Florida Senate - 2013                                     SB 336
       
       
       
       By Senator Latvala
       
       
       
       
       20-00352A-13                                           2013336__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to the tourist development tax;
    3         amending s. 125.0104, F.S.; clarifying that the
    4         proceeds of the tax may be used for the benefit of
    5         certain museums or aquariums; providing an effective
    6         date.
    7  
    8  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
    9  
   10         Section 1. Paragraph (a) of subsection (5) and subsection
   11  (7) of section 125.0104, Florida Statutes, are amended to read:
   12         125.0104 Tourist development tax; procedure for levying;
   13  authorized uses; referendum; enforcement.—
   14         (5) AUTHORIZED USES OF REVENUE.—
   15         (a) All tax revenues received pursuant to this section by a
   16  county imposing the tourist development tax shall be used by
   17  that county for the following purposes only:
   18         1. To acquire, construct, extend, enlarge, remodel, repair,
   19  improve, maintain, operate, or promote one or more publicly
   20  owned and operated convention centers, sports stadiums, sports
   21  arenas, coliseums, or auditoriums, or museums or aquariums, or
   22  museums that are publicly owned and operated or owned and
   23  operated by not-for-profit organizations and open to the public,
   24  within the boundaries of the county or subcounty special taxing
   25  district in which the tax is levied. Tax revenues received
   26  pursuant to this section may also be used for promotion of
   27  zoological parks that are publicly owned and operated or owned
   28  and operated by not-for-profit organizations and open to the
   29  public. However, these purposes may be implemented through
   30  service contracts and leases with lessees that have with
   31  sufficient expertise or financial capability to operate such
   32  facilities;
   33         2. To promote and advertise tourism in this state the State
   34  of Florida and nationally and internationally; however, if tax
   35  revenues are expended for an activity, service, venue, or event,
   36  the activity, service, venue, or event must shall have as one of
   37  its main purposes the attraction of tourists as evidenced by the
   38  promotion of the activity, service, venue, or event to tourists;
   39         3. To fund convention bureaus, tourist bureaus, tourist
   40  information centers, and news bureaus as county agencies or by
   41  contract with the chambers of commerce or similar associations
   42  in the county, which may include any indirect administrative
   43  costs for services performed by the county on behalf of the
   44  promotion agency; or
   45         4. To finance beach park facilities or beach improvement,
   46  maintenance, renourishment, restoration, and erosion control,
   47  including shoreline protection, enhancement, cleanup, or
   48  restoration of inland lakes and rivers to which there is public
   49  access as those uses relate to the physical preservation of the
   50  beach, shoreline, or inland lake or river. However, any funds
   51  identified by a county as the local matching source for beach
   52  renourishment, restoration, or erosion control projects included
   53  in the long-range budget plan of the state’s Beach Management
   54  Plan, pursuant to s. 161.091, or funds contractually obligated
   55  by a county in the financial plan for a federally authorized
   56  shore protection project may not be used or loaned for any other
   57  purpose. In counties of fewer less than 100,000 population, up
   58  to no more than 10 percent of the revenues from the tourist
   59  development tax may be used for beach park facilities.
   60         (7) AUTOMATIC EXPIRATION ON RETIREMENT OF BONDS.—Anything
   61  in this section to the contrary Notwithstanding any other
   62  provision of this section, if the plan for tourist development
   63  approved by the governing board of the county, as amended from
   64  time to time pursuant to paragraph (4)(d), includes the
   65  acquisition, construction, extension, enlargement, remodeling,
   66  repair, or improvement of a publicly owned and operated
   67  convention center, sports stadium, sports arena, coliseum,
   68  auditorium, aquarium, or museum that is publicly owned and
   69  operated or owned and operated by a not-for-profit organization,
   70  the county ordinance levying and imposing the tax shall
   71  automatically expires expire upon the later of:
   72         (a) The retirement of all bonds issued by the county for
   73  financing the same; or
   74         (b) The expiration of any agreement by the county for the
   75  operation or maintenance, or both, of a publicly owned and
   76  operated convention center, sports stadium, sports arena,
   77  coliseum, auditorium, aquarium, or museum. However, this does
   78  not nothing herein shall preclude that county from amending the
   79  ordinance extending the tax to the extent that the board of the
   80  county determines to be necessary to provide funds with which to
   81  operate, maintain, repair, or renew and replace a publicly owned
   82  and operated convention center, sports stadium, sports arena,
   83  coliseum, auditorium, aquarium, or museum or from enacting an
   84  ordinance that takes which shall take effect without referendum
   85  approval, unless the original referendum required ordinance
   86  expiration, pursuant to the provisions of this section
   87  reimposing a tourist development tax, upon or following the
   88  expiration of the previous ordinance.
   89         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2013.