Florida Senate - 2019                                     SB 144
       
       
        
       By Senator Gruters
       
       
       
       
       
       4-00371A-19                                            2019144__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to impact fees; amending s. 163.31801,
    3         F.S.; revising the minimum requirements for impact
    4         fees adopted by a local government; exempting water
    5         and sewer connection fees from the Florida Impact Fee
    6         Act; providing an effective date.
    7          
    8  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
    9  
   10         Section 1. Section 163.31801, Florida Statutes, is amended
   11  to read:
   12         163.31801 Impact fees; short title; intent; minimum
   13  requirements; audits; challenges definitions; ordinances levying
   14  impact fees.—
   15         (1) This section may be cited as the “Florida Impact Fee
   16  Act.”
   17         (2) The Legislature finds that impact fees are an important
   18  source of revenue for a local government to use in funding the
   19  infrastructure necessitated by new growth. The Legislature
   20  further finds that impact fees are an outgrowth of the home rule
   21  power of a local government to provide certain services within
   22  its jurisdiction. Due to the growth of impact fee collections
   23  and local governments’ reliance on impact fees, it is the intent
   24  of the Legislature to ensure that, when a county or municipality
   25  adopts an impact fee by ordinance or a special district adopts
   26  an impact fee by resolution, the governing authority complies
   27  with this section.
   28         (3) At a minimum, an impact fee adopted by ordinance of a
   29  county or municipality or by resolution of a special district
   30  must satisfy all of the following conditions, at minimum:
   31         (a) Require that The calculation of the impact fee must be
   32  based on the most recent and localized data.
   33         (b) The local government must provide for accounting and
   34  reporting of impact fee collections and expenditures. If a local
   35  governmental entity imposes an impact fee to address its
   36  infrastructure needs, the entity must shall account for the
   37  revenues and expenditures of such impact fee in a separate
   38  accounting fund.
   39         (c) Limit Administrative charges for the collection of
   40  impact fees must be limited to actual costs.
   41         (d) The local government must provide Require that notice
   42  be provided no less than 90 days before the effective date of an
   43  ordinance or resolution imposing a new or increased impact fee.
   44  A county or municipality is not required to wait 90 days to
   45  decrease, suspend, or eliminate an impact fee.
   46         (e) Collection of the impact fee may not be required to
   47  occur earlier than the date of issuance of the building permit
   48  for the property that is subject to the fee.
   49         (f) The impact fee must be reasonably connected to, or have
   50  a rational nexus with, the need for additional capital
   51  facilities and the increased impact generated by the new
   52  residential or commercial construction.
   53         (g) The impact fee must be reasonably connected to, or have
   54  a rational nexus with, the expenditures of the funds collected
   55  and the benefits accruing to the new residential or commercial
   56  construction.
   57         (h) The local government must specifically earmark funds
   58  collected under the impact fee for use in acquiring,
   59  constructing, or improving capital facilities to benefit new
   60  users.
   61         (i) Revenues generated by the impact fee may not be used,
   62  in whole or in part, to pay existing debt or for previously
   63  approved projects unless the expenditure is reasonably connected
   64  to, or has a rational nexus with, the increased impact generated
   65  by the new residential or commercial construction.
   66         (4) Audits of financial statements of local governmental
   67  entities and district school boards which are performed by a
   68  certified public accountant pursuant to s. 218.39 and submitted
   69  to the Auditor General must include an affidavit signed by the
   70  chief financial officer of the local governmental entity or
   71  district school board stating that the local governmental entity
   72  or district school board has complied with this section.
   73         (5) In any action challenging an impact fee, the government
   74  has the burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence
   75  that the imposition or amount of the fee meets the requirements
   76  of state legal precedent or this section. The court may not use
   77  a deferential standard.
   78         (6) This section does not apply to water and sewer
   79  connection fees.
   80         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2019.