Florida Senate - 2020 COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
Bill No. SB 426
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LEGISLATIVE ACTION
Senate . House
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The Committee on Appropriations (Montford) recommended the
following:
1 Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
2
3 Delete everything after the enacting clause
4 and insert:
5 Section 1. Subsections (1), (3), and (4) of section
6 288.018, Florida Statutes, are amended to read:
7 288.018 Regional Rural Development Grants Program.—
8 (1)(a) For the purposes of this section, the term “regional
9 economic development organization” means an economic development
10 organization located in or contracted to serve a rural area of
11 opportunity, as defined in s. 288.0656(2)(d).
12 (b) The department shall establish a matching grant program
13 to provide funding to regional regionally based economic
14 development organizations representing rural counties and
15 communities for the purpose of building the professional
16 capacity of those their organizations. Building the professional
17 capacity of a regional economic development organization
18 includes hiring professional staff to develop, deliver, and
19 provide needed economic development professional services,
20 including technical assistance, education and leadership
21 development, marketing, and project recruitment. Such Matching
22 grants may also be used by a regional an economic development
23 organization to provide technical assistance to local
24 governments, local economic development organizations, and
25 existing and prospective businesses within the rural counties
26 and communities that it serves.
27 (c) A regional economic development organization may apply
28 annually to the department for a matching grant. The department
29 is authorized to approve, on an annual basis, grants to such
30 regional regionally based economic development organizations.
31 The maximum amount an organization may receive in any year will
32 be $50,000, or $250,000 for any three regional economic
33 development organizations that serve an entire region of a rural
34 area of opportunity designated pursuant to s. 288.0656(7) if
35 they are recognized by the department as serving such a region.
36 (d) Grant funds received by a regional economic development
37 organization $150,000 in a rural area of opportunity recommended
38 by the Rural Economic Development Initiative and designated by
39 the Governor, and must be matched each year by an equivalent
40 amount of nonstate resources in an amount equal to 25 percent of
41 the state contribution.
42 (3)(a) A contract or agreement that involves the
43 expenditure of grant funds provided under this section,
44 including a contract or agreement entered into between another
45 entity and a regional economic development organization, a unit
46 of local government, or an economic development organization
47 substantially underwritten by a unit of local government, must
48 include:
49 1. The purpose of the contract or agreement.
50 2. Specific performance standards and responsibilities for
51 each entity under the contract or agreement.
52 3. A detailed project or contract budget, if applicable.
53 4. The value of any services provided.
54 5. The projected travel expenses for employees and board
55 members, if applicable.
56 (b) At least 14 days before executing a contract or
57 agreement, the contracting regional economic development
58 organization shall post on its website:
59 1. Any contract or agreement that involves the expenditure
60 of grant funds provided under this section.
61 2. A plain-language version of any contract or agreement
62 that is estimated to exceed $35,000 with a private entity, a
63 municipality, or a vendor of services, supplies, or programs,
64 including marketing, or for the purchase or lease or use of
65 lands, facilities, or properties which involves the expenditure
66 of grant funds provided under this section and which is
67 estimated to exceed $35,000 The department may also contract for
68 the development of an enterprise zone web portal or websites for
69 each enterprise zone which will be used to market the program
70 for job creation in disadvantaged urban and rural enterprise
71 zones. Each enterprise zone web page should include downloadable
72 links to state forms and information, as well as local message
73 boards that help businesses and residents receive information
74 concerning zone boundaries, job openings, zone programs, and
75 neighborhood improvement activities.
76 (4) The department may expend up to $1 million $750,000
77 each fiscal year from funds appropriated to the Rural Community
78 Development Revolving Loan Fund for the purposes outlined in
79 this section. The department may contract with Enterprise
80 Florida, Inc., for the administration of the purposes specified
81 in this section. Funds released to Enterprise Florida, Inc., for
82 this purpose shall be released quarterly and shall be calculated
83 based on the applications in process.
84 Section 2. Present subsection (5) of section 288.0655,
85 Florida Statutes, is redesignated as subsection (6), a new
86 subsection (5) is added to that section, and paragraph (b) of
87 subsection (2), subsection (4), and present subsection (6) are
88 amended, to read:
89 288.0655 Rural Infrastructure Fund.—
90 (2)
91 (b) To facilitate access of rural communities and rural
92 areas of opportunity as defined by the Rural Economic
93 Development Initiative to infrastructure funding programs of the
94 Federal Government, such as those offered by the United States
95 Department of Agriculture and the United States Department of
96 Commerce, and state programs, including those offered by Rural
97 Economic Development Initiative agencies, and to facilitate
98 local government or private infrastructure funding efforts, the
99 department may award grants for up to 50 30 percent of the total
100 infrastructure project cost. If an application for funding is
101 for a catalyst site, as defined in s. 288.0656, the department
102 may award grants for up to 40 percent of the total
103 infrastructure project cost. Eligible projects must be related
104 to specific job-creation or job-retention opportunities.
105 Eligible projects may also include improving any inadequate
106 infrastructure that has resulted in regulatory action that
107 prohibits economic or community growth, or reducing the costs to
108 community users of proposed infrastructure improvements that
109 exceed such costs in comparable communities, and improving
110 access to and the availability of broadband Internet service.
