Florida Senate - 2018 PROPOSED COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
Bill No. CS for SB 1646
Ì952426,Î952426
576-03502-18
Proposed Committee Substitute by the Committee on Appropriations
(Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Tourism, and
Economic Development)
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to regional rural development grants;
3 amending s. 288.018, F.S.; providing that regional
4 rural development grants may be used to hire regional
5 economic development organization professional staff;
6 authorizing the use of matching grant funds to provide
7 technical assistance to certain entities; increasing
8 the annual maximum amount of grant funding that
9 specified economic development organizations may
10 receive; revising the amount of nonstate matching
11 funds required; increasing the amount the Department
12 of Economic Opportunity may expend each fiscal year
13 for the program; requiring that contracts or
14 agreements involving the expenditure of grant funds be
15 placed on a certain website for a specified time
16 period; requiring that certain information be included
17 in a contract or agreement involving the expenditure
18 of grant funds; requiring that a plain language
19 version of certain contracts or agreements be placed
20 on a certain website; deleting an obsolete provision
21 authorizing the Department of Economic Opportunity to
22 contract for the development of certain enterprise
23 zone web portals or websites; amending s. 288.0655,
24 F.S.; increasing the maximum percent of total
25 infrastructure project costs for which the department
26 may award a grant; repealing a provision for increased
27 maximum percent of total infrastructure project costs
28 that may be awarded for a catalyst site; providing
29 that improving access to and availability of broadband
30 Internet service may be included in a project that is
31 eligible for rural infrastructure grant funds;
32 providing that grants for improvements to broadband
33 Internet service and access must be conducted through
34 certain partnerships; extending the date by which the
35 department is required to reevaluate certain
36 guidelines and criteria; requiring that contracts or
37 agreements involving the expenditure of grant funds be
38 placed on a certain website for a specified time
39 period; requiring that certain information be included
40 in a contract or agreement involving the expenditure
41 of grant funds; requiring that a plain language
42 version of certain contracts or agreements be placed
43 on a certain website; providing an effective date.
44
45 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
46
47 Section 1. Subsections (1), (3), and (4) of section
48 288.018, Florida Statutes, are amended to read:
49 288.018 Regional Rural Development Grants Program.—
50 (1)(a) The department shall establish a matching grant
51 program to provide funding to regional regionally based economic
52 development organizations representing rural counties and
53 communities to build for the purpose of building the
54 professional capacity of such regional economic development
55 their organizations. Building the professional capacity of
56 regional economic development organizations includes hiring
57 professional staff to develop, facilitate the delivery of, and
58 directly provide needed economic development professional
59 services, including technical assistance, education and
60 leadership development, marketing and project recruitment, and
61 other services that are important for rural economic
62 development. Such Matching grants may also be used by a regional
63 an economic development organization to provide technical
64 assistance to local governments, local economic development
65 organizations, and existing and prospective businesses within
66 the rural counties and communities that it serves.
67 (b) A regional economic development organization may apply
68 to the department for a matching grant each year. The department
69 is authorized to approve an application for a grant up to, on an
70 annual basis, grants:
71 1. Fifty thousand dollars to a regional economic
72 development organization;
73 2. One hundred fifty thousand dollars to an organization
74 located to such regionally based economic development
75 organizations. The maximum amount an organization may receive in
76 any year will be $50,000, or $150,000 in a rural area of
77 opportunity designated pursuant to s. 288.0656; or
78 3. Two hundred fifty thousand dollars to any of the three
79 regional economic development organizations that serve an entire
80 region of a rural area of opportunity designated pursuant to s.
81 288.0656 and that are recognized by the department as serving
82 such regions.
83 (c) Grant funds received by a regional economic development
84 organization recommended by the Rural Economic Development
85 Initiative and designated by the Governor, and must be matched
86 each year by an equivalent amount of nonstate resources in an
87 amount equal to 25 percent of the state contribution.
88 (3)(a) A contract or agreement that involves the
89 expenditure of grant funds provided under this section must be
90 placed on the contracting regional economic development
91 organization’s website at least 14 days before execution.
92 (b) A contract or agreement that involves the expenditure
93 of grant funds provided under this section, including a contract
94 or agreement entered into between another entity and a regional
95 economic development organization, a unit of local government,
96 or an economic development organization substantially
97 underwritten by a unit of local government, must include:
98 1. The purpose of the contract or agreement.
99 2. Specific performance standards and responsibilities for
100 each entity.
101 3. A detailed project or contract budget, if applicable.
102 4. The value of any services provided.
103 5. The projected travel and entertainment expenses for
104 employees and board members, if applicable.
105 (c) A plain language version of a contract or agreement
106 with a private entity, a municipality, or a vendor of services,
107 supplies, or programs, including marketing, or for the purchase
108 or lease or use of lands, facilities, or properties which
109 involves the expenditure of grant funds provided under this
110 section and which is estimated to exceed $35,000 must be posted
111 on the contracting regional economic development organization’s
112 website The department may also contract for the development of
113 an enterprise zone web portal or websites for each enterprise
114 zone which will be used to market the program for job creation
115 in disadvantaged urban and rural enterprise zones. Each
116 enterprise zone web page should include downloadable links to
117 state forms and information, as well as local message boards
118 that help businesses and residents receive information
119 concerning zone boundaries, job openings, zone programs, and
120 neighborhood improvement activities.
