Florida Senate - 2020 SENATOR AMENDMENT
Bill No. CS/HB 7097, 1st Eng.
Ì551314wÎ551314
LEGISLATIVE ACTION
Senate . House
.
.
.
Floor: WD/2R .
03/12/2020 06:28 PM .
—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Senator Gruters moved the following:
1 Senate Amendment to Substitute Amendment (271678) (with
2 title amendment)
3
4 Between lines 464 and 465
5 insert:
6 Section 13. Effective upon becoming a law, section 196.198,
7 Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
8 196.198 Educational property exemption.—Educational
9 institutions within this state and their property used by them
10 or by any other exempt entity or educational institution
11 exclusively for educational purposes are exempt from taxation.
12 Sheltered workshops providing rehabilitation and retraining of
13 individuals who have disabilities and exempted by a certificate
14 under s. (d) of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, as
15 amended, are declared wholly educational in purpose and are
16 exempt from certification, accreditation, and membership
17 requirements set forth in s. 196.012. Those portions of property
18 of college fraternities and sororities certified by the
19 president of the college or university to the appropriate
20 property appraiser as being essential to the educational process
21 are exempt from ad valorem taxation. The use of property by
22 public fairs and expositions chartered by chapter 616 is
23 presumed to be an educational use of such property and is exempt
24 from ad valorem taxation to the extent of such use. Property
25 used exclusively for educational purposes shall be deemed owned
26 by an educational institution if the entity owning 100 percent
27 of the educational institution is owned by the identical persons
28 who own the property, or if the entity owning 100 percent of the
29 educational institution and the entity owning the property are
30 owned by the identical natural persons. Land, buildings, and
31 other improvements to real property used exclusively for
32 educational purposes shall be deemed owned by an educational
33 institution if the entity owning 100 percent of the land is a
34 nonprofit entity and the land is used, under a ground lease or
35 other contractual arrangement, by an educational institution
36 that owns the buildings and other improvements to the real
37 property, is a nonprofit entity under s. 501(c)(3) of the
38 Internal Revenue Code, and provides education limited to
39 students in prekindergarten through grade 8. Notwithstanding ss.
40 196.195 and 196.196, property owned by a house of public worship
41 and used by an educational institution for educational purposes
42 limited to students in preschool through grade 8 shall be exempt
43 from ad valorem taxes. If legal title to property is held by a
44 governmental agency that leases the property to a lessee, the
45 property shall be deemed to be owned by the governmental agency
46 and used exclusively for educational purposes if the
47 governmental agency continues to use such property exclusively
48 for educational purposes pursuant to a sublease or other
49 contractual agreement with that lessee. If the title to land is
50 held by the trustee of an irrevocable inter vivos trust and if
51 the trust grantor owns 100 percent of the entity that owns an
52 educational institution that is using the land exclusively for
53 educational purposes, the land is deemed to be property owned by
54 the educational institution for purposes of this exemption.
55 Property owned by an educational institution shall be deemed to
56 be used for an educational purpose if the institution has taken
57 affirmative steps to prepare the property for educational use.
58 The term “affirmative steps” means environmental or land use
59 permitting activities, creation of architectural plans or
60 schematic drawings, land clearing or site preparation,
61 construction or renovation activities, or other similar
62 activities that demonstrate commitment of the property to an
63 educational use.
64 Section 14. The amendment made by this act to s. 196.198,
65 Florida Statutes, relating to certain property owned by a house
66 of public worship, is intended to clarify existing law and shall
67 apply to actions pending on the effective date of this act.
68
69 ================= T I T L E A M E N D M E N T ================
70 And the title is amended as follows:
71 Delete line 1854
72 and insert:
73 meets income limits; amending s. 196.198, F.S.;
74 exempting certain property owned by a house of public
75 worship and used by an educational institution from ad
76 valorem taxes; providing construction and
77 applicability; amending s. 200.065, F.S.;