111 Eligible uses of funds shall include improvements to public
112 infrastructure for industrial or commercial sites, upgrades to
113 or development of public tourism infrastructure, and
114 improvements to broadband Internet service and access in
115 unserved or underserved rural communities. Improvements to
116 broadband Internet service and access must be conducted through
117 a partnership or partnerships with one or more dealers, as
118 defined in s. 202.11(2), and the partnership or partnerships
119 must be established through a competitive selection process that
120 is publicly noticed and upgrades to or development of public
121 tourism infrastructure. Authorized infrastructure may include
122 the following public or public-private partnership facilities:
123 storm water systems; telecommunications facilities; broadband
124 facilities; roads or other remedies to transportation
125 impediments; nature-based tourism facilities; or other physical
126 requirements necessary to facilitate tourism, trade, and
127 economic development activities in the community. Authorized
128 infrastructure may also include publicly or privately owned
129 self-powered nature-based tourism facilities, publicly owned
130 telecommunications facilities, and broadband facilities, and
131 additions to the distribution facilities of the existing natural
132 gas utility as defined in s. 366.04(3)(c), the existing electric
133 utility as defined in s. 366.02, or the existing water or
134 wastewater utility as defined in s. 367.021(12), or any other
135 existing water or wastewater facility, which owns a gas or
136 electric distribution system or a water or wastewater system in
137 this state where:
138 1. A contribution-in-aid of construction is required to
139 serve public or public-private partnership facilities under the
140 tariffs of any natural gas, electric, water, or wastewater
141 utility as defined herein; and
142 2. Such utilities as defined herein are willing and able to
143 provide such service.
144 (4) By September 1, 2021 2012, the department shall, in
145 consultation with the organizations listed in subsection (3),
146 and other organizations, reevaluate existing guidelines and
147 criteria governing submission of applications for funding,
148 review and evaluation of such applications, and approval of
149 funding under this section. The department shall consider
150 factors including, but not limited to, the project’s potential
151 for enhanced job creation or increased capital investment, the
152 demonstration and level of local public and private commitment,
153 whether the project is located in an enterprise zone, in a
154 community development corporation service area, or in an urban
155 high-crime area as designated under s. 212.097, the unemployment
156 rate of the county in which the project would be located, and
157 the poverty rate of the community.
158 (5)(a) A contract or agreement that involves the
159 expenditure of grant funds provided under this section,
160 including a contract or agreement entered into between another
161 entity and a regional economic development organization, a unit
162 of local government, or an economic development organization
163 substantially underwritten by a unit of local government, must
164 include:
165 1. The purpose of the contract or agreement.
166 2. Specific performance standards and responsibilities for
167 each entity.
168 3. A detailed project or contract budget, if applicable.
169 4. The value of any services provided.
170 5. The projected travel expenses for employees and board
171 members, if applicable.
172 (b) At least 14 days before execution, the contracting
173 regional economic development organization shall post on its
174 website:
175 1. Any contract or agreement that involves the expenditure
176 of grant funds provided under this section.
177 2. A plain-language version of a contract or agreement that
178 is estimated to exceed $35,000 with a private entity, a
179 municipality, or a vendor of services, supplies, or programs,
180 including marketing, or for the purchase or lease or use of
181 lands, facilities, or properties which involves the expenditure
182 of grant funds provided under this section.
183 (6) For the 2019-2020 fiscal year, the funds appropriated
184 for the grant program for Florida Panhandle counties shall be
185 distributed pursuant to and for the purposes described in the
186 proviso language associated with Specific Appropriation 2314 of
187 the 2019-2020 General Appropriations Act. This subsection
188 expires July 1, 2020.
189 Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2020.
190
191 ================= T I T L E A M E N D M E N T ================
192 And the title is amended as follows:
193 Delete everything before the enacting clause
194 and insert:
195 A bill to be entitled
196 An act relating to regional rural development grants;
197 amending s. 288.018, F.S.; defining the term “regional
198 economic development organization”; specifying that
199 the concept of building the professional capacity of a
200 regional economic development organization includes
201 the hiring of professional staff to perform specified
202 services; providing that matching grants may be used
203 to provide technical assistance to local governments
204 and economic development organizations and to existing
205 and prospective businesses; increasing the maximum
206 amount of annual grant funding that specified economic
207 development organizations may receive; revising the
208 required amount of nonstate matching funds; requiring
209 that certain information be included in contracts or
210 agreements involving grant funds; requiring that
211 contracts or agreements involving the expenditure of
212 grant funds, and a plain-language version of certain
213 contracts or agreements, be placed on the contracting
214 regional economic development organization’s website
215 for a specified period before execution; deleting an
216 obsolete provision; increasing the amount of funds the
217 Department of Economic Opportunity may expend each
218 fiscal year from the Rural Community Development
219 Revolving Loan Fund for certain purposes; amending s.
220 288.0655, F.S.; revising the maximum percentage of
221 total infrastructure project costs for which the
222 department may award grants; specifying that improving
223 access to and availability of broadband Internet
224 services is an eligible project for certain grant
225 funds; providing that grants for improvements to
226 broadband Internet service and access must be
227 conducted through certain partnerships; requiring the
228 department to reevaluate certain guidelines by a
229 specified date; requiring that certain information be
230 included in contracts or agreements involving grant
231 funds; requiring a regional economic development
232 organization to post contracts or agreements involving
233 the expenditure of grant funds, and a plain-language
234 version of certain contracts or agreements, on the
235 ogranization’s website for a specified period before
236 execution; providing an effective date.