Florida Senate - 2019                        COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
       Bill No. SB 1708
       
       
       
       
       
       
                                Ì230224nÎ230224                         
       
                              LEGISLATIVE ACTION                        
                    Senate             .             House              
                  Comm: RCS            .                                
                  03/18/2019           .                                
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       The Committee on Commerce and Tourism (Rouson) recommended the
       following:
       
    1         Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
    2  
    3         Delete everything after the enacting clause
    4  and insert:
    5         Section 1. Paragraph (b) of subsection (4) of section
    6  125.0104, Florida Statutes, is amended, paragraph (f) is added
    7  to that subsection, and paragraph (a) of subsection (5) of that
    8  section is amended, to read:
    9         125.0104 Tourist development tax; procedure for levying;
   10  authorized uses; referendum; enforcement.—
   11         (4) ORDINANCE LEVY TAX; PROCEDURE.—
   12         (b) At least 60 days before prior to the enactment of the
   13  ordinance levying the tax, the governing board of the county
   14  shall adopt a resolution that establishes and appoints
   15  establishing and appointing the members of the county tourist
   16  development council, as prescribed in paragraph (e) or, if there
   17  is more than one tourist development council, paragraph (f), and
   18  that indicates indicating the intention of the county to
   19  consider the enactment of an ordinance levying and imposing the
   20  tourist development tax.
   21         (f)1. Notwithstanding any other law, a county with a
   22  population of 900,000 or more, according to the last decennial
   23  census, may adopt a resolution that establishes and appoints
   24  members of more than one tourist development council upon a
   25  finding that more than one tourist development council best
   26  serves that county’s tourism industry needs. Upon the adoption
   27  of such resolution, the county must organize its tourist
   28  development councils in accordance with the requirements
   29  provided in subparagraph 2. instead of the requirements provided
   30  in paragraph (e).
   31         2. The governing board of a county as described in this
   32  paragraph which levies and imposes a tourist development tax
   33  under this section shall appoint for each tourist development
   34  council it establishes an advisory council to be known as the
   35  “(name) Tourist Development Council. Each council shall be
   36  established by ordinance and shall be composed of a minimum of
   37  nine members who are appointed by the governing board. All
   38  members of the councils shall be electors of the county. The
   39  governing board of the county shall have the option of
   40  designating the chairs of the councils or allowing the councils
   41  to elect their chairs. The chairs shall annually be appointed or
   42  elected and may be reelected or reappointed. The members of the
   43  councils shall serve for staggered terms of 4 years. The terms
   44  of office of the original members shall be prescribed in the
   45  resolution required under paragraph (b). The councils shall meet
   46  at least once each quarter and, from time to time, shall make
   47  recommendations to the county governing board for the effective
   48  operation of the special projects or for uses of the tourist
   49  development tax revenue and perform such other duties as may be
   50  prescribed by county ordinance or resolution. A council shall
   51  continuously review expenditures of revenues from the tourist
   52  development trust fund and shall receive, at least quarterly,
   53  expenditure reports from the county governing board or its
   54  designee. Expenditures that the councils believe to be
   55  unauthorized shall be reported to the county governing board and
   56  the Department of Revenue. The governing board and the
   57  department shall review the findings of the councils and take
   58  appropriate administrative or judicial action to ensure
   59  compliance with this section.
   60         (5) AUTHORIZED USES OF REVENUE.—
   61         (a) All tax revenues received pursuant to this section by a
   62  county imposing the tourist development tax shall be used by
   63  that county for the following purposes only:
   64         1. To acquire, construct, extend, enlarge, remodel, repair,
   65  improve, maintain, operate, or promote one or more:
   66         a. Publicly owned and operated convention centers, sports
   67  stadiums, sports arenas, coliseums, or auditoriums within the
   68  boundaries of the county or subcounty special taxing district in
   69  which the tax is levied;
   70         b. Auditoriums that are publicly owned but are operated by
   71  organizations that are exempt from federal taxation pursuant to
   72  26 U.S.C. s. 501(c)(3) and open to the public, within the
   73  boundaries of the county or subcounty special taxing district in
   74  which the tax is levied; or
   75         c. Aquariums or museums that are publicly owned and
   76  operated or owned and operated by not-for-profit organizations
   77  and open to the public, within the boundaries of the county or
   78  subcounty special taxing district in which the tax is levied;
