanding economic activity includes 
increasing employment through: existing businesses and through new 
businesses locating to the area; increasing the total production of 
goods and services; and increasing the need for expanded infrastructure 
due to increasing population in that area.  The rural areas to be 
included in the strategies shall be all those counties and 
municipalities defined as rural for the Rural Economic Development 
Initiative (REDI) in section 288.0656, Florida Statutes, as well as any 

 995038  Log:0009  FEM/FEM           02/21/12 09:29:20 PM  Senate  Page: 1
other counties or municipalities included in any of the designated Rural 
Areas of Critical Economic Concern (RACEC).  The study shall create 
strategies for providing small business assistance as well as 
proactively recruiting new businesses to locate in rural areas.  The 
study shall provide recommendations for strategies specific to each 
rural community.  Besides employing the existing statutory incentive 
programs and the statutorily authorized criteria waivers for those 
programs in rural areas, the study shall identify alternative means of 
enticing businesses to locate or expand in rural areas.  Alternative 
means may include increased incentive amounts, reduced incentive 
performance metrics, newly proposed incentives, and newly proposed ways 
to eliminate non-financial barriers to business expansion in rural 
areas, such as permitting barriers, workforce needs or needed 
transportation improvements.  The study shall take into account local 
incentive programs as well as the existing state statutory incentive 
programs. EFI may use the annual data reported to the Office of Economic 
and Demographic research pursuant to sections 125.045 and 166.021, 
Florida Statutes, related to incentives given to businesses, and the 
information reported directly to EFI related to the community inventory 
under section 288.912, Florida Statutes. The strategies developed shall 
include the most effective and efficient methods of coordinating and 
employing the resources and planning efforts of all of the entities 
identified in section 288.0656(6)(a), Florida Statutes, as Rural 
Economic Development Initiative agencies.  The study shall specifically 
identify and rank both the impediments deemed most problematic and the 
inducements deemed most effective as they relate to promoting economic 
growth in each rural community.  The study should also recommend the 
types and characteristics of businesses that should be priority targets 
for economic development in each rural community. EFI shall submit the 
study and recommendations no later than December 1, 2012, to the chair 
of the Senate Budget Committee and the chair of the House Appropriations 
Committee.   The DEO shall also include in the annual incentives report 
required pursuant to section 288.907, Florida Statutes, on December 30, 
2012, detailed information showing geographic distribution of incentive 
contracts, specifically showing the difference between rural and non 
rural communities and the industry type for such projects.















 995038  Log:0009  FEM/FEM           02/21/12 09:29:20 PM  Senate  Page: 2