Florida Senate - 2012                                    SB 1074
       
       
       
       By Senator Altman
       
       
       
       
       24-00496A-12                                          20121074__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to energy conservation; amending s.
    3         170.01, F.S.; authorizing a municipality to collect
    4         special assessments to pay the additional costs to
    5         purchase renewable energy for the municipality;
    6         amending s. 212.055, F.S.; providing for a portion of
    7         the proceeds of the local government infrastructure
    8         surtax to be used for financial assistance to
    9         homeowners who make energy efficiency improvements or
   10         install renewable energy devices; defining the terms
   11         “renewable energy devices” and “energy efficiency
   12         improvement”; providing an effective date.
   13  
   14  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   15  
   16         Section 1. Subsection (1) of section 170.01, Florida
   17  Statutes, is amended to read:
   18         170.01 Authority for providing improvements and levying and
   19  collecting special assessments against property benefited.—
   20         (1) Any municipality of this state may, by its governing
   21  authority:
   22         (a) Provide for the construction, reconstruction, repair,
   23  paving, repaving, hard surfacing, rehard surfacing, widening,
   24  guttering, and draining of streets, boulevards, and alleys; for
   25  grading, regrading, leveling, laying, relaying, paving,
   26  repaving, hard surfacing, and rehard surfacing of sidewalks; for
   27  constructing or reconstructing permanent pedestrian canopies
   28  over public sidewalks; and in connection with any of the
   29  foregoing, provide related lighting, landscaping, street
   30  furniture, signage, and other amenities as determined by the
   31  governing authority of the municipality;
   32         (b) Order the construction, reconstruction, repair,
   33  renovation, excavation, grading, stabilization, and upgrading of
   34  greenbelts, swales, culverts, sanitary sewers, storm sewers,
   35  outfalls, canals, primary, secondary, and tertiary drains, water
   36  bodies, marshlands, and natural areas, all or part of a
   37  comprehensive stormwater management system, including the
   38  necessary appurtenances and structures thereto and including,
   39  but not limited to, dams, weirs, and pumps;
   40         (c) Order the construction or reconstruction of water
   41  mains, water laterals, alternative water supply systems,
   42  including, but not limited to, reclaimed water, aquifer storage
   43  and recovery, and desalination systems, and other water
   44  distribution facilities, including the necessary appurtenances
   45  thereto;
   46         (d) Pay for the relocation of utilities, including the
   47  placement underground of electrical, telephone, and cable
   48  television services, pursuant to voluntary agreement with the
   49  utility, but nothing contained in this paragraph shall affect a
   50  utility’s right to locate or relocate its facilities on its own
   51  initiative at its own expense;
   52         (e) Provide for the construction or reconstruction of parks
   53  and other public recreational facilities and improvements,
   54  including appurtenances thereto;
   55         (f) Provide for the construction or reconstruction of
   56  seawalls;
   57         (g) Provide for the drainage and reclamation of wet, low,
   58  or overflowed lands;
   59         (h) Provide for offstreet parking facilities, parking
   60  garages, or similar facilities;
   61         (i) Provide for mass transportation systems;
   62         (j) Provide for improvements to permit the passage and
   63  navigation of watercraft; and
   64         (k) Pay the additional costs of renewable energy, as
   65  defined in s. 366.91, which are in excess of a public utility’s
   66  full avoided costs, as defined in s. 366.051, pursuant to an
   67  agreement with the public utility; and
   68         (l)(k) Provide for the payment of all or any part of the
   69  costs of any such improvements by levying and collecting special
   70  assessments on the abutting, adjoining, contiguous, or other
   71  specially benefited property.
   72  
   73  However, offstreet parking facilities, parking garages, or other
   74  similar facilities and mass transportation systems must be
   75  approved by vote of a majority of the affected property owners.
   76  Any municipality that which is legally obligated for providing
   77  capital improvements for water, alternative water supplies,
   78  including, but not limited to, reclaimed water, water from
   79  aquifer storage and recovery, and desalination systems, or sewer
   80  facilities within an unincorporated area of the county may
   81  recover the costs of the capital improvements by levying and
   82  collecting special assessments for the purposes authorized in
   83  this section on the specially benefited property; however,
   84  collections of the special assessment may shall not take place
   85  until the specially benefited property connects to the capital
   86  improvement.
   87         Section 2. Paragraph (d) of subsection (2) of section
   88  212.055, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
   89         212.055 Discretionary sales surtaxes; legislative intent;
   90  authorization and use of proceeds.—It is the legislative intent
   91  that any authorization for imposition of a discretionary sales
   92  surtax shall be published in the Florida Statutes as a
   93  subsection of this section, irrespective of the duration of the
   94  levy. Each enactment shall specify the types of counties
   95  authorized to levy; the rate or rates which may be imposed; the
   96  maximum length of time the surtax may be imposed, if any; the
   97  procedure which must be followed to secure voter approval, if
   98  required; the purpose for which the proceeds may be expended;
   99  and such other requirements as the Legislature may provide.
  100  Taxable transactions and administrative procedures shall be as
  101  provided in s. 212.054.
  102         (2) LOCAL GOVERNMENT INFRASTRUCTURE SURTAX.—
  103         (d) The proceeds of the surtax authorized by this
  104  subsection and any accrued interest shall be expended by the
  105  school district, within the county and municipalities within the
  106  county, or, in the case of a negotiated joint county agreement,
  107  within another county, to finance, plan, and construct
  108  infrastructure; to acquire land for public recreation,
  109  conservation, or protection of natural resources; to provide