121 (4) The department may expend up to $1,000,000 $750,000
122 each fiscal year from funds appropriated to the Rural Community
123 Development Revolving Loan Fund for the purposes outlined in
124 this section. The department may contract with Enterprise
125 Florida, Inc., for the administration of the purposes specified
126 in this section. Funds released to Enterprise Florida, Inc., for
127 this purpose shall be released quarterly and shall be calculated
128 based on the applications in process.
129 Section 2. Subsection (5) of section 288.0655, Florida
130 Statutes, is redesignated as subsection (6), paragraph (b) of
131 subsection (2) and subsection (4) of that section are amended,
132 and a new subsection (5) is added to that section, to read:
133 288.0655 Rural Infrastructure Fund.—
134 (2)(b) To facilitate access of rural communities and rural
135 areas of opportunity as defined by the Rural Economic
136 Development Initiative to infrastructure funding programs of the
137 Federal Government, such as those offered by the United States
138 Department of Agriculture and the United States Department of
139 Commerce, and state programs, including those offered by Rural
140 Economic Development Initiative agencies, and to facilitate
141 local government or private infrastructure funding efforts, the
142 department may award grants for up to 50 30 percent of the total
143 infrastructure project cost. If an application for funding is
144 for a catalyst site, as defined in s. 288.0656, the department
145 may award grants for up to 40 percent of the total
146 infrastructure project cost. Eligible projects must be related
147 to specific job-creation or job-retention opportunities.
148 Eligible projects may also include improving any inadequate
149 infrastructure that has resulted in regulatory action that
150 prohibits economic or community growth or reducing the costs to
151 community users of proposed infrastructure improvements that
152 exceed such costs in comparable communities, which includes
153 improving access to and the availability of broadband Internet
154 service. Eligible uses of funds shall include improvements to
155 public infrastructure for industrial or commercial sites, and
156 upgrades to or development of public tourism infrastructure, and
157 improvements to broadband Internet service and access in
158 unserved or underserved rural communities. Improvements to
159 broadband Internet service and access must be conducted through
160 a partnership or partnerships with one or more dealers of
161 communications services, as defined in s. 202.11(2), and the
162 partnership must be established by a publicly noticed and
163 competitively selected process. Authorized infrastructure may
164 include the following public or public-private partnership
165 facilities: storm water systems; telecommunications facilities;
166 broadband facilities; roads or other remedies to transportation
167 impediments; nature-based tourism facilities; or other physical
168 requirements necessary to facilitate tourism, trade, and
169 economic development activities in the community. Authorized
170 infrastructure may also include publicly or privately owned
171 self-powered nature-based tourism facilities, publicly owned
172 telecommunications facilities, and broadband facilities, and
173 additions to the distribution facilities of the existing natural
174 gas utility as defined in s. 366.04(3)(c), the existing electric
175 utility as defined in s. 366.02, or the existing water or
176 wastewater utility as defined in s. 367.021(12), or any other
177 existing water or wastewater facility, which owns a gas or
178 electric distribution system or a water or wastewater system in
179 this state where:
180 1. A contribution-in-aid of construction is required to
181 serve public or public-private partnership facilities under the
182 tariffs of any natural gas, electric, water, or wastewater
183 utility as defined herein; and
184 2. Such utilities as defined herein are willing and able to
185 provide such service.
186 (4) By September 1, 2019 2012, the department shall, in
187 consultation with the organizations listed in subsection (3),
188 and other organizations, reevaluate existing guidelines and
189 criteria governing submission of applications for funding,
190 review and evaluation of such applications, and approval of
191 funding under this section. The department shall consider
192 factors including, but not limited to, the project’s potential
193 for enhanced job creation or increased capital investment, the
194 demonstration and level of local public and private commitment,
195 whether the project is located in an enterprise zone, in a
196 community development corporation service area, or in an urban
197 high-crime area as designated under s. 212.097, the unemployment
198 rate of the county in which the project would be located, and
199 the poverty rate of the community.
200 (5)(a) A contract or agreement that involves the
201 expenditure of grant funds provided under this section must be
202 placed on the department’s website at least 14 days before
203 execution.
204 (b) A contract or agreement that includes the expenditure
205 of grant funds provided under this section, including a contract
206 or agreement entered into between an entity and a regional
207 economic development organization, a unit of local government,
208 or an economic development organization substantially
209 underwritten by a unit of local government, must include:
210 1. The purpose of the contract or agreement.
211 2. Specific performance standards and responsibilities for
212 each entity.
213 3. A detailed project or contract budget, if applicable.
214 4. The value of any services provided.
215 5. The projected travel and entertainment expenses for
216 employees and board members, if applicable.
217 (c) A plain language version of a contract or agreement
218 with a private entity, a municipality, or a vendor of services,
219 supplies, or programs, including marketing, or for the purchase
220 or lease or use of lands, facilities, or properties which
221 involves the expenditure of grant funds provided under this
222 section and which is estimated to exceed $35,000 must be posted
223 on the department’s website.
224 Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2018.