Florida Senate - 2020 SB 1258 By Senator Diaz 36-00603A-20 20201258__ 1 A bill to be entitled 2 An act relating to commercial service airports; 3 amending s. 11.45, F.S.; requiring the Auditor General 4 to conduct specified audits of certain airports; 5 defining the term “large-hub commercial service 6 airport”; amending s. 112.3144, F.S.; requiring 7 members of the governing body of a large-hub 8 commercial service airport to comply with certain 9 financial disclosure requirements; defining the term 10 “large-hub commercial service airport”; creating s. 11 332.0075, F.S.; defining terms; requiring the 12 governing body of a municipality, county, or special 13 district that operates a commercial service airport to 14 establish and maintain a website; requiring the 15 governing body to post certain information on the 16 website; requiring commercial service airports to 17 comply with certain contracting requirements; 18 providing approval requirements for certain contracts; 19 requiring governing body members and employees of a 20 commercial service airport to comply with certain 21 ethics requirements; requiring governing body members 22 to complete annual ethics training; requiring 23 commercial service airports to submit certain 24 information annually to the Department of 25 Transportation; requiring the department to review 26 such information and submit an annual report to the 27 Governor and the Legislature; prohibiting the 28 expenditure of certain funds unless specified 29 conditions are met; providing an effective date. 30 31 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 32 33 Section 1. Paragraph (m) is added to subsection (2) of 34 section 11.45, Florida Statutes, to read: 35 11.45 Definitions; duties; authorities; reports; rules.— 36 (2) DUTIES.—The Auditor General shall: 37 (m) At least once every 5 years, conduct an operational and 38 financial audit of each large-hub commercial service airport. 39 For purposes of this paragraph, the term “large-hub commercial 40 service airport” means a publicly owned airport that has at 41 least 1 percent of the annual passenger boardings in the United 42 States as reported by the Federal Aviation Administration. 43 44 The Auditor General shall perform his or her duties 45 independently but under the general policies established by the 46 Legislative Auditing Committee. This subsection does not limit 47 the Auditor General’s discretionary authority to conduct other 48 audits or engagements of governmental entities as authorized in 49 subsection (3). 50 Section 2. Paragraph (c) is added to subsection (1) of 51 section 112.3144, Florida Statutes, to read: 52 112.3144 Full and public disclosure of financial 53 interests.— 54 (1) 55 (c) Each member of the governing body of a large-hub 56 commercial service airport shall comply with the applicable 57 financial disclosure requirements of s. 8, Art. II of the State 58 Constitution. For purposes of this paragraph, the term “large 59 hub commercial service airport” means a publicly owned airport 60 that has at least 1 percent of the annual passenger boardings in 61 the United States as reported by the Federal Aviation 62 Administration. 63 Section 3. Section 332.0075, Florida Statutes, is created 64 to read: 65 332.0075 Commercial service airports; transparency and 66 accountability; penalty.— 67 (1) As used in this section, the term: 68 (a) “Commercial service airport” means a publicly owned 69 airport that has at least 2,500 passenger boardings each 70 calendar year and receives scheduled passenger service as 71 reported by the Federal Aviation Administration. 72 (b) “Department” means the Department of Transportation. 73 (c) “Governing body” means the governing body of the 74 municipality, county, or special district that operates a 75 commercial service airport. 76 (2) Each governing body shall establish and maintain a 77 website to post information relating to the operation of a 78 commercial service airport, including: 79 (a) All published notices of meetings and published meeting 80 agendas of the governing body. 81 (b) The official minutes of each meeting of the governing 82 body, which shall be posted within 3 business days after the 83 date of the meeting in which the minutes were approved. 84 (c) The approved budget for the commercial service airport 85 for the current fiscal year, which shall be posted within 7 days 86 after the date of adoption. Budgets must remain on the website 87 for 2 years after the conclusion of the fiscal year in which 88 they were adopted. 89 (d) All commercial service airport planning documents 90 submitted to the Federal Aviation Administration, which shall be 91 posted upon submission to the Federal Aviation Administration. 92 (e) All financial and statistical reports required to be 93 submitted to the Federal Aviation Administration, which shall be 94 posted upon submission to the Federal Aviation Administration. 95 (f) Any contract or contract amendment executed by or on 96 behalf of the commercial service airport in excess of the 97 threshold amount provided for in s. 287.017 for CATEGORY TWO, 98 which shall be posted no later than 7 days before the governing 99 body votes to approve the contract or contract amendment. 100 (g) Position and rate information for each employee of the 101 commercial service airport, including, at a minimum, the 102 employee’s position title, position description, and annual or 103 hourly salary. 104 (3)(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the 105 contrary, commercial service airports are subject to the 106 requirements of chapter 287. 107 (b) A governing body must approve each contract executed by 108 or on behalf of a commercial service airport in excess of the 109 threshold amount provided for in s. 287.017 for CATEGORY THREE 110 as a separate line item on the agenda after providing a 111 reasonable opportunity for public comment. Such contracts may 112 not be approved as part of a consent agenda. 113 (4)(a) Members of a governing body and employees of a 114 commercial service airport are subject to part III of chapter 115 112. 116 (b) Beginning January 1, 2021, each member of a governing 117 body must complete 4 hours of ethics training each calendar year 118 which addresses, at a minimum, s. 8, Art. II of the State 119 Constitution, the Code of Ethics for Public Officers and 120 Employees, and the public records and public meetings laws of 121 this state. This requirement may be satisfied by completion of a 122 continuing legal education class or other continuing 123 professional education class, seminar, or presentation if the 124 required subject material is covered therein. 125 (5)(a) Beginning November 1, 2021, and each November 1 126 thereafter, each commercial service airport shall submit the 127 following information to the department: 128 1. Its approved budget for the current fiscal year. 129 2. Any financial reports submitted to the Federal Aviation 130 Administration during the previous calendar year. 131 3. A link to its website. 132 4. A statement, verified as provided in s. 92.525, that it 133 has complied with part III of chapter 112, chapter 287, and this 134 section. 135 (b) The department shall review the information submitted 136 by the commercial service airport and posted on the airport’s 137 website to determine the accuracy of such information. Beginning 138 January 15, 2022, and each January 15 thereafter, the department 139 shall submit to the Governor, the President of the Senate, and 140 the Speaker of the House of Representatives a report summarizing 141 commercial service airport compliance with this section. 142 (6) The department may not expend any funds allocated to a 143 commercial service airport as contained in the adopted work 144 program, unless pledged for debt service, until the commercial 145 service airport demonstrates its compliance with this section. 146 Section 4. This act shall take effect July 1, 2020.