  110  financial assistance to owners of residential property who make
  111  energy efficiency improvements to, or purchase and install
  112  renewable energy devices in, the residential property; or to
  113  finance the closure of county-owned or municipally owned solid
  114  waste landfills that have been closed or are required to be
  115  closed by order of the Department of Environmental Protection.
  116  Any use of the proceeds or interest for purposes of landfill
  117  closure before July 1, 1993, is ratified. The proceeds and any
  118  interest may not be used for the operational expenses of
  119  infrastructure, except that a county that has a population of
  120  fewer than 75,000 and that is required to close a landfill may
  121  use the proceeds or interest for long-term maintenance costs
  122  associated with landfill closure. Counties, as defined in s.
  123  125.011, and charter counties may, in addition, use the proceeds
  124  or interest to retire or service indebtedness incurred for bonds
  125  issued before July 1, 1987, for infrastructure purposes, and for
  126  bonds subsequently issued to refund such bonds. Any use of the
  127  proceeds or interest for purposes of retiring or servicing
  128  indebtedness incurred for refunding bonds before July 1, 1999,
  129  is ratified.
  130         1. For the purposes of this paragraph, the term
  131  “infrastructure” means:
  132         a. Any fixed capital expenditure or fixed capital outlay
  133  associated with the construction, reconstruction, or improvement
  134  of public facilities that have a life expectancy of 5 or more
  135  years and any related land acquisition, land improvement,
  136  design, and engineering costs.
  137         b. A fire department vehicle, an emergency medical service
  138  vehicle, a sheriff’s office vehicle, a police department
  139  vehicle, or any other vehicle, and the equipment necessary to
  140  outfit the vehicle for its official use or equipment that has a
  141  life expectancy of at least 5 years.
  142         c. Any expenditure for the construction, lease, or
  143  maintenance of, or provision of utilities or security for,
  144  facilities, as defined in s. 29.008.
  145         d. Any fixed capital expenditure or fixed capital outlay
  146  associated with the improvement of private facilities that have
  147  a life expectancy of 5 or more years and that the owner agrees
  148  to make available for use on a temporary basis as needed by a
  149  local government as a public emergency shelter or a staging area
  150  for emergency response equipment during an emergency officially
  151  declared by the state or by the local government under s.
  152  252.38. Such improvements are limited to those necessary to
  153  comply with current standards for public emergency evacuation
  154  shelters. The owner must enter into a written contract with the
  155  local government providing the improvement funding to make the
  156  private facility available to the public for purposes of
  157  emergency shelter at no cost to the local government for a
  158  minimum of 10 years after completion of the improvement, with
  159  the provision that the obligation will transfer to any
  160  subsequent owner until the end of the minimum period.
  161         e. Any land acquisition expenditure for a residential
  162  housing project in which at least 30 percent of the units are
  163  affordable to individuals or families whose total annual
  164  household income does not exceed 120 percent of the area median
  165  income adjusted for household size, if the land is owned by a
  166  local government or by a special district that enters into a
  167  written agreement with the local government to provide such
  168  housing. The local government or special district may enter into
  169  a ground lease with a public or private person or entity for
  170  nominal or other consideration for the construction of the
  171  residential housing project on land acquired pursuant to this
  172  sub-subparagraph.
  173         2. For the purposes of this paragraph, the term “renewable
  174  energy devices” means any of the following equipment that, when
  175  installed in connection with a dwelling unit or other structure,
  176  collects, transmits, stores, or uses solar energy, wind energy,
  177  or energy derived from geothermal deposits:
  178         a. Solar energy collectors.
  179         b. Storage tanks and other storage systems, excluding
  180  swimming pools used as storage tanks.
  181         c. Rockbeds.
  182         d. Thermostats and other control devices.
  183         e. Heat exchange devices.
  184         f. Pumps and fans.
  185         g. Roof ponds.
  186         h. Freestanding thermal containers.
  187         i. Pipes, ducts, refrigerant handling systems, and other
  188  equipment used to interconnect such systems, excluding
  189  conventional backup systems of any type.
  190         j. Windmills.
  191         k. Wind-driven generators.
  192         l. Power conditioning and storage devices that use wind
  193  energy to generate electricity or mechanical forms of energy.
  194         m. Pipes and other equipment used to transmit hot
  195  geothermal water to a dwelling or structure from a geothermal
  196  deposit.
  197         3. For the purposes of this paragraph, the term “energy
  198  efficiency improvement” means any energy conservation and
  199  efficiency improvement that reduces consumption through
  200  conservation or a more efficient use of electricity, natural
  201  gas, propane, or other forms of energy on the property,
  202  including, but not limited to, air sealing; installation of
  203  insulation; installation of energy-efficient heating, cooling,
  204  or ventilation systems; building modifications to increase the
  205  use of daylight; replacement of windows; installation of energy
  206  controls or energy recovery systems; installation of electric
  207  vehicle charging equipment; and installation of efficient
  208  lighting equipment.
  209         4.2. Notwithstanding any other provision of this
  210  subsection, a local government infrastructure surtax imposed or
  211  extended after July 1, 1998, may allocate up to 15 percent of
  212  the surtax proceeds for deposit in a trust fund within the
  213  county’s accounts created for the purpose of funding economic
  214  development projects having a general public purpose of
  215  improving local economies, including the funding of operational
  216  costs and incentives related to economic development. The ballot
  217  statement must indicate the intention to make an allocation
  218  under the authority of this subparagraph.
  219         Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2012.