Florida Senate - 2018 SB 1354 By Senator Taddeo 40-01019-18 20181354__ 1 A bill to be entitled 2 An act relating to tax preferences; amending s. 3 216.012, F.S.; requiring the Legislative Budget 4 Commission’s long-range financial outlook to delineate 5 projected revenues attributable to tax preferences; 6 creating s. 216.41, F.S.; defining the term “tax 7 preference”; requiring the repeal of a new tax 8 preference or a substantially amended existing tax 9 preference after a specified timeframe unless the 10 Legislature acts to reenact the tax preference; 11 requiring such reenactments, under certain 12 circumstances, to include the identifiable public 13 purpose served by the tax preference; providing 14 retroactive applicability of certain legislative 15 review requirements to tax preferences enacted before 16 a specified date; providing that such tax preferences 17 do not remain in effect after a specified date unless 18 specifically reviewed and reenacted; requiring a tax 19 preference enacted or substantially amended after a 20 specified date to include the identifiable public 21 purpose served by the tax preference and to specify 22 certain information; providing construction; requiring 23 the Legislature to establish and publish a certain 24 schedule of tax preference reviews during certain 25 regular legislative sessions; requiring that 26 subsequent tax preference reviews be conducted at 27 certain intervals; requiring the Legislature to 28 consider certain factors in reviewing tax preferences; 29 providing that the state may not be made a party to 30 any suit and does not incur liability for certain 31 actions; providing an effective date. 32 33 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 34 35 Section 1. Subsection (1) of section 216.012, Florida 36 Statutes, is amended to read: 37 216.012 Long-range financial outlook.— 38 (1) The commission shall develop a long-range 3-year 39 financial outlook and shall update that outlook each year. The 40 outlook must delineate projected revenues attributable to tax 41 preferences as defined in s. 216.41. 42 Section 2. Section 216.41, Florida Statutes, is created to 43 read: 44 216.41 Tax preferences.— 45 (1) As used in this section, the term “tax preference” 46 means an exemption, an allowance, an exclusion, or a credit to; 47 a preferential rate for; or a deduction or deferral from, any 48 tax imposed under chapters 192 through 220, chapters 561 through 49 565, or chapter 624 or a preference in another chapter which is 50 enacted after July 1, 2017. 51 (2)(a) In the 5th year after enactment of a new tax 52 preference or a substantial amendment of an existing tax 53 preference, the tax preference must be repealed on July 1 of 54 that year unless the Legislature acts to reenact the tax 55 preference. A reenactment of a tax preference enacted before 56 July 1, 2017, must include the identifiable public purpose 57 served by the tax preference if the purpose is not expressly 58 articulated in the section under consideration. 59 (b) A tax preference enacted before July 1, 2017, remains 60 in effect subject to the review provisions of subsection (3) and 61 a subsequent reenactment. A tax preference enacted before July 62 1, 2017, does not remain in effect after July 1, 2022, unless it 63 is specifically reviewed and reenacted. 64 (3) A tax preference enacted or substantially amended after 65 July 1, 2017, must include the identifiable public purpose 66 served by the tax preference. The legislation must specify that 67 the tax preference is repealed at the end of 5 years and that 68 the tax preference must be reviewed and reenacted by the 69 Legislature before the scheduled repeal date. 70 (a) For purposes of this section, a tax preference is 71 substantially amended if the amendment expands the value of the 72 tax preference. A tax preference is not substantially amended if 73 the amendment narrows the value of the tax preference. 74 (b) This section is not intended to repeal a tax preference 75 that has been amended after legislative review but before the 76 scheduled repeal of the tax preference, if the tax preference is 77 not substantially amended as a result of the review. 78 (c) The Legislature shall establish and publish a schedule 79 for the initial review of each existing tax preference for 80 consideration during the 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022 81 regular legislative sessions, respectively. A subsequent 82 legislative review of a tax preference must be conducted no 83 later than 5 years after the initial review and thereafter. 84 (4) As part of the review process, the Legislature shall 85 consider both of the following: 86 (a) The extent to which the tax preference serves its 87 identifiable public purpose. 88 (b) The estimate of forgone revenues in each of the 89 previous 5 years attributable to the tax preference. 90 (5) Notwithstanding s. 768.28 or any other law, the state 91 may not be made a party to any suit and does not incur any 92 liability for the repeal or revival and reenactment of a tax 93 preference under this section. 94 Section 3. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.