Florida Senate - 2020 SENATOR AMENDMENT Bill No. CS/HB 7097, 1st Eng. Ì627686XÎ627686 LEGISLATIVE ACTION Senate . House . . . Floor: WD/2R . 03/12/2020 06:37 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. Section 196.198, Florida Statutes, is amended 7 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. Land, buildings, 40 and other improvements to real property used exclusively for 41 educational purposes shall be deemed owned by an educational 42 institution if the educational institution that currently uses 43 the land, buildings, and other improvements for educational 44 purposes received the exemption under this section on the same 45 property in any 10 consecutive prior years or is an educational 46 institution described in s. 212.0602, and, under a lease, the 47 educational institution is responsible for any taxes owed and 48 for ongoing maintenance and operational expenses for the land, 49 buildings, and other improvements. For such leasehold 50 properties, the educational institution shall receive the full 51 benefit of the exemption. The owner of the property shall 52 disclose to the educational institution the full amount of the 53 benefit derived from the exemption and the method for ensuring 54 that the educational institution receives the benefit. 55 Notwithstanding ss. 196.195 and 196.196, property owned by a 56 house of public worship and used by an educational institution 57 for educational purposes limited to students in preschool 58 through grade 8 shall be exempt from ad valorem taxation. If 59 legal title to property is held by a governmental agency that 60 leases the property to a lessee, the property shall be deemed to 61 be owned by the governmental agency and used exclusively for 62 educational purposes if the governmental agency continues to use 63 such property exclusively for educational purposes pursuant to a 64 sublease or other contractual agreement with that lessee. If the 65 title to land is held by the trustee of an irrevocable inter 66 vivos trust and if the trust grantor owns 100 percent of the 67 entity that owns an educational institution that is using the 68 land exclusively for educational purposes, the land is deemed to 69 be property owned by the educational institution for purposes of 70 this exemption. Property owned by an educational institution 71 shall be deemed to be used for an educational purpose if the 72 institution has taken affirmative steps to prepare the property 73 for educational use. The term “affirmative steps” means 74 environmental or land use permitting activities, creation of 75 architectural plans or schematic drawings, land clearing or site 76 preparation, construction or renovation activities, or other 77 similar activities that demonstrate commitment of the property 78 to an educational use. 79 80 ================= T I T L E A M E N D M E N T ================ 81 And the title is amended as follows: 82 Delete line 1854 83 and insert: 84 meets income limits; amending s. 196.198, F.S.; 85 exempting land, buildings, and real property 86 improvements used exclusively for educational purposes 87 from ad valorem taxes if certain criteria are met; 88 providing that the educational institution shall 89 receive the full benefit of the exemption; requiring 90 the property owner to make certain disclosures to the 91 educational institution; providing an exemption from 92 ad valorem taxation for properties owned by houses of 93 public worship under certain circumstances; amending 94 s. 200.065, F.S.;