Florida Senate - 2016 SB 1262
By Senator Simpson
18-01030-16 20161262__
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to emergency management; creating s.
3 252.64, F.S.; providing a short title; defining terms;
4 providing exemptions from certain registration and
5 licensing requirements and taxes for out-of-state
6 businesses and employees who enter the state in
7 response to a disaster or an emergency; specifying the
8 applicability of certain transaction taxes and fees;
9 requiring an out-of-state business or registered
10 business to provide a statement to the Division of
11 Emergency Management in the Executive Office of the
12 Governor under certain circumstances; prescribing the
13 content of the statement; specifying the obligations
14 of an out-of-state business or employee after the
15 disaster-response period; providing an effective date.
16
17 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
18
19 Section 1. Section 252.64, Florida Statutes, is created and
20 incorporated into part I of chapter 252, Florida Statutes, to
21 read:
22 252.64 Facilitating Business Rapid Response to State
23 Declared Disasters Act.—
24 (1) SHORT TITLE.—This section may be cited as the
25 “Facilitating Business Rapid Response to State Declared
26 Disasters Act.”
27 (2) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section, the term:
28 (a) “Disaster-related work” or “emergency-related work”
29 means repairing, renovating, installing, building, rendering
30 services, or other business activities that relate to
31 infrastructure that has been damaged, impaired, or destroyed by
32 an event that has resulted in a declaration of a state of
33 emergency.
34 (b) “Disaster-response period” means:
35 1. A period that begins 10 calendar days before the first
36 day of a declared state of emergency and ends on the 60th
37 calendar day after the end of the declared state of emergency;
38 or
39 2. A period that begins on the date that an out-of-state
40 business enters this state in good faith under a mutual aid
41 agreement and in anticipation of a disaster, regardless of
42 whether a state of emergency is declared, and ends on the date
43 that the work is concluded, or 7 calendar days after the out-of
44 state business enters this state, whichever occurs first.
45 (c) “Infrastructure” means public roads; public bridges;
46 property and equipment owned or used by communication networks,
47 electric generating systems, transmission and distribution
48 systems, gas distribution systems, or water pipelines; and
49 related support facilities that serve multiple persons which
50 include, but are not limited to, buildings, offices, power and
51 communication lines and poles, pipes, structures, and equipment.
52 (d) “Mutual aid agreement” means an agreement to which one
53 or more business entities are parties and under which a public
54 utility, municipally owned utility, or joint agency owning,
55 operating, or owning and operating infrastructure used for
56 electric generation, transmission, or distribution in this state
57 may request that an out-of-state business perform work in this
58 state in anticipation of a disaster or an emergency.
59 (e) “Out-of-state business” means a business entity that:
60 1. Does not have a presence in this state, except with
61 respect to the performance of disaster-related work or
62 emergency-related work, that conducts no business in this state,
63 and whose services are requested by a registered business or by
64 a unit of state or local government for purposes of performing
65 disaster-related work or emergency-related work in this state;
66 and
67 2. Is not registered and does not have tax filings or
68 presence sufficient to require the collection or payment of a
69 tax in this state before the disaster-response period.
70
71 The term also includes a business entity that is affiliated with
72 a registered business solely through common ownership.
73 (f) “Out-of-state employee” means an employee who does not
74 work in this state, except for disaster-related work or
75 emergency-related work during a disaster-response period.
76 (g) “Registered business” means a business entity that is
77 registered to do business in this state before the disaster
78 response period begins.
79 (3) EXEMPTIONS FOR OUT-OF-STATE BUSINESSES AND EMPLOYEES.—
80 (a) Notwithstanding any other law and except as provided in
81 subsection (4), an out-of-state business that is conducting
82 operations within this state solely for purposes of performing
83 disaster-related work or emergency-related work during a
84 disaster-response period or pursuant to a mutual aid agreement
85 is not considered to have established a level of presence that
86 would require that business to register, file, and remit state
87 or local taxes or fees or require that business to be subject to
88 any registration, licensing, or filing requirements in this
89 state. For purposes of any state or local tax on or measured, in
90 whole or in part, by net or gross income or receipts, the
91 activity of the out-of-state business conducted in this state
92 during the disaster-response period must be disregarded with
93 respect to any filing requirements for such tax, including the
94 filing required for a consolidated group of which the out-of
95 state business is a subsidiary. This exemption includes the
96 following:
97 1. Reemployment assistance taxes.
98 2. State or local professional or occupational licensing
99 requirements or related fees.
100 3. Gross receipts taxes.
101 4. Local business taxes.
102 5. Taxes on the operation of commercial motor vehicles.
103 6. Corporate income tax.
104 7. Tangible personal property tax on equipment that is
105 brought into the state by the out-of-state business, used by the
106 out-of-state business only to perform disaster-related work or
107 emergency-related work during the disaster-response period, and
108 removed from the state by the out-of-state business following
109 the disaster-response period.
110 (b) Notwithstanding any other law and except as provided in
111 subsection (4), an out-of-state employee whose only employment
112 in this state is for the performance of disaster-related or
113 emergency-related work during a disaster-response period is not
114 required to:
115 1. Register, file, or remit state or local taxes.
116 2. Comply with state or local occupational licensing
117 requirements or related fees.
118 (4) TRANSACTION TAXES AND FEES.—An out-of-state employee or
119 out-of-state business whose transaction of business in this
120 state is limited to the performance of disaster-related work or
121 emergency-related work during a disaster-response period is
122 subject to motor and other fuel taxes imposed pursuant to
123 chapter 206 and sales and use taxes imposed pursuant to chapter
124 212, unless the employee or business is otherwise exempt from
125 such tax.
126 (5) NOTIFICATION PROCEDURES.—
127 (a) If requested by the division, an out-of-state business
128 shall provide to the division a statement specifying that the
129 out-of-state business has entered the state for purposes of
130 performing disaster-related work or emergency-related work. The
131 statement must also include the following information regarding
132 the out-of-state business:
133 1. The business name.
134 2. The state of domicile.
135 3. The address of its principal office.
136 4. The federal tax identification number.
137 5. The date that the business entered the state.
138 6. Contact information.
139 (b) If requested by the division, a registered business
140 shall provide a statement to the division that includes the
141 information listed in paragraph (a) for any affiliate of the
142 registered business which has entered the state as an out-of
143 state business. The statement must also include the contact
144 information for the registered business.
145 (6) OBLIGATIONS AFTER DISASTER-RESPONSE PERIOD.—An out-of
146 state business or out-of-state employee who remains in this
147 state after the disaster-response period is not entitled to any
148 exemptions provided in this section and is subject to the
149 state’s normal standards for establishing presence or residency
150 or doing business in the state.
151 Section 2. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.