Florida Senate - 2013                                    SB 1444
       
       
       
       By Senator Thompson
       
       
       
       
       12-01122-13                                           20131444__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to trust funds; creating s. 25.3825,
    3         F.S.; creating the Fiscal Stability Trust Fund within
    4         the state courts system to be administered by the
    5         Supreme Court; providing for fund revenues; providing
    6         for administration of the trust fund and use of moneys
    7         in the fund; requiring balances to remain in the trust
    8         fund at the end of the fiscal year; providing for
    9         future review and termination or re-creation of the
   10         trust fund; providing a contingent effective date.
   11  
   12  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   13  
   14         Section 1. Section 25.3825, Florida Statutes, is created to
   15  read:
   16         25.3825 Fiscal Stability Trust Fund.—
   17         (1) The Fiscal Stability Trust Fund is created within the
   18  state courts system. Funds credited to the trust fund shall
   19  consist of revenues appropriated from the General Revenue Fund
   20  consisting of 1 percent of the state budget for the current
   21  fiscal year. The trust fund shall be administered by the Supreme
   22  Court. The funds shall be used to support the activities carried
   23  out under s. 25.382 and to allocate funds to a judicial branch
   24  surplus or reserve fund monitored by the Legislature. The
   25  judicial branch of state government shall be held harmless in
   26  years of fiscal deficits in the state as a matter of public
   27  safety.
   28         (2) Notwithstanding s. 216.301 and pursuant to s. 216.351,
   29  any balance in the trust fund at the end of any fiscal year
   30  shall remain in the trust fund and be available for carrying out
   31  the purposes of the trust fund.
   32         (3) Pursuant to s. 19(f)(2), Art. III of the State
   33  Constitution, the trust fund shall, unless terminated sooner, be
   34  terminated on July 1, 2017. Before its scheduled termination,
   35  the trust fund shall be reviewed as provided in s. 215.3206(1)
   36  and (2).
   37         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2013, if SB
   38  ____ or similar legislation is enacted in the same legislative
   39  session or an extension thereof and becomes law, but this act
   40  shall not take effect unless it is enacted by a three-fifths
   41  vote of the membership of each house of the Legislature.