Florida Senate - 2016                             CS for SB 1262
       
       
        
       By the Committee on Military and Veterans Affairs, Space, and
       Domestic Security; and Senator Simpson
       
       583-02862-16                                          20161262c1
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to emergency management; amending s.
    3         213.055, F.S.; defining terms; providing that out-of
    4         state businesses and employees who enter the state in
    5         response to a disaster or an emergency are excluded
    6         from certain registration and licensing requirements
    7         and taxes; specifying the obligations of an out-of
    8         state business or employee after the disaster-response
    9         period; amending s. 288.8013, F.S.; revising the
   10         source of the principal for the Recovery Fund
   11         administered by Triumph Gulf Coast, Inc.; providing
   12         that moneys accounting for the principal of the fund
   13         must be transferred to the Recovery Fund within a
   14         specified timeframe; providing an effective date.
   15          
   16  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   17  
   18         Section 1. Subsection (3) is added to section 213.055,
   19  Florida Statutes, to read:
   20         213.055 Declared emergency; waiver or suspension of
   21  specified revenue laws.—The following actions to waive or
   22  suspend a revenue law may be implemented only when the Governor
   23  has declared a state of emergency pursuant to s. 252.36.
   24         (3)(a) As used in this subsection, the term:
   25         1. “Disaster-response period” means:
   26         a. A period that begins 10 calendar days before the first
   27  day of a declared state of emergency and ends on the 60th
   28  calendar day after the end of the declared state of emergency;
   29  or
   30         b. A period that begins on the date that an out-of-state
   31  business enters this state in good faith under a mutual aid
   32  agreement and in anticipation of a disaster, regardless of
   33  whether a state of emergency is declared, and ends on the date
   34  that the work is concluded, or 7 calendar days after the out-of
   35  state business enters this state, whichever occurs first.
   36         2. “Emergency-related work” means repairing, renovating,
   37  installing, building, rendering services, or other business
   38  activities that relate to infrastructure that has been damaged,
   39  impaired, or destroyed by an event that has resulted in a
   40  declaration of a state of emergency; or rendering such services
   41  or performing such activities in anticipation of a disaster,
   42  regardless of whether a state of emergency is declared.
   43         3. “Infrastructure” means public roads; public bridges;
   44  property and equipment owned or used by communication networks,
   45  electric generating systems, transmission and distribution
   46  systems, gas distribution systems, or water pipelines; and
   47  related support facilities that serve multiple persons which
   48  include, but are not limited to, buildings, offices, power and
   49  communication lines and poles, pipes, structures, and equipment.
   50         4. “Mutual aid agreement” means an agreement to which one
   51  or more business entities are parties and under which a public
   52  utility, municipally owned utility, electric cooperative, or
   53  joint agency owning, operating, or owning and operating
   54  infrastructure used for electric generation, transmission, or
   55  distribution in this state may request that an out-of-state
   56  business perform work in this state in anticipation of a
   57  disaster or an emergency.
   58         5. “Out-of-state business” means a business entity that:
   59         a. Does not have a presence in this state, except with
   60  respect to the performance of emergency-related work, and
   61  conducts no business in this state, and whose services are
   62  requested by a registered business or by a unit of state or
   63  local government for purposes of performing emergency-related
   64  work in this state; and
   65         b. Is not registered and does not have tax filings or
   66  presence sufficient to require the collection or payment of a
   67  tax in this state during the tax year immediately before the
   68  disaster-response period. The term also includes a business
   69  entity that is affiliated with a registered business solely
   70  through common ownership.
   71         6. “Out-of-state employee” means an employee who does not
   72  work in this state, except for emergency-related work during a
   73  disaster-response period.
   74         7. “Registered business” means a business entity that is
   75  registered to do business in this state before the disaster
   76  response period begins.
   77         (b)1. Notwithstanding any other law, an out-of-state
   78  business that is conducting operations within this state during
   79  a disaster-response period solely for purposes of performing
   80  emergency-related work or pursuant to a mutual aid agreement is
   81  not considered to have established a level of presence that
   82  would require that business to register, file, and remit state
   83  or local taxes or fees or require that business to be subject to
   84  any registration, licensing, or filing requirements in this
   85  state. For purposes of any state or local tax on or measured, in
   86  whole or in part, by net or gross income or receipts, the
   87  activity of the out-of-state business conducted in this state
   88  during the disaster-response period must be disregarded with
   89  respect to any filing requirements for such tax, including the
   90  filing required for a consolidated group of which the out-of-
   91  state business may be a part. This includes the following:
   92         a. Reemployment assistance taxes.
   93         b. State or local professional or occupational licensing
   94  requirements or related fees.
   95         c. Local business taxes.
   96         d. Taxes on the operation of commercial motor vehicles.
   97         e. Corporate income tax.
   98         f. Tangible personal property tax and use tax on equipment
   99  that is brought into the state by the out-of-state business,
  100  used by the out-of-state business only to perform emergency
  101  related work during the disaster-response period, and removed
  102  from the state by the out-of-state business following the
  103  disaster-response period.
  104         2. Notwithstanding any other law, an out-of-state employee
  105  whose only employment in this state is for the performance of
  106  emergency-related work or pursuant to a mutual aid agreement
  107  during a disaster-response period is not required to:
  108         a. Register, file, or remit state or local taxes.
  109         b. Comply with state or local occupational licensing
  110  requirements or related fees.
  111         (c) An out-of-state business or out-of-state employee who
  112  remains in this state after the disaster-response period is not
  113  entitled to the provisions of this subsection for activities
  114  performed after the disaster-response period ends and is subject
  115  to the state’s normal standards for establishing presence or
  116  residency or doing business in the state.
  117         Section 2. Subsection (2) of section 288.8013, Florida
  118  Statutes, is amended to read:
  119         288.8013 Triumph Gulf Coast, Inc.; Recovery Fund; creation;
  120  investment.—
  121         (2) Triumph Gulf Coast, Inc., must create and administer
  122  the Recovery Fund for the benefit of the disproportionately
  123  affected counties. The principal of the fund shall derive from
  124  75 percent of all funds received by the state pursuant to the
  125  September 2015 settlement agreement between the gulf states and
  126  the BP entities with respect to economic and other claims
  127  arising from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill recovered by the
  128  Attorney General for economic damage to the state resulting from
  129  the Deepwater Horizon disaster, after payment of reasonable and
  130  necessary attorney fees, costs, and expenses, including such
  131  attorney fees, costs, and expenses pursuant to s. 16.0155.
  132  Moneys that account for the principal of the Recovery Fund shall
  133  be transferred to the Recovery Fund no later than 30 days after
  134  they are received.
  135         Section 3. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.