SB 2520-A First Engrossed
20152520Ae1
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to trust funds; creating s. 20.142,
3 F.S.; creating the Land Acquisition Trust Fund within
4 the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services;
5 providing for the purpose of the trust fund and
6 sources of funds; requiring the department to maintain
7 the integrity of such funds; providing for disposition
8 of funds from reversions or reductions in budget
9 authority from the trust fund; requiring that title to
10 lands or related property interests acquired be vested
11 in the Board of Trustees of the Internal Improvement
12 Trust Fund; requiring the department or its designee
13 to manage lands or related property interests acquired
14 in accordance with the purposes set forth in s. 28,
15 Article X of the State Constitution; providing a
16 restriction on how funds may be invested; providing
17 for future review and termination or re-creation of
18 the trust fund; providing for contingent retroactive
19 operation; providing effective dates.
20
21 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
22
23 Section 1. Section 20.142, Florida Statutes, is created to
24 read:
25 20.142 Land Acquisition Trust Fund.—
26 (1) The Land Acquisition Trust Fund is created within the
27 Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. The trust fund
28 is established for use as a depository for funds received from
29 the Land Acquisition Trust Fund within the Department of
30 Environmental Protection and for expenditure of such funds for
31 the purposes set forth in s. 28, Art. X of the State
32 Constitution.
33 (2) The Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
34 must maintain the integrity of such moneys transferred from the
35 Department of Environmental Protection. Any transferred moneys
36 available from reversions or reductions in budget authority
37 shall be transferred back to the Land Acquisition Trust Fund
38 within the Department of Environmental Protection within 15 days
39 after such reversion or reduction and shall be available for
40 future appropriation for the purposes set forth in s. 28, Art. X
41 of the State Constitution.
42 (3) If expenditures from the trust fund will result in
43 state ownership of land or related property interests, title
44 shall be vested in the Board of Trustees of the Internal
45 Improvement Trust Fund as required under chapter 253. Such
46 acquisition of land or related property interests shall be by
47 voluntary, negotiated acquisition and, if title is to be vested
48 in the Board of Trustees of the Internal Improvement Trust Fund,
49 is subject to the acquisition procedures of s. 253.025.
50 Acquisition costs shall include purchase prices and costs and
51 fees associated with title work, surveys, and appraisals
52 required to complete an acquisition. The Department of
53 Agriculture and Consumer Services or its designee shall manage
54 such lands or related property interests in accordance with the
55 purposes set forth in s. 28, Art. X of the State Constitution.
56 Other uses, not contrary to such purposes, may be authorized.
57 (4) Moneys in the trust fund may not be invested as
58 provided in s. 17.61, but shall be retained in the trust fund
59 for investment with interest appropriated to the General Revenue
60 Fund as provided in s. 17.57.
61 (5) In accordance with s. 19(f)(2), Art. III of the State
62 Constitution, the Land Acquisition Trust Fund within the
63 Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services shall, unless
64 terminated sooner, be terminated on July 1, 2019. Before its
65 scheduled termination, the trust fund shall be reviewed as
66 provided in s. 215.3206.
67 Section 2. Except as otherwise expressly provided in this
68 act and except for this section, which shall take effect upon
69 this act becoming a law, this act shall take effect July 1,
70 2015, or, if this act fails to become a law until after that
71 date, it shall take effect upon becoming a law and operate
72 retroactively to July 1, 2015.