   79         2. To promote zoological parks that are publicly owned and
   80  operated or owned and operated by not-for-profit organizations
   81  and open to the public;
   82         3. To promote and advertise tourism in this state and
   83  nationally and internationally; however, if tax revenues are
   84  expended for an activity, service, venue, or event, the
   85  activity, service, venue, or event must have as one of its main
   86  purposes the attraction of tourists as evidenced by the
   87  promotion of the activity, service, venue, or event to tourists;
   88         4. To fund convention bureaus, tourist bureaus, tourist
   89  information centers, and news bureaus as county agencies or by
   90  contract with the chambers of commerce or similar associations
   91  in the county, which may include any indirect administrative
   92  costs for services performed by the county on behalf of the
   93  promotion agency;
   94         5. To finance beach park facilities, or beach, channel,
   95  estuary, or lagoon improvement, maintenance, renourishment,
   96  restoration, and erosion control, including construction of
   97  beach groins and shoreline protection, enhancement, cleanup, or
   98  restoration of inland lakes and rivers to which there is public
   99  access as those uses relate to the physical preservation of the
  100  beach, shoreline, channel, estuary, lagoon, or inland lake or
  101  river. However, any funds identified by a county as the local
  102  matching source for beach renourishment, restoration, or erosion
  103  control projects included in the long-range budget plan of the
  104  state’s Beach Management Plan, pursuant to s. 161.091, or funds
  105  contractually obligated by a county in the financial plan for a
  106  federally authorized shore protection project may not be used or
  107  loaned for any other purpose. In counties of fewer than 100,000
  108  population, up to 10 percent of the revenues from the tourist
  109  development tax may be used for beach park facilities; or
  110         6. To acquire, construct, extend, enlarge, remodel, repair,
  111  improve, maintain, operate, or finance public facilities within
  112  the boundaries of the county or subcounty special taxing
  113  district in which the tax is levied, if the public facilities
  114  are needed to increase tourist-related business activities in
  115  the county or subcounty special district and are recommended by
  116  the county tourist development council created pursuant to
  117  paragraph (4)(e) or at least one of the tourist development
  118  councils created pursuant to paragraph (4)(f). Tax revenues may
  119  be used for any related land acquisition, land improvement,
  120  design and engineering costs, and all other professional and
  121  related costs required to bring the public facilities into
  122  service. As used in this subparagraph, the term “public
  123  facilities” means major capital improvements that have a life
  124  expectancy of 5 or more years, including, but not limited to,
  125  transportation, sanitary sewer, solid waste, drainage, potable
  126  water, and pedestrian facilities. Tax revenues may be used for
  127  these purposes only if the following conditions are satisfied:
  128         a. In the county fiscal year immediately preceding the
  129  fiscal year in which the tax revenues were initially used for
  130  such purposes, at least $10 million in tourist development tax
  131  revenue was received;
  132         b. The county governing board approves the use for the
  133  proposed public facilities by a vote of at least two-thirds of
  134  its membership;
  135         c. No more than 70 percent of the cost of the proposed
  136  public facilities will be paid for with tourist development tax
  137  revenues, and sources of funding for the remaining cost are
  138  identified and confirmed by the county governing board;
  139         d. At least 40 percent of all tourist development tax
  140  revenues collected in the county are spent to promote and
  141  advertise tourism as provided by this subsection; and
  142         e. An independent professional analysis, performed at the
  143  expense of the county tourist development council, demonstrates
  144  the positive impact of the infrastructure project on tourist
  145  related businesses in the county.
  146  
  147  Subparagraphs 1. and 2. may be implemented through service
  148  contracts and leases with lessees that have sufficient expertise
  149  or financial capability to operate such facilities.
  150         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2019.
  151  
  152  ================= T I T L E  A M E N D M E N T ================
  153  And the title is amended as follows:
  154         Delete everything before the enacting clause
  155  and insert:
  156                        A bill to be entitled                      
  157         An act relating to tourist development councils;
  158         amending s. 125.0104, F.S.; conforming provisions to
  159         changes made by the act; authorizing certain counties
  160         to adopt a resolution that establishes and appoints
  161         members of more than one tourist development council
  162         upon a certain finding; requiring that such counties
  163         organize their tourist development councils in
  164         accordance with specified requirements upon the
  165         adoption of such resolution; conforming a provision to
  166         changes made by the act; providing an effective date.